Transportation costs decline marginally in February as fuel scarcity eases

The cost of transportation in Nigeria declined in February as long queues in petrol stations disappears, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop declined by 0.47 percent in February 2023 to N647.66 from N650.70 in January 2023, on a year-on-year basis, the average fare paid rose by 26.07 percent from N513.72 in February 2022.

While the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop declined to N3,990 in February 2023, indicating a decline in the growth rate by 0.19 percent on a month-on-month basis compared to the N3,998 in January 2023. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 4.02 percent from N3,836 in February 2022.

In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey, decreased by 0.18 percent on a month-on-month basis from N74,702 in January 2023 to N74,572 in February 2023. On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 66.36 percent from N44,825 in February 2022.

The average fare paid on Okada transportation was N461.28 in February 2023, which was 1.07 percent lower than N466.25 recorded in January 2023. On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 21.67 percent when compared with N379.12 recorded in February 2022.

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In addition, the average fare paid for water transport in February 2023 stood at N1,029, showing an increase of 12.74 percent on a year-on-year basis from N913.13 in February 2022. On a month-on-month basis, it declined by 0.33 percent from N1,032 in January 2023.

Transport fare categories by zone showed that in February 2023, transport fares of bus journeys within the city recorded the highest in the North-East with N698.33, followed by the South-South with N660.58, while the South-East recorded the least with N616.88.

In terms of bus journey intercity, the South-West had the highest fare with N4,255, followed by the North-East with N4,130, while the North-West recorded the least with N3,816. The Northeast recorded the highest air transport fare in February 2023 with N76,350, followed by the South-East with N75,270, while the North-Central had the least with N72,357.