Despite Kumasi City authorities’ efforts to sanitise the transport sector in Kumasi, commercial vehicle drivers have managed to double transportation fares by employing the infamous “short-short” system, refusing to take passengers to their registered destinations.

All commercial vehicles are obliged to take passengers to registered destinations as indicated by transport union charters; however, union leaders are refusing to implement the regulation, apart from long-journey vehicle operators.

Passengers, mainly traders, workers, and emergency service staff, who are stuck in long queues for hours daily waiting for vehicles to their destinations, are left with no option but to succumb to drivers’ exploitation.

One health service worker (name withheld) told Press1News.com that she leaves home an hour early for work but was still 20 minutes late, even though it normally takes her 30 minutes to get to work.

Other passengers also revealed that, apart from paying almost double the usual transport fares, it takes them several hours to get to their destinations.

The chaos is attributed to deviant drivers who park in the middle of the road to load passengers due to the “short-short” system.

They believe that the police and city authorities have also failure to ensure traffic flow in the pre-Christmas era.

They are therefore calling on stakeholders, particularly transport unions and city authorities, to call all deviant drivers to order.

BY Thomas Awuah Asem