News of some 50 brand new Scania Marcopolo buses being presented to the State Transport company by President John Mahama brought joy to the traveling public.
This joy however seem short-lived after visits and rides on the state transporter revealed some interesting occurrences.
The 44-seater buses have state of the art facilities such as in-built toilet, mini refrigerator, coffee mixer, television set, free wi-fi and six security cameras. The buses are also fitted with tracking devices to ensure security.
These facilities should make above average fares justifiable considering that Ghanaians have developed a strong knack for quality and comfort.
However, rawgist.com’s observations revealed that though the television sets and radio stations were being put to use, none of the other luxuries stated above was working. A lot had been said about how stops were to be minimized to the barest minimum because of the washroom on board and 
the other facilities. However, the washrooms on all the buses boarded were tightly locked. The bus kept stopping for passengers to pass urine. When rawgist.com’s Bernard Buachi asked the conductor who gave his name as “Tony” why the toilet was locked, he couldn’t give an explanation but only said that it will be opened sometime next year. WHY?
Will the fridges also be opened next year? WHY? As for the coffee mixers, I wouldn’t even bother.
One bus from Kumasi to Tamale kept stopping to wait for passengers who couldn’t make the time and were hence left behind at various stages of the journey. The rest of the passengers were therefore made to wait for such folks to meet the bus before the journey continued. Many of the passengers complained about the time waste.
“I came to STC because I learnt they moved on time, so I timed myself to attend a business meeting in Tamale but was sorely disappointed at the several stop and waits we 
have had so far”, a passenger confided.
People came to queue for tickets to Accra from the Kumasi terminal only to be told after spending some time there that there were no buses for Accra. This left the passengers disappointed. One person who wanted a bus for Tema chuckled and murmured; ” Accra mpo na ebi nni ho yi na Tema” to wit how can there possibly be a bus for Tema if even Accra has no bus.
By the way you should see for yourself the absurd duration it took to get a ticket for one person.
Is this what the President envisaged when he spoke in a glorified manner about the coaches?
Inasmuch as the new buses still remain very comfortable, management should leave their offices and ensure efficiency and smooth running of their operations as the status quo will soon drive away the enthusiastic traveling public.
