In an institution as expansive in land as the University of Ibadan, transportation is non-negotiable. From cabs to buses to tricycles (Keke), every student has had a reason or another to board a vehicle for quick and easy transportation. To meet this need are various tricycles, cabs and buses found at the carpark at U.I gate, as well as at several roads in the University, transporting or calling for passengers.
It is due to the important nature of transportation as well as the volatile nature of fuel prices that the UI student union government laid down guidelines stating the appropriate transport fares, depending on the destination. Students were also encouraged to report any cab driver who refused to adhere to the stipulated transport fare.
With these guidelines being published regularly, one would think there would be little if any instance of being ripped off by these cab drivers. However, there are still several events when these drivers have blatantly ignored the rules to charge transport fares according to their own discretion. This is especially common among taxi drivers, as opposed to Keke and bus drivers. In fact, students generally prefer to board tricycles, not only because it takes lesser time to get filled up, but also because the cab drivers tend to inflate the transport prices.
In addition, when the drivers discover that the destination is “far”, or in the night, from 7:30 or 8pm, they automatically resort to charging a high price, even beyond the highest price found on the U.I SU transport fare guidelines. This menace has gone on for so long that some students are not even aware that they are being ripped off by the drivers.
The reason for this inflation is somewhat hard to understand. Perhaps the drivers see the number of seats in their cab as a disadvantage, and fearing that they may not get filled up on time, they attempt to pawn the extra charges on the passengers they find. Or perhaps the taxis use more fuel than the Keke drivers, but whatever the reason, the fact remains that extra transport fare charges amount to ripping students off. It is also a blatant disregard for the transport fare guidelines that have been laid down.
According to Oyin, a student of the department of Forestry, who narrated her experience of being charged over the stipulated transport fare, “I took a cab with two of my friends from Idia hall to my department, Forestry, and when we got there, we gave the taxi driver 1000 naira, and then he told us that cab drop is 700 naira (contrary to the guidelines which states that the price is 600 naira). The driver threw the change on the floor and drove off.”
In this situation, since the total number of passengers had exceeded two, it was technically not a cab drop, thus, according to the guidelines, each passenger should have been charged 200 naira each, making it 600 naira in total, but the driver made an extra 100 naira.
Flourish, another student of the department of laboratory science, also experienced a similar predicament when she boarded a cab close to the mosque and upon reaching her destination, U.I gate, she was charged 200 naira instead of the stipulated 150 naira. In her words, “When I asked for the remaining 50 naira change, he drove off after saying I wanted to cheat him. I was pissed but I had to let go because I was rushing that morning”.
Gabriel, an engineering student narrated his encounter thus, “there was this particular day I was rushing to the gate, so I entered a cab opposite Zik. I think then the transport fare ought to have been 150 naira, but the man collected 200 naira from me and didn’t give me change.”
It is unfortunate that Gabriel, Flourish and Oyin are only a few of many who have experienced this same issue.
Another menace common to both Keke and taxi drivers is the high amount of ‘charges’ added to transfers. Some drivers charge as much as fifty naira extra, which is ridiculous once anyone considers it deeply. To transfer a transport fare as low as 200 naira, it sounds very laughable that one might have to add 50 naira extra, in order to offset the famous bank charges claimed by these drivers. This only amounts to cheating students in broad daylight.
The problem of overcharging students for transport also indicates a deeper issue rooted in the ease by which these drivers flaunt the rules clearly laid down by the Student Union Executives. The laws have sanctions attached to them for a reason- to deter people from breaking the rules. There has been no reported instance when a taxi driver was actually punished for breaking the rules even though they are clearly several instances of their overcharging students, so does this disobedience mean that the Student Union leaders are not powerful enough to enforce simple rules on transport fare?
It is therefore important that the student union executives take stronger measures to prevent these frequent rip-offs and to punish the drivers who refuse to stick to the guidelines. This is after all a citadel of knowledge, not of corruption.
