Operators of the hitherto popular mass transit buses called “Molue” in Lagos State, have appealed to government to assist them in modernising their fleet, the newsmen resport.

The now near-extinct “Molue” buses, locally fabricated on 911 Mercedes Benz chassis, came into the transport scene in the 1960s and replaced the “Bolekaja”, a wooden truck that had before then monopolised the arena in Lagos for decades.

In line with modernity and the evolving mega-city status of Lagos Metropolis, the “Molue” is fast going into extinction as beautiful luxury buses, especially those in the fleet of the state-owned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects, take over most urban routes.

The chairman zone six of the Road Transport Employers’ Association (RTEAN), Mr Kehinde Sogunro told newsmen that his members also want the transition from molue to luxury buses.

“Since the megacity of Governor Babatude Fashola is to give Lagos State a face lift, we are also ready to help in achieving this by doing away with the molue and Keying into the BRT scheme.

“We are tired of the molue, we want the transition from molue to BRT and we want the proper transitional step to take place.

“The government should invite us, the stakeholders who are molue owners to a meeting and not politicians and lobbyists”, Sogunro said.

According to him, less than 10 per cent of the number of molue buses on the road five years ago, are still being used.

He explained that the buses were being dismantled and either recycled or sold their spare parts to some traders who have other things to do with them.

Sogunro said that the molue bus business had for sometime lost its attractions because officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were fleecing the operators.

According to him, the union members collect as much as N11,000 on a bus daily, leaving the bus driver with barely N6,000 to deliver to the owner.

Sogunro explained that the ever increasing cost of diesel was also eating deep into the running cost of the big molue buses that often move as many as 100 passengers, sitting and standing at a time.

A molue bus driver, Shuaibu Ogun told newsmen at Oshodi bus stop that the molue was actually on the way to self-extinction before the advent of luxury buses, because it was being over extorted by security officials.

“Molue is seen as the easiest form of illegal funds by security operatives on Lagos roads as they always ask for ‘settlement’ in excess of what the bus can make in a day for every perceived infraction.

“Therefore, it’s hard to find a molue bus driver who had never been detained by law enforcement agents before,” Ogun said.