The Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council (GRTCC), the apex body of all transport unions and associations in the country, is asking all commercial drivers not to increase fares in the light of the minimal adjustment of the prices of some crude products.
Although the current adjustment by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) affected primarily kerosene and premix, some drivers are agitating for fare increases because the last increases in fuel prices did not attract a corresponding increase in transport fares.
With the current adjustment, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) has been increased from GHp 212.35 to GHp 219.55 per kilogramme while premix now sells at GHp80.1425 per litre and kerosene, selling at 124.70 per litre.
The price increases, which took effect from yesterday, did not affect premium and diesel.
Reacting to the agitations by drivers for fare increases, the General Secretary of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Mr S. K. Okudzeto, and the General Secretary of the GRTCC, Alhaji Aliyu Baba, said proposals on increasing fares based on all the variables had been forwarded to the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, for consideration.
“We therefore want our members to be patient for the ministry to study the proposals so that the right fares would be announced,” they urged their members in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
In February, the NPA announced a 20 per cent increase in fuel prices and a three per cent upward adjustment in June.
The GRTCC, after the adjustment by the NPA, announced that it was time for increases in fares to be decoupled from the periodic increases in fuel prices alone.
It said fuel price was only about 26 per cent of running a vehicle, and announced that it was commissioning a survey on the other variables, to build a model, on which subsequent fare increases would be based.
Mr Baba said the proposals to the Minister of Transport was based on the work of a consultant, who was commissioned by the GRTCC to review variables in the transport business.
He said the consultant examined the cost of the vehicle, clearing and registration of vehicles, the cost of lubricants, maintenance, the salaries of the driver and his or her mate, and spare parts.
The seating capacities of vehicles were also considered in the model to be used in the calculation of fares.
Alhaji Baba said that consideration of the ordinary Ghanaian would also be a factor in the final determination of transport fares.