By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The suggestion by the president of the General Transport Union (GTU) for the banning of tricycles from carrying passengers has been met with severe criticism in some quarters.
At a time when a decent chunk of the Gambia’s urban population continues to be faced with severe locomotion challenges, the GTU president Omar Ceesay has hinted at the need to withdraw from the road all tricycles engaged in carrying passengers.
“Tricycles are not licensed to carry passengers,” Ceesay told Star FM’s breakfast show late last week.
However, his comment was received with anger and irritation in many quarters as it’s seen as insensitive to the plight of the commuter community, which felt left in the cold by the relevant government authorities.
Currently, tricycles are plugging the gap created by the lack of or inadequate investment in the transport sector by this government.
Urbanization and rapid suburbanization are putting strains on the urban Gambia’s transport system as more and more people increasingly need means of transport to commute from one point to another.
“I think what Omar Ceesay should be more concerned about is the transport facilitation. Commercial vehicle drivers are subjecting commuters to all kinds of torment because they know that people rely on them to commute. He should talk to his union members to treat commuters well than trying to wage a war against the tricycles,” Coastal Road resident Ousman Secka said in a conversation with this reporter last week.
“I just want Omar Ceesay to know that the tricycles are here to stay as long as the government fails to provide motorable roads and adequate alternative mode of transport for the population,” petty trader Saidou Barry said as he spoke to this reporter through a journey from Kotu to Tippa Garage.
Roadside mechanic Tijan Sanneh said the tricycles may have their downside but in the absence of reliable and cheap alternative mode of transport, many commuters would continue to rely on them.
“The government has deployed buses in parts of urban Gambia to ease the public’s transport nightmares but they are not just enough,” frustrated civil servant, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
Meanwhile, the public transport has gone so bad that many agencies and departments such as the immigration, the police, prisons, part of the military and ports authority have devised inventive strategies to ease the locomotion challenges of their staff by relying on their own buses.