The operators of the Port Harcourt City Bus Service (PHCBS) popularly call Skye Bank buses have decried the incessant harassment of their buses by security agents, local government operatives and others and appealed to relevant government officials, to assist the scheme to succeed.
Speaking to reporters in his office, the operations manager of the PHCBS, Mr Olubakinde Foluso said the bus service is providing affordable service to the public at highly subsidised fares.
According to him,” We are running a highly subsidised transport system in partnership with the Rivers State Government, we also run a cashless operations so the drivers and marshals on the buses do not have any cash to give to them and based on that they want to device a means to dealing with the drivers unnecessary.
It would be recalled some members of the public allegedly beat up a driver of the bus last Tuesday for refusing to pay money to them at the Mile One flyover axis of Port Harcourt. Some of the men allegedly identified as the fire service men were said to have jumped into the bus and started beating the driver. The driver had to lock the bus and drove them to PHCBS office where police was called in to arrest them.
“What led to this is that the security agents and other persons do collect money from other transporters and taxis before allowing them to load passengers from the area and because our workers refused to pay them, that is why they decided to assault them”, the operations manager said.
“This scheme is created by the state government in partnership with Skye Bank Plc to alleviate sufferings of commuters in the capital city and a way of poverty alleviation as we reduce the fares to affordable level and employment.