Abuja is the most expensive city for bus and air journeys -NBS

A recent data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja is the most expensive city for bus and air journeys.

The Bureau disclosed this in its monthly Transport Fare Watch report for April released on its website on Wednesday.

According to the report, the FCT recorded the highest average transport fare for bus journeys within city, intercity bus journeys and journeys by air to specified routes.

The Transport fare watch report covers bus journey within the city per drop constant route; bus journey intercity, state route, charge per person; air fare charge for specified routes single journey; journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop; and water way passenger transport.

The average transport fare paid by commuters for bus journey within Nigerian cities rose by 3.88 per cent from N160.99 recorded in March 2018 to N165.94 in April 2018. The amount, when compared to a year earlier, increased by 29.03 per cent from N134.66.

Abuja topped the list of transport fare of bus journey within the city across states with N325 after increasing marginally by 27.85% Year-on Year-on (YoY). Cross River trailed with N280 while Abia followed with N240.

Bauchi was the cheapest state for bus journey within the city at N90. Anambra and Rivers followed Bauchi at N91.10 and N100.20 respectively.

Average transport fare of bus journey within Lagos state stood at N210.20 while that of Ekiti was at N220.10.

For intercity bus journey, the averge transport fare also increased from a month earlier by 3.40 per cent from N1668.56 to N1722.86 in April 2018. The amount also rose by 13.91 per cent from N1587.04 in April 2017.

The states with the highest average transport fare in April were Abuja, Adamawa, Sokoto at N4000, N3200, N2700.22 respectively.

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On the other hand, states like Bauchi, Enugu, Yobe had the lowest fare for the month under review at N925, N1000.01 and N1050.21 respectively.

Air passengers paid 1.87 per cent more money for specified routes single journey than N31282.91 paid in March 2018 than N31833.46 paid in April 2018, amounting to 4.30 per cent increase from N30803.03 paid in the same period last year.

Abuja also recorded the highest air fare for specified routes in April 2018 at N42333.33. Lagos and Edo trailed Abuja with air fare charge at N41000 and N39500 respectively.

Conversely, Katsina, Osun, Oyo recorded the lowest air fare charge for the period at N24500, N24500.15 and N25000 respectively.

For journey by motorcycle (Okada), an increase of 5.70 per cent was recorded from N100.96 paid in March 2018 to N106.25 paid in April 2018. When compared to a year earlier, the amount paid on motorcycle increased by 8.53 per cent from N100.82.

Rivers, Ondo, Enugu, which are southern states, recorded the highest average transport fare by motorcycle at N200.24, N195.52 and N170.15 respectively, while Katsina, Jigawa, Niger, which are northern states, recorded the lowest fare by motorcycle at N55.85, N60.13 and N60.13 respectively.

In similar manner, transport fare paid by passengers for journey on water way rose to N572.15 in April 2018 from N552.09 recorded in the previous month. However, when compared to same period last year, the amount dropped by 1.80 per cent from N597.56.

The average transport fare for journey on water way was highest in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta at N2050.12, N1950 and N1500 respectively, and lowest in Borno, Gombe, Abuja at N140, N180.23 and N243.48 respectively.

By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan…

 

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