Lagos makes U-turn, says no plan to ban ‘Danfo’ buses

Less than one month after Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos state, revealed his plans to banish commercial buses popularly known as ” Danfo”, the state ministry of transport is saying there is no plan to ban the buses.

“When I wake up in the morning and see all these yellow buses and see Okada and all kinds of tricycles and then we claim we are a mega city, that is not true and we must first acknowledge that that is a faulty connectivity that we are running,” Ambode had said at the 14th annual lecture of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) at Muson Centre in the Onikan area of the state.

“Having accepted that, we have to look for the solution and that is why we want to banish yellow buses this year. We must address the issue of connectivity that makes people to move around with ease and that is where we are going.”

But speaking at a stakeholders’ forum on Tuesday, Lanrewaju Elegushi, acting commissioner for transport, said the government had the plan to upgrade Danfo” buses.

He said the plan of the government was to restructure the transportation system in the state to international standard.

“What we are planning is to restructure the transportation system in the state to meet international standard,” he said.

“That is why we organised this forum to seek the contributions of the people involved at the new Bus Terminal at Tafawa Balewa Square.

“We are changing the face of the transport system in Lagos state with fully air condition buses, charging port, CCTV and other infrastructure for the benefit of commuters.”

Elegushi said the government had also embarked on the building of standard bus terminus in various locations across the state, to standardise the transport system.

The acting commissioner appealed to the stakeholders to make judicious use of the new bus terminal at TBS.

In his remarks, Kunle Azeez, chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Idumota branch, commended the government for building befitting bus terminal for members of the union.

He assured the government that members of the union would obey rules and regulations and ensure proper maintenance of the terminal.

“We appreciate the government for carrying us along in its development plan,” he said.

“I am sure that our members will not let the government down in its plan to make the state a mega city,” he added.

On February 6, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode announced that the government plans to restructure the operations of ‘danfo’ buses for an efficient, well-structured and world-class mass transport system.

According to the governor, a well-structured transport system will ease movement within the state and make Lagos cleaner.