A show of maturity by an Ikorodu-bound passenger of the Lagos State Bus Service Limited (LSBL), Ridwan Adejare, yesterday, prevented a brawl between him and a bus ticketer in Oshodi, Lagos.
Sources said that the passenger and his two friends had approached the LSBL service counter at terminal 3, Oshodi, to recharge their cards but the attender returned the card of one of the customers with assurance that it had been recharged.
However, when he wanted to board a bus, he was told that there was no money on his card. The young man quickly returned to the counter to lay a complaint, but the attendant spoke to him unruly and the situation degenerated to a hurl of insults.
It was learnt that while this was going on, the attendant through the small opening in the counter, drew the passenger closer and tore his shirt.
But an official on ground intervened and bought the passenger a new shirt to douse the tension. The Guardian, however, learnt that it was not the first time such incident would happen at the terminal.
A source said some passengers had earlier approached officials at the terminal to protest disappearance of funds from their wallets.
The protesters, the source said, even broke the door to the service centre in protest. A passenger said: “I once recharged N700 when I was going to Ikorodu, the fare was N300, but everything disappeared and when I came back, I was told to visit the customer service in terminal 2. When I got there, I was told to come back the next day. So, I gave up because I can’t be wasting money and my precious time.
But an official who spoke with The Guardian in confidence said: “Passengers come here to protest thinking it’s our fault but, it’s not. Some of the passengers came here today (yesterday) because they couldn’t tab out after they arrived at the terminal.
“We have also complained and we are waiting for the authority to fix the problem.”
Recall that the management of Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) had in February, commenced the use of Lagos State travel token known as Cowry card for fares in place of the paper ticket sold at the parks.
However, a few weeks after its launch, passengers started complaining about the disappearance of funds from their wallets.
