The General Secretary of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), Emmanuel Ohene Yeboah says even though the Ghana Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is justified in their decision to increase transport fares, they erred in their approach.

According to him, besides the 20% increment being too high, the GPRTU had failed to go through due process as has been done over the years before announcing their price increments.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Emmanuel Ohene Yeboah stated that “In this instance I think they erred. Since 2001 this system of meeting with the Transport Ministry and the other stakeholders has been the mode of increasing our fares.

“The GPRTU should come and meet, when we meet it means even with that 20% we can find a better way of bringing it out to the public so that it doesn’t create confusion.”

He explained that even though the price increment was justified, the 20% increment was a bit too much and the price increment could have been brought down to 15%.

He said the 20% increment was unfair.

“There is a justification for the increase, there’s no two ways about that. But the approach is what we’re complaining about. I am saying that if there is a standing convention that we have used over the years and it is working for us. And nobody has had a cause to complain about the convention itself, why would you get away from the convention without reference to other parties on the same platform?

“I don’t think it is fair. Why am I saying so? You see the fuel constitutes about a third of the total operational cost. Abbas was saying that when we do the calculation, we add spare parts and all that. Yes we do that, but we only do that once a year, sometimes twice a year.

“We do that at the beginning of a year, and maybe midyear and maybe the close of the year, that’s when we sue spare parts as a component. But the actual fare increase is based on the third. So a third gives you about 15 or 17%. So definitely, 20% is on the higher side,” he explained.