Commuters at major terminals across Accra continue to spend hours waiting for buses with no guarantee of boarding one.
For many workers and students, the daily commute has become an endurance test, with productivity routinely sacrificed to systemic transport failures.
This reality continued to frame a robust discussion on the Citi Breakfast Show (CBS) on Citi FM on Friday, January 16, hosted by Caleb Kudah and his panelists Richard Sky, Godfred Akoto Boafo, and Francisca Kakra Forson who argued that the transport crisis while painful offers government a rare chance to reclaim control of public transport.
On the Citi Breakfast Show, panelists linked Accra’s congestion to rapid population growth. The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area now hosts over five million people, with projections suggesting the population could approach ten million by 2050 if current trends persist.
Transport supply, however, has failed to keep pace, deepening queues, congestion, and commuter frustration a point repeatedly stressed on CBS.
About 80 percent of Ghana’s bus system, inter-city and intra-city is controlled by private operators, largely under the GPRTU. State-owned services such as Ayalolo, Metro Mass Transit, and STC have been allowed to deteriorate.
On the Citi Breakfast Show, panelists noted that many private buses are old, poorly maintained, and unfit for purpose, yet they remain dominant, leaving government with limited leverage to regulate fares and service quality.
The conversation on Citi FM pointed to regional examples that show a different path is possible.
In Senegal, government took a deliberate decision to lead public transport reform rather than surrender it entirely to private operators. Dakar’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system was state-led, centrally planned, and publicly regulated, with private operators integrated under strict contracts.
The result has been dedicated bus lanes, predictable fares, modern fleets, and reduced travel times on key corridors. Importantly, informal operators were not ignored; they were reorganized, retrained, or absorbed into the new system under clearer rules.
Similarly, in Nigeria, particularly Lagos State, government asserted control through a strong transport authority and massive public investment. The Lagos BRT system operates on exclusive lanes, backed by state-owned or tightly regulated buses, while private operators function under franchise-style arrangements. This has helped Lagos move millions daily at controlled fares, despite its enormous population pressure.
The panelists on the Citi Breakfast Show argued that the common thread in both Senegal and Nigeria is political will: government chose to plan, invest, and regulate using the private sector as a partner, not the driver.
Richard Sky, speaking on the show, drew a direct link between transport and economic growth. If workers cannot move reliably, productivity suffers. He argued that Accra’s congestion represents lost economic hours every day, a silent drag on national growth.
To regain control in the short to medium term, there is a view that government would need to procure about 21,600 buses over the next five years, giving the state enough scale to stabilize the system much like the approach seen in Senegal and Nigeria.
One proposal debated on the Citi Breakfast Show was to restrict trotro operators to feeder and peripheral routes, while government buses dominate major arterial roads with regulated fares and schedules. This mirrors reforms in Dakar and Lagos, where informal operators were reorganized rather than left to dictate the system.
Francisca Kakra Forson warned that reform is often resisted because some duty bearers have personal interests in private bus operations an obstacle Senegal and Nigeria confronted head-on.
Godfred Akoto Boafo widened the lens, questioning Accra’s long-term planning. He asked what the city’s vision for the next five to ten years was, amid population growth. Without integrated land-use and transport planning, he cautioned, any fix will be temporary.
The consensus on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM was unmistakable. Accra’s transport crisis is the result of decades of weak planning, over-reliance on private operators, and lack of state capacity. Yet, as Senegal and Nigeria demonstrate, this moment can be a turning point.
By investing at scale, asserting regulatory authority, and redefining the private sector’s role, government can break the private monopoly, restore order to fares, and build a public transport system fit for a fast-growing capital. For stranded commuters across Accra, the stakes could not be higher.
As the debate over Accra’s transport future intensifies, conversations like these remain critical. The Citi Breakfast Show, airing on Citi FM, continues to set the agenda on governance and public policy. Monday to Friday, from 6:20am to 10:00am bringing decision-makers, analysts, and the public into one national conversation.
