The Minister for Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, has clarified that the 100 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited buses recently commissioned by the government were not intended to address the transportation challenges facing commuters in Accra immediately, but rather to replace existing buses operating in various regions across the country.
His explanation comes amid concerns from residents of the capital who continue to experience difficulties with public transportation despite the government’s recent rollout of the new fleet of buses.
Many commuters had expected the newly commissioned vehicles to be deployed directly to ease congestion and improve mobility within Accra and other major urban centres.
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Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, June 8, Joseph Nikpe Bukari explained that the newly acquired buses are part of a broader strategy to strengthen transportation services nationwide and create space to redeploy larger buses for intra-city operations.
According to the Minister, the 29-seater buses are being distributed to all regions to replace high-occupancy buses currently operating there.
Providing details on the arrangement, he stated, “These new buses are 29-seater buses, and we are assigning them to all regions and bringing all the high occupancy buses from those regions into the intracity arrangement, and so we have received some of the high occupancy buses, and we are refurbishing them.”
The Minister noted that the process of retrieving and rehabilitating the larger buses is already underway, with several vehicles currently undergoing maintenance and refurbishment to ensure they are fit for service before being redeployed.
He disclosed that the government has already received some high-occupancy buses from the regions and that technical teams are working to restore them for operations within urban centres.
“We have so far received 10 buses from the regions, and they are currently at the workshop for refurbishing to be delivered somewhere next week for intracity operations.”
CNR