By Mama A. Touray & Sainabou Sambou
Omar Touray public relations officer for the ferry service in Banjul has urged passengers to comply with the service registration policy for the purpose of having accurate data of people using the ferry to cross to and from the Banjul-Barra terminals.
Mr Touray in an interview with these reporters said “it is very important to keep record and the management is very particular about record keeping.”
“Every passenger who is to ply the sea must be registered and every passenger must bring a document so that in case something happens we can be able to trace passengers and provide necessary information regarding them,” he noted.
He assured users of the ferry and general public that there are enough Jackets for passengers to use whenever they board the ferry and this are meant for the protection of the plying passengers.
He further highlighted on the importance of registration saying should in case “if there is any emergency or problem, it is through the data (registration) we can check or get information of the passengers to find such person or persons.)
“It will also help us to know the number of passengers onboard the ferry from Banjul to Barra, in case if any problem happens, they will be able to know that this particular person onboard the ferry,” he added.
According to him the objective of the registration is to ensure ferries ply safely and smoothly while disclosed that prior now the ferries start services at 7am and close at 8pm.
“But now ferries open at 5:30am to 11:00pm first ferry from Banjul to Barra do take up at 6:30am and last ferry from Banjul to Barra is at 10:00pm and first ferry from Barra to Banjul is 7:00am and the last ferry from Barra to Banjul is at Midnight (12:00am),” Mr Touray disclosed further.
Among their challenges is the non-compliance of passenger to register at the terminal before crossing saying some people do refuse to get registered, describing them as people who don’t respect the policy.