Nigerians are paying more to move from one location to another as they continue to struggle with a variety of issues, namely insecurity and high food prices.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), who released their Transport Fare Watch for May 2022 yesterday, the average fare that commuters paid for intercity bus trips increased by 47.3% from N2, 490.6 in May 2021 to N3, 668.64 in May 2022.
On a month-over-month (MoM) basis, the increase from N3, 557.15 in April 2022 to N3, 668.64 was 3.13 percent.
The bus travel intercity, state route, a charge per person; the air price charge for specified routes, single journey; the journey by motorcycle (okada) per drop; and water way passenger transport are all covered in the transport watch report.
According to the research, the average rate that passengers pay for specific routes and one-way trips went up 0.73 percent month over month, from N55, 501.49 in April 2022 to N55, 906.86 in May 2022. From N36, 552.70 in May 2021, the fare increased by 52.95 percent year over year.
Similar to this, the typical commuter fare for bus trips within the city increased by 2% MoM, from N570.64 in April 2022 to N582.06 in May 2022. According to a YoY analysis, the average fare that passengers pay for bus rides within of cities increased by 45.86% from N399.06 in May 2021.
Another category saw a 2.21 percent MoM fall in the average fare commuters paid for motorbike trips, from N426.84 in April 2022 to N417.39 in May 2022. This was an increase of 47.66% YoY from N282.67 in May 2021.
Additionally, the average fare paid for water transportation (waterway passenger transportation) fell by 1.08 percentage points month over month in May 2022, from N951.93 to N941.63. The fare increased 13.68% YoY from N828.35 in May 2021.
Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim, national president of the Amalgamated Union of Food and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria, claimed that the cost of items, particularly food, has increased due to fare increases.
We are currently paying outrageous prices to get our products from the farm to the market, he claimed. Prior to the recent spike in the price of diesel, renting a trailer to transport products from the north to Lagos, the South-East, or the South-South could be done for between N400,000 and N500,000, but the same trip now costs over N1,000,000.
