The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has launched 500 units of First and Last Mile (FLM) buses, which have been deployed to communities as alternative means of transportation in addressing the security threat posed by commercial motorcycles, popularly known as Okada.
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The Governor also inaugurated brand-new 100 high- and medium-capacity buses into the fleet of Lagos Bus Service Limited (LBSL) to replace vehicles burnt at BRT stations during the wave of violence that marred the EndSARS protests in October 2020.
Sanwo-Olu said, “The launch of the First and Last Mile (FLM) Bus Scheme today is an important milestone in our quest to achieving the intermodal transport system which gives our teeming population the choices they deserve, reducing congestion and journey times, and improving the quality of life. It is also in fulfilment of one of the measures we promised as a solution to the security situation discussed at our recent Security Stakeholders’ Town Hall Meeting.
“As a responsible Government, we are launching this scheme in response to two major issues. One is the alarming statistics of fatal accidents recorded from the operations of Okadas in Lagos between 2016 and 2019, and the use of Okadas for the facilitation of crime across the metropolis. The goal is the full implementation of a safer and more efficient alternative transport solution that takes out the need for Okadas and replaces them with safer buses that will help us curb incidents of Okada-related accidents, crimes and robberies.”
What you should know
- It can be recalled that about a week ago, as a fallout of the stakeholders meeting on security organized by the Lagos State Government, Governor Sanwo-Olu had announced that the state will be launching the first and last mile buses to ply the routes which the commercial motorcycles popularly called okada are plying and serve as alternatives to them.
- The FLM vehicles, assembled locally, are mini-passenger buses (between 7- and 11-seater), which will operate on 286 community routes and will take passengers from the closest points to their areas of residence to standard transportation corridors.
- Payment for FLM services will be through an automated payment system, using Cowry Travel Cards. Cowry Travel Card holders who use them on BRT buses and standard route buses can use their cards on FLM buses.
- For ease of operation of the scheme, the State Government delineated the FLM’s corridors into 8 zones, comprising Ikeja and Ketu (Zone 1), Oshodi, Mushin, and Surulere (Zone 2), Berger, Yaba and Oyingbo (Zone 3) and Lagos Island, Ajah and Ibeju Lekki (Zone 4).
- Others are Iyana-ipaja and Agege (Zone 5), Mile 2, Iyana-Iba and Ajeromi (Zone 6), Ikorodu (Zone 7) and Epe and Badagry (Zone 8).
