• Two years on, passengers laud Lagos govt, share how services are shaping lives
By Cosmas Omegoh
A ride on the Lagos Blue Line train at separate hours – peak and low times – elicit two parallel experiences a world apart.
While the former reminds one about the long-gone days of the Molue buses that once ruled the Lagos city roads with gusto, the other seemingly offers a taste of luxury, class and comfort.
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The Blue Line trains, our correspondent learnt, convey no fewer than 400,000 passengers daily, between 5:30 am and 11 pm daily.
Workers, traders and other city residents, who hitherto commuted between Mile 2 and Lagos Island on rickety buses, now have been enjoying a new lease of life two years after the service was launched. And with that, the Lagos State government has largely freed itself from a portion of the humongous transportation hassles that part of the city still faces.
Getting on the trains
Boarding the trains comes easy for anyone who is not intending to cut corners.
Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), operators of the trains had mounted a security protocol that ensures that individuals who have no intention of paying for the services don’t get anywhere near the platform.
Our correspondent observed that getting to the point of ticket purchase and boarding the train is a no task for the aged and elderly. They probably cannot climb the stairs that reach as high as a two-storey building to purchase and recharge their Cowry cards required for the ride.
The Cowry card itself is a blue-face, white and blue-stripe back micro-chipped material the size of the average business card. It costs N700. The passenger has to recharge it with a minimum of N500 for a single ride. That brings a first timer’s fare up to N1,200.
Armed with the Cowry card, the passenger approaches the entrance gate to the platform. Upon placing the card on the electronic gating device, access is granted. The same process is replicated at the exit point by placing it on the same electronic gating device to allow access. Through that, the unscrupulous are denied cheating opportunities. There are also smartly-dressed young males and females guarding the platforms, ready to assist passengers when necessary.
A ride at peak and low times
During the morning and evening rush hours, there is always this massive crowd of passengers surging from Festac Town, Ojo-Alaba and Badagry and pushing to reach Lagos Island area. They go there to work or trade.
In the evenings, the same crowd returns to retire in the mainly residential areas, thus reinforcing the claim that Lagos is hugely populated.
During those hours, the stations are packed full. Regular riders recharge their cards with good sums of money to avoid delays.
LAMATA Managing Director, Abimbola Akinajo, last year, promised that “the Blue Line train riders will now travel between Marina and Mile 2 in just about 18 minutes from the previous travel time of 25 minutes.”
He informed last year that 72 train services began running every day, an increase in frequency from 54 previously.
An estimated 400,000 passengers, it was gathered, go on the trains daily. And that number is projected to exceed the 700,000 mark by the time the scheme becomes fully operational.
The trains arrive approximately at a 25-minute interval. Two of them operate on the dual-tracks, shuttling between Marina on Lagos Island and Mile 2 on the Mainland.
At peak periods, the platforms at Mile 2 and Marina are not any different from what used to be at the popular bus stops in the heyday of the Molue buses.
Passengers don’t fluff the opportunity to get on the train the moment it arrives. The trains carry about four coaches each. The coaches house about 30 passengers sitting. The rest huddle together, clearly reminding one of the 39 sitting, 99 standing line of the irrepressible Afrobeat music maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
You have guessed rightly how getting on board at that period of the day could be down to the survival of the fittest or of the luckiest.
Shortly before boarding, anxious passengers are seen spread out on the platforms, eyes fixed in the direction of the awaited train. Everyone’s countenance betrays their desire to get to their destinations early.
Once the train arrives, there is an instance rhythm change that is easy to notice. The crowds surge to the edge of the platform often at the risk of falling down onto the tracks and being instantly electrocuted.
Once the train pulls up, the passengers hysterically wait for the electronic doors to slide open. Then they burst in, creating the kind of commotion reminiscent of the chaotic senses that go on at Lagos bus stops.
Whether it is in the morning or evening hours, the crowd is the same – huge – with each passenger aiming to secure a seat. Those who prefer not to engage in the near-fatal contest settle for a standing opportunity which in itself does not come easy either.
“Once a large number of people gets here, be sure there will be a rush,” Ade, a young man who works with an insurance firm on Victoria Island, said. “Everyone wants to go on the available service.”
Then he added: “Everyone knows how frustrating it can be having to wait for an extra 30 minutes for the next train to arrive just because you missed the one available.”
The coach’s interior is cozy. Passengers sit on metallic seats facing one another. The rest stand on the wide aisle, either holding the hand rail overhead, or supporting themselves on anything.
The air-conditioners are there belching out humid air to keep everyone cool, while the television monitors show exciting musical visuals.
On leaving the Mile 2 station en-route to Marina, the first station is Alaba Suru. Next is Iganmu and then the National Theatre before the Lagos Island terminus. Going back, it is the same in reverse order.
As the train departs, a lady’s voice comes on announcing the next station; it gives advice on what side of the train the door will open next and warns against stepping on the gap between the train and the platform to avoid an accident. A Yoruba Language version of the same advisory is also aired.
On arrival at Marina, the passengers disembark, each hurrying down the stairs leading to the ground floor to connect their destinations.
Some go on the Lagride mini buses back to CMS bus stop or Victoria Island, paying with the same Cowry card which is also recharged for the service.
According to our correspondent’s investigation, the train returns a few minutes later to Mile 2 almost empty. It is a low time, because the passengers have their activities on the Island.
The low period is mostly between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm. At that time, people are largely engaged at their workplaces. So the trains run nearly empty.
During that period, passengers enjoy the trains with such ease – no hassles, no rushing and no stress. They simply enjoy some good ride.
The glass windows are wide and offer good viewing opportunities. Once the train is up on the bridges, the ride turns out not just a service but a rare panoramic view of the city’s sprawling landscape, including the iconic Apapa wharf facility.
Passengers – as few as they are – enjoy the atmosphere, the ambience of the train’s interior and the full glamour the ride offers.
“This is the best period to ride and enjoy it,” a lady, Juliet, who claimed she went to Obalende to deliver a message told our correspondent as the train coursed towards Mile 2.
“The moment workers close and traders are returning home, the rush begins; the train is always chaotic. After experiencing that the first time, I hurry up with whatever I’m doing on the Island to leave.”
Lagos State and the Blue Line
The Blue Line is an electric rapid transit line operated by LAMATA.
The first phase with five stations and 13 kilometres of track opened on September 4, 2023. The second phase will reach Okokomaiko in Ojo area upon completion.
At that time, the entire line will stretch up to 27 kilometres. The trains are estimated to convey no fewer than 500,000 passengers daily beginning at 5:30 am and ending at 11 pm.
Thus far, the service is fast changing Lagosians’ way of commuting between Mile 2 area and the Islands.
Residents now prefer the trains
Residents of the Mile 2 to Badagry corridor, it was also learnt, are fast embracing the trains and gradually jettisoning the erstwhile traditional commercial buses that still keep the city on the move.
Some riders spoken to emphasised that they prefer the trains to the buses. And the arrival of the trains has increasingly compelled commercial bus operators to reduce their once exorbitant fares.
“I prefer the trains,” informed newly-married Scholarstica who works on the Island but lives at Whitesand, a developing area behind Festac Town.
“All I do every working day is to get to Mile as early as possible, catch the train, and in no time I’m on the Island.
“Work over, I hurry to the station and board an evening-hour train back to Mile 2 from where I plan my way home.”
The scheme, our correspondent equally learnt, is changing the narratives, ushering some comfort at moderate fares with assured reduction in travel time. And what is more: now the residents avoid the regular slurs and antics of the city’s menacing bus conductors and their drivers whose weird ways are as irritating.
Some people see the arrival of the trains as offering not just some breather but liberating commuters from the vice grips of commercial bus operators.
It was gathered that now, a bus ride from Mile 2 to CMS costs between N500 and N700.
Passengers who detest being hounded into buses now go on the trains; and that seems to moderate bus fares.
“About two years ago, getting to CMS by bus cost on average N500,” recalled Mrs Okolie, who also works on the Island.
“With the series of increases in fuel pump prices we have experienced over the past years, by now, who knows we would have been paying like N1,500 to get to CMS. That way, we would have been slaves to commercial bus operators,” she reasoned.
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