Gov. Sanwo-Olu Dignifies Lagosians with 1000 Brand New Ride-Hailing Taxis
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Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu launched LAGOS RIDE. The event enjoyed royal blessing, also supported by the clergy class and security operatives from all the armed forces
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has flagged off a new Hitech driven public taxi transportation christened, LAGOS RIDE, with 1000 brand new cars rolled out to ply the nooks and crannies of the state of aquatic splendour.
Sanwo-Olu, while launching the scheme, said the State had moved another step forward in its drive to develop an efficient transportation model in tune with modernity and comfort.
The Governor said the new taxi scheme was not to run existing hailing ride operators out of business, but to offer safer alternative and clear the roads of rickety cars which frequently break down and inadvertently affects travel time adversely, thus causing useful man-hours to be frittered in traffic jams created by the broken down vehicles.
Sanwoolu said the objective of government was the creation of opportunities for the same operators of the old scheme to become owners of a brand new salon car to eke out a living and care for their responsibilities to themselves and their family members.
The Governor disclosed that the new scheme being used for taxi business was devised with the view to providing opportunities to the operators to become owners of the vehicles within a three to four years period.
He said: “the need to provide better, dignifying and more rewarding means of transportation and livelihood for unemployed and underemployed population gave birth to the new ‘Lagos State Taxi Scheme’, which will be operated on a lease-to-own basis”.
He further explained that under this arrangement, a beneficiary will be provided with a brand-new car which will become the driver’s property after completion of the payment of the vehicle’s subsidized cost within three to four years.
Since the Governor has been emphasizing the provision of options through the multimodal projects, he announced that “this taxi scheme will complement the various bus services which are making a significant impact in the lives of our people; the water transport service, which is recording unprecedented patronage, as well as the Blue and Red Line Rail services which are on course to commence commercial operations between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2023.”
Sanwo-Olu said the safety and security of Lagosians were embedded in the production planning of the cars abinitio.
According to the Governor, in-built in the cars to improve riders’ and passengers’ security, was a full security gadget, including a 360 dashboard camera that will give 24-hour audio-visual feeds to the control centre.
He added that each car came with a physical panic button that could be used by anyone on board in case of assault or emergency. The panic button, the Governor said, is also on the mobile application and is connected to the Control and Command Centre.
The Commissioners for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladehinde, described the scheme as “another milestone achievement” by the State Government, noting that the initiative was a complement and in the same vein an option to an array of other innovative solutions initiated in the transport sector, which were targeted at redefining public transportation.
To make the rides affordable, the Commissioner said the technology on which the scheme is operated had made ride-sharing possible for passengers, who would agree to share a ride and share transit costs
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