The Urban Transport Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has handed over vehicle identification stickers to 24 recognised transport unions in Kumasi, including long distance vehicles.
To ensure the smooth enforcement of the decision, all commercial vehicles registered with the unions in Kumasi will now operate with a unique identification sticker.
The move is to bring sanity into the public transport operations, and also regulate the influx of commercial vehicles in the Kumasi Metropolis.
According to the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Osei Assibey Antwi, only vehicles with the Assembly’s identification stickers would be permitted to enter the Central Business District (CBD), including the Kejetia Market, to either pick or offload passengers, a move, he said, would encourage “waawaa” (floating) vehicles to join the unions.
“Drivers without the stickers who will sneak into the CBD will be arrested and handed over to the Regional Police MTTD for necessary action,” he stated.
Assibey Antwi (right) hands over a sample sticker to the GPRTU Chairman
Osei Assibey noted that the Assembly was in the process of setting up a taskforce, comprising selected members from the KMA Transport sub-committee, Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service (MTTD), and the transport unions to regulate the initiative.
The identification stickers, which will be pasted on each unionised vehicle, has the name of the particular transport union, the registration number of the vehicle, the destination or route, and features, including the KMA’s logo, seal and other hidden security features.
“Over 2,500 pieces of the identification stickers have been printed and handed over to the leadership of the 24 transport unions so far,” Osei Assibey Antwi disclosed.
By inference, trotro vehicles which are not a part of the unions have been banned from operating in the Kumasi Metropolis.
In effect, commercial vehicles which do not join any known transport union will not be allowed into the central business district, where the popular Kejetia Market and bus terminal, as well as Adum, are located.
As a result, the KMA and the various transport operators have met to discuss social distancing protocols, and agreed to also limit the number of vehicles plying the city.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Nana Nimako Bresiamah, said the unions are also in support of a rotational system to decongest the city.
The unions have also agreed to comply with the new directive, which seeks to promote social distancing in the wake of the deadly novel Coronavirus outbreak, which has registered 2,169 cases in the country so far.
The post Transport unions to operate with identification stickers appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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