Yankari Transport Company requires N464m lifeline, says acting GM

The Bauchi State Transport Company, operators of Yankari Transport Company, requires N464 million lifeline to boost its fleet, the company’s Acting General Manager, Sule Yawu, made this known on Wednesday  in an interview.

Yawu explained the fund would be spent on the purchase of new vehicles that would boost the vehicles currently on the fleet of the company.

He said the company currently has 68 serviceable vehicles and 12 unserviceable ones in its fleet, which, according to him, are not enough.

The company boss said some of the vehicles he described as “long distance buses’’ ply Abuja, Nasarawa, Kano, Kaduna, Yola, Gombe and Maiduguri routes.

He added that some of the vehicles ply Azare, Dass, Bununu and Misau intra-state routes.

He said most of the serviceable vehicles that ply intra-state routes were old and needed replacement, while the company needed more vehicles that would render services on both inter-state and intra-state routes.

Yawu noted that the company found it difficult to satisfy its customers, especially during its peak times of operation, when there was influx of passengers.

He pointed out that the company currently generated N20 monthly as revenue and spent over N600,000 daily on fueling, purchase of spare parts, servicing and other expenses.

The company has 80 dedicated drivers and 37 casual drivers, while each driver runs a maximum of 40 hours duty and a minimum of 25 hours duty.

He said the company conveyed a minimum of 48,000 passengers yearly for both intra and inter-state operations and spent N1.6 million yearly on payment of rent to Bauchi Local Government Council for the premises it was occupying as it had no park.

The acting general manager, therefore, urged the new administration in the state to allocate funds and land to the company for the purchase of new buses and construction of its park.

He emphasised that the allocation of land to the company would also enable it to construct corner shops, a permanent park, a petrol station, a passenger’s lodge and a restaurant that would boost the revenue drive of the company.

NAN