I'd take the usual Danfo buses to work during my IT days, only to have to walk the rest of the journey at some point. The last bus stop wasn't so nearby, but even at that, the Danfo drivers never really got there. Walking the rest of the distance, running into many other people on the road and drenching my shirt in sweat had me considering another alternative.
The only commercial buses that would take me to my destination and even beyond were the BRT buses. I had always seemed them pass the same route as me on my way to work, but you know, too many people boarding it daily just made me hardly consider it. Until now. You can only find them in Lagos, by the way. And when I tried it for the first time, I couldn't believe that I could actually get such services just like that in Lagos.
"Just like that," as in, the government could actually do this much for the people and even make it so affordable? I never realized it, but it was really one of the best things that the Lagos State government had done for its citizens in many years, thanks to the former governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola. See where the "BRT" came from? His name.
Equipped with good air conditioning systems, comfy seats, and USB charging ports for each passenger, I always had the most convenient rides to work in BRT buses. And the buses were run with functional management systems, so it was often smooth to top up my card and scan to board one. All that hustle and bustle, noise and drama with boarding Danfo buses were no longer my concern for a long time.
You'd think that since it was run by the government, it surely would be sustainable for a long time. How I wish that were the case. Months later, some changes started to set in. We'd have the air conditioning systems during the morning rides but then turn them off during our return trips. It was obvious that they were beginning to try to cut costs to run the buses. Now they no longer use the ACs, but it didn't stop there.
Getting a BRT bus was never much of a problem then. But soon enough, there were noticibly way fewer buses in use. You can imagine that people would begin to board them less, as they'd often have to stand in queues for so long to get one. Let's not even talk about how they stopped expanding enough to cover the entire state so many people enjoy the services.
BRT Bus
To not speak to much about how things began to really slow down with the BRT bus systems, it just summarizes one particular thing about government-owned facilities that I find rather odd. Considering that these systems are by the government for the people, running on the country's enonomic funds powered by the people, they should be maintained and sustained. But what you'd usually see is that such only last for a while, usually for as long as the governor's tenure.
On the other hand, when you look at private transport systems, like Uber, inDrive, and Bolt, you see that the competition between them drives them to continually stay at the top of their game. They know that if they can do better than their competitors, they'd likely profit more with their business. Take a look at their apps, for example. BRT buses didn't have their as good as you'll find with these private transport systems.
Did you know that Bolt has an emergency voice recording feature on the app that allows you to record conversations between you and the driver? That's something for keeping the customer at heart. But I digress...
Government facilities can get all the improvements and upgrade that they need and serve the people well, but this doesn't always happen. You'd rather find people, driven by competition and innovation, start up theirs and do way better sometimes.