By Nyima Sillah
Despite the much concerns and complains about how traffic congestion keeps hindering the transportation of people and goods within the Greater Banjul Area, it still remains a burden to both the drivers and passengers.
Recently, drivers have renewed their calls to the government to support in addressing the plights they are faced with.
Alie Bah, a driver, said his income has dwindled much lower because of the congestion of the traffic, which is hindering them from moving faster in the highways compare to before.
But he hoped to make enough income as schools have been reopened: “I will go back to my daily routine, by doing one or two trips per day which doesn’t favour my work because I have more losses than profit”.
Ebrima Manneh, a driver lamented that “spending hours in the traffic for only one trip could waste petrol and time.” He said sometimes he packs his car in the garage because getting into the traffic will waste all his fuel with no profit making and because of that he prefers going town trips.
National Transport Union’s President Omar Ceesay said his office has held talks with the drivers regarding difficulty they are facing because of congestion and bad roads especially now that the pandemic has crippled many businesses.
“People have similar challenges so that been the case people should try to respect the national tariffs. Traffic Congestion is our concern but I think drivers will be complimentary in this government effort.
“Westfield to Tabokoto can take one hour so if you want to collect D8 for one hour at the end of the day you will lose so I think we will sit and have our plans to see how we can remedy this situation as soon as possible,” he added.