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Some drivers who ply the Circle/Kasoa road have taken advantage of the terrible traffic situation on the road to exploit passengers. These drivers pick passengers up at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle overhead bridge instead of the main Kaneshie lorry station. While some of them charge GH¢1.00 per passenger, others demand GH¢1.50 as against the allowed 85p. This notwithstanding, most commuters who live in Kasoa and its environs would rather pay the exorbitant fare, albeit grudgingly, and get a vehicle home on time than to join long, endless queues at the Kaneshie station. And the drivers, endlessly complaining about poor sales, are cashing in on the helpless situation to perpetuate the illegality. In an interview with Myjoyonline, one of the off-station drivers, Kwabena Ebo, explained that the demand for the extra fare is to enable he and his colleagues make up for the shortfalls in sales when they get caught-up in the traffic. He noted that the heavy traffic jams, which normally build up at about 6am to 10am, as well as from 4pm to 10pm from Monday to Friday, deny them of the number of trips required to make their sales. Ebo explained further that some of his colleagues resort to picking passengers in bits – from Circle to Kaneshie and then from Kaneshie to Odorkor to Mallam and finally to Kasoa, charging the required fares for the short distances that add up in excess of what would have been the case for a straight journey. Rather than greed, Mr Kwabena Ebo emphasized that the drivers are motivated by the desire to make up for their losses as a result of the heavy traffic. And even here, he said the police are another bother, for they will arrest particularly commercial drivers at the least offence and eventually extort the sales from them. Ebo believes many of the wayside drivers would revert to the stations to ply their trade when ongoing road construction works are completed, for as he put it, even the passengers' safety are better assured there. By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.