A good number of those travelling from Ibadan to Lagos and other cities by road on Saturday condemned the hike in transport fares.
The passengers, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan, lamented the manner the fares up.
They said the fares moved farther away from what they used to be before the Sallah celebration.
Those of them whom a NAN correspondent met at Ojoo and other motor parks visited in Ibadan said transportation fare to most destinations had increased by at least 35 per cent.
At the motor park at Iwo road in Ibadan, transporters were discovered to be charging N3,000 and N3,500 for buses and N4,500 for cars going to Lagos.
This was against N2,000 and N2,500 respectively charged before festive season.
A commercial bus driver, Mr Nurudeen Akanbi, however said it was a normal thing for transportation fares to go up during the festive period.
He nonetheless noted that the fares would always return to normal after the celebrations.
“Passengers may even need to pay more while returning to their base after the celebrations, because there will be a big rush to catch up with work on resumption day,” the driver warned.
He also attributed the hike in transportation fare to the recent petroleum subsidy removal which had jacked up prices of fuel and motor spare parts.
Some passengers at the motor parks, however, condemned the sharp increase in the transport fares, saying it would affect their budget and other plans for Eid-el-Kabir.
Mrs Rofiat Adeoye, a traveller, said she had planned to get some gift items for her relations on her trip to Lagos.
”But due to the increase in the transport fare, I cannot do that again because intra-city transport fares would have gone up in Lagos too,” she said.
Another passenger, Mr Akeem Gbadegesin, urged governments to assist travellers with subsidised transportation initiatives across all routes during any festive season.
“Commercial operators are using the rush period during the celebrations as an opportunity to exploit people,” he said.
NAN reports that passengers, who could not afford the fare, were seen leaving the parks and moving along the Ibadan-Lagos expressway.
This was with the hope of getting cheaper means of transportation though private vehicle owners who would take them along to use the money gained to augment the fuel purchased.(NAN
