NURTW Laments Over Rickety Operational Vehicles

The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Rumuokoro Motor Park branch has decried the poor state of operational vehicles of their members, saying this has caused low level patronage from passengers who resort to alternative loading bay for their travelling.

Speaking  with The Tide in his office in Port Harcourt, the Chairman of the NURTW Rumuokoro branch , Chief Samuel Amadi stated that the present state of some vehicles operating at the park leaves much to be desired.

He said that transport business  is very competitive and requires outstanding and clean vehicles to make a head way, but regretted that many of the vehicles owned by their members are old and does not give the comfort that passengers desire in this modern time.

According to him “Many passengers these days don’t patronise us again, but they prefer going to join vehicles in other private parks where they will enjoy air conditioned vehicles and some comfort, and this has affected our daily revenue.”

Further more he said “A lot of new private motor parks are now in operation, and their owners mostly are politicians or people who have links with those in government and have access to loan, which they can use to buy these modern vehicles”.

Chief Amadi while commenting on the limitations of NURTW members n having access to such loan, also said that some of these modern vehicles being operated by private park owners are bought on hire purchase, and that the target have been to discourage people from using the public motor parks which in turn slows down their operation with low revenue at the end of the day.

He however opined that the union is taking some steps to ensuring that the scenario is being tackled, to restore the confidence of the public in the efficiency of NURTW.

Corlins Walter