The Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) says commercial transport operators have not increased transport fares since 2024, despite significant increases in the cost of utilities, insurance and other essential goods and services.
The General Secretary of the GRTCC, Emmanuel Ohene, says the prolonged period without a fare adjustment is one of the key reasons the council is proposing a 30% increase in transport fares.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Ohene acknowledged that the proposed increment could be reduced following discussions with the government, although he said operators may find it difficult to accept a significant reduction.
“It may happen that we may reduce the 30%, but it may be difficult because we haven’t increased transport fares since 2024,” he said.
According to him, transport operators, like other workers and consumers, have had to contend with rising living costs.
“But the price of other goods and services keeps going up, and the standard of living too,” he noted.
Mr Ohene said transport operators are also affected by increases in the prices of goods and services because they rely on the same market as everyone else.
“We all go and buy from the same market like other workers, and we know how things are over there,” he said.
He explained that the GRTCC could have demanded a higher adjustment but deliberately settled on 30% to avoid putting excessive financial pressure on passengers.
“We could have asked for more than the 30%, but we also considered the passengers. We don’t want to put too much pressure on them, so we settled on 30%,” he said.
Mr Ohene said the proposed adjustment is therefore intended to help transport operators cope with rising operational costs while also taking into consideration the financial difficulties faced by passengers.
“Because we could have demanded more than that because we thought about not burdening passengers too much that is why we maintained the 30% proposal,” he said.
Meanwhile, GRTCC and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) on Thursday submitted a proposal to the Transport Ministry and is expected to engage the government on the proposed adjustment before any new fares are implemented.
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