By Steve Agbota
Controversy has continued to trial an internal memo issued on Sunday by The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) announcing increment in train fares on various routes.
Some passengers who spoke with Daily Sun vehemently condemned the manner of increment and lambast NRC for jacking up train fares without prior notice to users.
But an internal memo released on Sunday sighted by our reporter indicated that traveling from Lagos to Ibadan on the 24-seater coaches will now cost N9,000 instead of N6,500; the 56 and 68-seater coaches will now cost N6,500 instead of N5,000, and the 88-seater coaches will attract N3,600 instead of N2,500 respectively.
Meanwhile, fares for Lagos to Abeokuta have been raised for the 24-seater coaches to N6,000; 56 and 68-seater coaches, N4,500 and 88-seater coaches, N3,000.
For Abeokuta to Ibadan, 24-seater coaches, N3,000; 56 and 68-seater coaches, N2,000 and 88-seater coaches, N1,000.Fares for minors on the route have been pegged at N3,000 for Lagos to Ibadan, N2,000 for Lagos to Abeokuta and N600 for Abeokuta to Ibadan. For the Warri-Itakpe train services (WITS), Ujevwu to Itakpe on the 56-seater coaches will now cost N9,000 while on the 88-seater coaches, it will be N5,000.
From Ujevwu to Uromi on the 56-seater coaches, the price has been pegged at N5,500 while on the 88-seater coaches, it will be N2,500.
However, for Uromi to Itakpe, the price is now N4,000 for the 56-seater coaches and N2,500 for the 88-seater coaches. Fares for minors on the route have been pegged at N2,500 for Ujevwu to Itakpe, N1,500 for Ujevwu to Uromi and N1,500 Uromi to Itakpe. Similarly, for the Abuja-Kaduna train services (AKTS), from Idu to Rigasa, the price has been pegged at N9,000 for 24-seater coaches, N6,500 for 56 and 68-seater coaches and N3,600 for 88-seater coaches while minors will pay N3,000 flat.
The NRC stated that earlier approved add-on costs that are deductible from every ticket sale are to apply and that the changes take immediate effect. Reacting to the development, some passengers uniformed increment was unnecessary and baseless as they claimed that the increment in fares was done out of consideration.
A train user, Mojeed Olapoju who spoke with Daily Sun said that the NRC management was goofed to have increased the fares with proper communication to the general public especially the train users.
“I must say they increased the train fare out of callousness because already people are hard time. These people just want to make life difficult for Nigerians. What I’m saying is that they should have put it in public domain that see we are going to increase the fare and they will give us reasons behind it. We don’t have government in this country,” he lamented.
