The regulator of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme; Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA), has unveiled plan to extend the service to the heavily congested Oshodi-Iyana Ipaja-Abule-Egba route.

To facilitate smooth operation of the scheme on the route, LAMATA is awarding a contract to redesign the road with two BRT lanes to run in the middle, starting from Abule-Egba towards Oshodi. The service lanes of the expressway are also to be repaired and made more motorable.

This, according Abiodun Dabiri, managing director of LAMATA, would be accomplished within the next 20 months and would reduce travel time along the route by at least 40 percent.

Dabiri, who addressed stakeholders at a sensitisation meeting, last week, said the work would entail an uninterrupted median BRT service, 11 pedestrian bridges, one bus depot and two bus terminals to be located at Iyana Ipaja and Abule-Egba.

According to him, the BRT system is being extended to that axis to facilitate easy access of persons and businesses to the Central Business Districts (CBDs) in Ikeja, Marina, Ikoyi and Victoria Island and to drastically reduce the travel time along that corridor from about one hour-thirty minutes to a maximum of 45 minutes.

Speaking further on why the BRT service was being introduced on the route, Dabiri said “the Oshodi-Abule Egba corridor is one of the busiest bus corridors in West Africa, with over 5,500 buses moving passengers per day. It is a critical link for millions of people living in Alimosho, Egbeda, Iyana-Ipaja, Ijaiye, up to Tollgate into Sango Ota in Ogun State.”

He noted that the route was also strategic because Oshodi, with the proposed transport interchange project, was emerging the transport hub in Lagos. The LAMATA MD appealed for the cooperation of property owners, traders, transporters, traffic managers, residents and security agencies, all of whom he said were critical in actualising the plan.

Olarenjawu Elegushi, the Lagos State acting commissioner for transport, explained the vision of the government with respect to public transportation, saying it was to create convenience for the people. “What we are doing along the Abule Egba axis is in line with the overall plan of the government to change the face of public transportation system in Lagos,” said Elegushi.

Businessdayonline