Business
Commuters Besiege Port Harcourt Parks
As most residents of Port Harcourt make for their various country homes to celebrate the New Year, most commuters were yesterday seen at the motor parks scrambling for the few available commercial vehicles.
At the Abali Park on Aba Road commuters defied the increased fares occasioned by shortage of petrol to struggle for seats in the few buses.
A commuter who spoke to The Tide said though the fares have been hiked by about 50 per cent, he could not resist the temptation of going to his home state of Ebonyi to enjoy the New Year festivities.
The commuter who refused to identify himself also decried the exorbitant rate charged by transporters for their luggage and called on government to step-up action at reviving the rail transport system.
The situation was the same at the Mile III Motor Park and others visited by our reporters who noted that hundreds of commuters were seen waiting for vehicles to take them to their destinations.
The position is not different with travelers to the riverine communities who are also groaning over the weight of very high fares.
At the Bonny waterfront, communities complained that the boat operators have hiked their fares from Port Harcourt to Bonny from N1,500 to N2,000 per passenger.
A boat operator who spoke to The Tide on condition of anonymity said the fare increase is in response to the dearth of petrol and called on the federal government to build floating filing stations to supply fuel to riverine communities.