The Bolgatanga ‘Cando’ Drivers Association, operators of the popular covered tricycles used in the transportation of people, says it is contemplating a possible increment in the prices of transport fares.
This is after the association’s mother Union, the Ghana Private Road Transport Users (GPRTU) declared its intention to increase transport fares by some 20 percent. GPRTU argued that the price hikes have become necessary after the sustained increase in fuel prices, the increasing costs of spare parts, and the President’s reluctance to remove some tax components on the price build-up of petroleum products in the country.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, the Public Relations Officer of the Bolgatanga ‘Cando’ Drivers Association, Christopher Agana explained that the businesses of the operators of the ‘candos’ have been badly affected.
“We are holding a meeting to that effect; that is on the fuel increment. When there is a rise in fuel prices, it will affect all other goods and commodities. There was an increment not long before this one, and our mother union, GPRTU, thought it wise to increase by 20 percent. We also held a meeting yesterday. We have decided that we will go back to the market and speak with passengers to question them to see if there is any increment in pricing; how will it affect them?
“With that information, we will come back to a second meeting and that will determine our percentage of increment,” he said.
Mr Agana said when the prices were reviewed upwards earlier this year, patrons of the ‘candos’ were largely calm about it because of their knowledge of the existing conditions in the country.
While admitting that prices of fuel at the pumps have been relatively stable in recent times, Mr Agana mentioned that the reasons for the decision to increase go well beyond the prices of fuel.
He was quick to add that when the prices of fares were reviewed earlier this year, some of the prices remained the same and so an increment now would mean that the operators within the jurisdictions where the increases were not made would now be offered a certain level of relief.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
