<\/p>\n
By Dennis Peprah\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wenchi (B\/R), Nov. 03, GNA-There was a misunderstanding over new lorry fares at the Wenchi Lorry Station in the Bono Region between commercial drivers and travellers that created a scene in the early hours of Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Visibly angry passengers travelling to parts of the country were stranded for hours after all the commercial drivers refused to ply the various routes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tempers flared up when the drivers imposed new lorry fares, which the passengers refused to pay, and were thus stranded at the station for hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the drivers, they could not wait any longer for the official announcement of transport fares because of the increase in petroleum prices in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials of the Wenchi Municipal branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) however, intervened to calm down nerves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As at the time of filing this report, traveling activities in the municipality had resumed, but taxis for instance charged GhC35 from Wenchi to Sunyani, instead of GhC25\u00a0<\/p>\n
The drivers operating from Wenchi to Kumasi also charged GHS 65 instead of the GHS 55 fare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of the passengers who said they could not afford to pay the new lorry fares were, however, sighted bargaining with the drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But others told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that they felt \u201cthe lorry fares were exorbitant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They therefore appealed to the government to engage the transport unions and other relevant stakeholders for standard and reasonable transport fares in the interest of both drivers and passengers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lorry fares are too much. Though we all understand the situation, the drivers are cheating us, and something must be done urgently,\u201d John Abass, a teacher traveling from Wenchi to Sunyani stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another passenger, Madam Ama Konadu, a yam seller regretted that the new lorry fares had affected luggage charges too by 100 per cent and called on the GPRTU to intervene for reduction of the luggage charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am traveling to sell the yams at the Nana Bosoma Central Market in Sunyani, but I can\u2019t afford to pay the charges for the yams because the amount is too outrageous,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
GNA\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n