OLORUNDARE ENIMOLA, Lagos
The week long EcoMove, a promo showcasing developmental strides in the Lagos Transportation sector, organised by the office of the Senior Special Assistant on Transportation to the Lagos State Governor, Honourable Toyin Aremu, on Monday took a tour of Transport facilities to affirm their functionalities and to assure the commuting public of the safety standards in place.
The tour involving select Journalists, officials of the State Ministry of Transportation, Market women, Youth organisations, Transport Union officials and other members of the public were conveyed in the Lagos BRT also a mode in the Lagos transportation master plan, bringing the touring group to the iconic Blue Rail terminal station in Marina for a brief inspection of facilities before embarking on the train for a journey to Mile Two end of the blue rail line.
Hon. Aremu in his speech delightedly told the excited tour group how proud of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu's THEMES+ agenda with transportation coming first in terms of the most critical area, birthing some of the most outstanding transport infrastructure that has kept the State economically ahead of many countries in Africa, saying, "This mode of transportation can only be found in the Western World, but
Lagos is a pacesetter, that is why it is taking the lead in the provision of such high quality Transport infrastructure and it is more important to note that it's the first of its kind in the
country.
"Lagos is setting the pace for other states to emulate, I'm calling on Lagosians to overwhelmingly patronize the Lagos train, they should drop their vehicles at home in order to reduce the traffic on Lagos Roads. The blue line rail and red line is more safer
and offers smoother ride to commuters for them to use. The blue line is particularly functional and consistent to pick rides on it at the scheduled times, you will naturally feel at home with the ambience of the Station and the coaches." He stressed.
Hon. Aremu added this is what you find in Europe and developed places across the World, calling on Lagosians to cooperate with the government to secure the transport
infrastructure from vandalisation, saying, "when you see something, you say something in order for us to protect our
transport infrastructure and to support what the government is doing."
Mr. Daniel Fanaike, the Assistant Manager of Marina Station told the group that the Blue rail line has five stations at the moment and runs a 72 hours trips, emphasizing that the Cowrie card is used as a medium of payment that can be used to make payments for BRT, the last mile buses attached to the station and the ferry boats, revealing that peak period charges on the rail is N750 and off-peak is N565.
He said the trains are electrified with over 750 voltage and a yellow safety line is drawn and passengers are expected to stand behind those to forestall electrocution until when they will be boarding, stressing, "safety is the greatest priority here at the station."
At the Lagferry headquarters, the group was welcomed by Mr. Ali Balogun, the Managing Director Lagos
State Ferry Services who explained that the task of his Agency is to move people and businesses on the Lagos waterways, saying, "we started operations in February 2020 when Governor Sanwo-Olu commissioned our boats
at Badore Terminal. So far, we have commuted over 3 million
people and inching towards ferrying 4 million passengers because we presently have 20 boats in our fleet.
Thanks to Mr. Governor who has taken us from just reading these things in the books and watching them on television, we are experiencing it right here in Lagos with millions of others in the State and can now boast of Lagos State as beingl a mega city." He added.
Afterwards Honourable Aremu was taken to the Control room to explain how every ferry and boating activities on the Lagos waterways are monitored to enhance safety and quick intervention in the case of any emergency on the waters.
The group were then conveyed on two designated Lagferry boats from their headquarters to the Five Cowrie point in Falomo where Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, the General Manager of the Lagos State Waterways Authority, LASWA welcomed everyone.
On regulatory strategies put in place by his Agency to keep the waterways very safe, Mr Damilola said,
"Well, the very first thing is that you must have the vision of ensuring that you want to build
what we call a clean, a safe, and a prosperous waterways. If you look at that, it shows that we're
trying to make sure our waterways, first of all, is as clean as it should be. Secondly, we want to
make it safe, because when it's safe, people will feel more confident to use the waterways.
And finally, of course, it must be prosperous, because at the end of the day, businesses must thrive on the waterways. So that's what has been our clear
vision, and we set out to ensure that we can build safety through enforcement of the use of life jackets by every boat passenger."
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