Addressing Challenges of Lagos Transport System

With increased investment and technology innovation in Lagos transportation system, urban transportation in Lagos State is finally becoming multi-modal for commuters, writes Ugo Aliogo

For decades, the movement of people and goods within Lagos was a major challenge for government and businesses. With over 22 million trips per day, commuters and private vehicles struggle for space on just over 5,000km of roads in the smallest state in Nigeria. Saying transportation was a problem is an understatement. With people spending more time in traffic than they did in productive ventures, almost everyone was losing money. And with most of the vehicles used for public transport in near-total disrepair, the environment also suffered as fumes from old and tired engines made the air unbreathable and waste from vehicles made the streets dirty.

The scenario painted above was yesterday. The reality today is a vastly improved public transportation architecture in Lagos State with modernization and availability of choice taking the centerstage. A ferry system making the most of our waterways and offering fast alternative to time otherwise spent on the road; the BRT system expanding and getting better with Molue permanently extinct on our roads; over 500 First and Last Mile buses taking people to and fro their streets and neighborhood, and effectively replacing the Okada motorcycle system; and most excitingly, a functional Rail transportation system fast emerging.

This is all thanks to the commitment of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the agency tasked with the responsibility of actualizing the desired transportation architecture of the state, and its diligent execution of the vision and objectives of the Lagos Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP).

Following a law passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law on January 13, 2002, by the then Governor of the State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, LAMATA was established as a semi-autonomous corporate body with perpetual succession and an independent board responsible for the formulation, coordination and implementation of urban transport policies and programmes in the Lagos metropolitan area.

The vision that was set before LAMATA, which remains till day is “to provide a world- class, sustainable integrated transport system that satisfies stakeholders and drives the growth of Lagos.” To better understand the essence of LAMATA as distinct from the State’s Ministry of Transportation, the Commissioner in the ministry, Dr. Frederick Oladeinde, clearly makes the distinction that while the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation develops policies, LAMATA develops strategies around those policies, converts them to plans, and proceeds to implementing the infrastructure required.

The STMP as Compass

To succeed with its mandate of enabling a more efficient and sustainable public transportation system, LAMATA follows the Strategic Transport Master Plan to the letter. This is the compass that details the requisite infrastructure required to achieve the desired transportation architecture for the state, as well as the guidelines on how and when to implement it. This is the plan that has been at the core of the development of Public Transportation in Lagos since the inception of LAMATA itself in 2002, because it envisages, factors, and integrates all modes of transport including rail, road, and water.

The STMP provides for six rail lines and one monorail; 14 Bus Rapid Transit routes; 485 Independent Bus Routes; and over 20 water terminals, with regular upgrades every 10 years to accommodate for changing population and realities. Today, just like with successive administrations in Lagos State, LAMATA has moved the centre of excellence that much closer to the public transportation dreamland envisioned over 20 years ago.

Bus Reform Initiative

Given the highly metropolitan nature of Lagos and the humongous challenges that come with the congestion occasioned by the large population it attracts, LAMATA figured rightly that to make transportation easier on the people would necessarily requires an attempt at solving public bus transportation.

This focused approach has seen to the conceptualisation and implementation of the

Bus Reform Initiative (BRI), the part of the STMP that addresses the transformation required in public road transportation. This has led to the continuing development of the BRT system, which now moves up to two hundred thousand passengers daily and has conveyed over 100million passengers in the first three years of the present administration.

Part of the Bus Reforms is the construction of new and modern Bus terminals at

strategic hubs across the state such as in Oyingbo, Yaba, Ewu, Ikeja, Oshodi, Agege, Ojota and Ajah etc. as part of effort aimed at changing the face of public bus transportation towards a modern world class system deserving of Nigeria’s economic capital.

In addition, there is the successful introduction of over 500 First and Last Mile buses since its commissioning in August 2021 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration as part of efforts at ridding the State of the ruinous menace of the Okada motorcycle operators. In only the first year of the First and Last Mile Bus Scheme, over 3.5 million passengers have been moved to and from their homes to the BRT bus stops and major bus terminals in the state.

Most eye-catching of the accomplishments of the BRI is the successful integration of the more efficient and accountable automated fare collection system through the Cowry Card, an e-ticketing system that works on land, sea and soon, rail. This is a most innovative accomplishment and is a massive departure from what was obtainable until recent. With a single swipe of the Cowry card, commuters can pay for their bus, train, and boat rides conveniently.

The system helps to check revenue leakages and enables LAMATA to accurately project, plan, budget and effectively advise the government on future moves, and investments, relying on this reliable revenue projection model. As at the end of 2022, over 2.2 million Cowry Cards have been registered and effectively in use in the State.

Lagos Rail Mass Transit

The LRMT is the part of the STMP that seeks to bring the dreams of successive Lagos administrations to life regarding the development of modern rail transportation. It envisions six functional rail lines and one monorail to meet the huge urban transportation need of the Lagos of today and of the future.

The six lines have been colorfully named to cover different parts of the city as follow: Blue Line to run from Marina to Okokomaiko: Red Line – Marina to Agbado; Green Line – Marina to Lekki Free Trade Zone; Orange Line – Ikeja to Agbowa; Purple Line to run from Redemption Camp, Mowe to Ojo; and Yellow Line to run from Otta to the National Theatre.

Working steadily and smartly to surmount multi-various challenges including funding and topography, LAMATA has displayed commendable diligence in bringing the Blue and Red Lines to live before our eyes with both metro systems close to commencement of commercial operations.

The 37 km Red line is being implemented in two phases. The construction of all infrastructure of the first phase from Agbado to Oyingbo, a 27km stretch is about 90% done with stations at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege, Iju, and Agbado, as well as four overpasses constructed and retrofitted. The rolling stock for the Red line is in Lagos and will be operational in a matter of months.

The second phase, which will extend from Oyingbo, via Iddo and all the way to the iconic Marina station and will include a sea-crossing with a 5.2km elevated rail bridge across the Lagos Lagoon, is expected to follow immediately.

The Blue line however, has been the infrastructure generating the most excitement among Lagosians, Nigerians, and indeed all of Africa with the completion of the infrastructure of the 13km first phase in December 2022, and its official commissioning by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 23, 2023.

Like the Red line, the Blue line is being implemented in phases one and two. The 13km first phase will run from Marina to Mile 2, servicing 5 stations in total including Marina, National Theatre, Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2. When completed, the Blue line will be 27km from Marina all the way to Okokomaiko.

With the Blue line, LAMATA and the Lagos State government have recorded many firsts in the annals of history: the first metro rail system by a sub-national in the world; the first rail system to be powered 100 percent by electricity, making it a 21st-century green infrastructure that is environment friendly and no carbon emission. All these further affirming Lagos State’s undoubted position as the crown jewel of sub-nationals in Africa.

Since the commissioning of the Blue line by the President in January, LAMATA is on record to have transported about 16,000 Lagosians on the Blue line as part of an ongoing test of infrastructure, system and processes ahead of expected commercial operations in the second quarter of the year.

From the infrastructure and facilities being implemented across road, rail, and water transportation and the positive transformation all these are bringing to urban transportation in Lagos State, LAMATA is an example of what smart visioning and diligent execution can bring to a city desirous of progress. The agency is showing that a decent, affordable, comfortable, and timeous transportation system with best-in-class infrastructure and technology for best-in-class mobility experience is possible for Lagosians.

Commuters in Lagos are increasingly becoming more comfortable in their choice on how they want to move within the city because transportation is slowly but surely becoming multi-modal.