20/07/2022
THE DISDAIN OF INTERCITY STC MANAGEMENT TOWARD PASSENGERS GOING TO THE NORTH ESPECIALLY TAMALE.
Ghana is a country that is still grappling with its transport infrastructure. The major means of transport is basically road, which many people used in transporting good and services across the length breath of the country. Many travelers prefer this means of transport not because it cheap but because it the only means readily available across the nook and cranny of this country. Development in the domestic aviation sector has seen a major boost in the recent past due to individual’s investment in the sector. But the question is; how many people can afford to travel by air in this country? Air transport is considered one of the fastest and safest means of transport in the world. This is a contentious fact by recent technological advancement in rail transport.
There is a sharp contrast between Ghana’s transport sector and that of some advanced economies where the railway sector is well developed linking major cities and making travel experience comforting and less stressful. The introduction of the bullet train by Japan decades ago and the fact that no accident has ever been recorded over the years makes it the safest means of transport in Japan and other countries where their railway network is well developed.
China is building the longest under sea high speed rail tunnel 16.2 km long. linking two major cities. Upon completion the project will reduce the travel time of 1 hour by road between the two cities to about 10minutes using the speed trains. The economic impact of this project is enormous as it will attract investors and tourist to the region.
The reverse is the case in Ghana where the rail sector has been neglected. A cursory look at the transport infrastructure development in Ghana will tell you the rail sector is the least developed in relation to its expanse across the country. Many attempts were made by the colonial government to develop railway lines in the country but their attempts were limited to the southern sector where forest and mineral resources were exploited to feed their industries back home. This paradigm is still persisting 63 years after independence. The lackadaisical attitude of past governments to develop the railway sector is one of the reasons we have carnage on our roads.
I find it very difficult to understand why successive governments have failed to link the North and the South by railway. The long hours of travel between Tamale and Accra could be half by building a high- speed railway to the North. When built people can live in Tamale and work in Accra and vice -versa. The economic gain a project like this could bring to Ghana is immense. It will reduce the huge traffic of commercial and private vehicles plying our road, reduce road accident, reduce maintenance cost of our highways since it will reduce the number of articulated tracks hauling goods on them. The impact will be great.
A Ghanaian in the person of Dr. Mensah a scientist and the developer of the fiber-optics have been championing this course. An individual is trying his best but the government to whom we all pay our taxes is sitting on the fence unconcerned. Many will argue there are development in the sector by successive governments, their interventions are limited to the southern enclave. How does that impact the life of someone living in the Northern Regions? Our constitution enjoins our leaders to distribute development evenly across the country but railway infrastructure development is limited only to southern Ghana.
I took this tangent in order to open the eyes of those managing STC that, it is because of the limited access to other means of transport that is why some of us patronize their service. They are not doing anything extraordinary but due to the niche they have carved for themselves in terms of safety that is why many people like myself patronize them. Their safety is even being compromised by recent number of accidents involving their buses. Due to the fact that they are State owned company most of the accidents involving their buses is not reported in the mainstream media.
A cursory look at the vision of STC will tell you that, the passenger is at the center of their services.
On 10th of July,2022 I booked an evening ticket for Tamale. My choice of their service was premised on their mission statement of providing comfortable and safe service. Looking at how far the journey was and other safety issues I opted for their service. My shock only came when the bus 🚌 we were to board arrived for ticket processing and subsequent boarding. It was a 2016 registered bus.
On board I realized the bus had mechanical issues. Malfunctioning air conditioner, the phone charging sockets were not working, the Wi-Fi was not working and the sound of the engine left a lot to be desired.
Upon realizing these issues with the bus, we pleaded for it to be changed because the journey was a long one and anything could happen on the way. Our pleas fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, new buses were packed in the yard and a simple command by the station manager could have resolved the ordeal we were yet to face. I don’t understand the standard procedures and the bureaucratic bottlenecks that made it impossible for the bus to be changed.
One nauseating and annoying thing that happened was that, most of the new buses were running Kumasi- Accra. A shorter distance by far compared to Tamale. This situation made me conclude that people who travel from Accra to Kumasi are better or more human than we those who travel from Accra to Tamale. It is therefore imperative for me to voice my indignation and complete contempt to this kind of treatment if that is the status quo. It looks like that is the status quo as this is not the first time such a thing has happened.
This kind of prejudice does not foster social cohesion and nationalism. People who travel from Accra to Tamale also deserve the new buses in their fleet not the old and dilapidated ones.
The bus barely made it to Nkawkwa and it broke down. A common screw driver could not be provided by the driver. They were no tools in the bus for situations like this. It took a passenger who was carrying a tool box for a work he was traveling to Tamale to do to salvage the situation. All the passengers had to disembarked and walk a long distance to a nearby community at the peril of our lives since it was in the night. We spent several hours waiting in the community for the bus to be fixed. Lo and behold after many hours have been waiting the bus came for us to continue the journey to Kumasi.
When we got to Kumasi, we again pleaded for the bus to be changed since there were new buses packed at the station but to no avail. The only time one could have a feel of the AC on the bus was when the driver negotiated a sharp curve or plunged into a pot hole. A journey that was supposed to take roughly10 hours ended up taking more than 16 hours. I became so peeved; our system is designed for some selected few while the many are made to suffer for no fault of theirs.
The system can change for the better if we all consciously work for its betterment.
The management must understand they are there for the people and not there to serve their parochial interest.
I remain your humble servant.
COSMOS NII AWUKU.
