Some attendants of Abuja Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses seem to be lacking in good customer relations, and this has resulted into quarrels, scuttles and unnecessary delays of some of the buses. Kehinde Ajobiewe writes on these and some of the things that happen inside the buses
The Abuja new mass transit system has not been free from public criticisms since its introduction in the Federal Capital Territory. These criticisms have stemmed from delays in arrival of the buses at the bus-stops to poor services generally.
And recently, there have been complaints from commuters about the lack of good customer relations often displayed by the conductors that issue tickets inside and outside the buses. Some of them do not discharge their duties properly; it is either they do not know the right time to collect money from passengers and delaying them unnecessary, or they address commuters anyhow, while sometimes withholding change from customers unduly.
Although commercial conductors generally are known to be rude and developed strong skin to absolve insults from people because of the barbaric manner in which some passengers behave, but since the BRT buses are managed by government/private firms, one would expect a certain level of training to have been given them to enhance better customer relation.
It has also been gathered that among the things that happen inside some of the buses, like hawking, and sometimes, preaching, as against the rules boldly inscribed in the buses that says “no smoking, no hawking and others,” are practised. Reports show that some people pay their ways into some of these buses to hawk their goods.
LEADERSHIP Sunday observed that the attitude of some of the conductors is worse than those of the mini buses (Araba) that were banned from the city centre. The way some of these conductors and drivers behave at times, it is as if they have not gone through any training at all. And for the fact that they are operating under a private company, one would expect that they should have been better trained, while acting in a more civil manner than the public conductors. There is no cordial relationship among some of these drivers too.
Francis Enjema, who has witnessed one of the dramas that took place inside some of the BRT buses, says some of the vendors could be saucy and rude. Narrating his experience on his way from Lugbe, he said the conductor, a female, had to withhold the change she owed one of the passengers, thereby taking him past his destination.
According to him: “There was a case of a particular passenger that wanted to drop in Galadima Park. He demanded for his change, meanwhile she (the conductor) had the change with her but told him there was no change; that the passenger must join the bus to Area 1 before getting his change. This led to a kind of scuffle that almost turned to a big fight, if not for the timely intervention of other passengers in the bus. And I think the government should do something about it; mostly, the company that employs those ladies should make sure they undergo test before bringing anybody to be a conductor in any of the buses.”
Oko Chinonso says although he has not had a personal encounter with any of the rude conductors, but he has seen instances where they shouted on commuters inside the bus. “I think they usually have this problem with change, and the way they address people is not good. Even if you don’t have change, there is a way you will talk to somebody that will make him or her understand and be patient with you. I don’t need to start advising them, but let them go through training on how to approach people. Some of them lack manner of approach, and they think that everybody that enters a bus cannot afford a car.”
It is not all BRT bus conductors that lack good manner of approach; perhaps there are good ones among them who understand what it means to place customers as their first priority, no matter the situation.
And one of such conductors, who does not want his name in print, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that some of them could be harsh due to the stubborn nature of some passengers. But that is not acceptable in their job, and such attitude is totally against the training they were given.
“I think we are privileged to have been doing this job, and the nature of our job demands that we should always be polite and patient with our customers when talking to them, or when we don’t have change to give to them. We have been trained to relate well with our passengers. I think those with bad characters are the ones insulting their passengers. What I do mostly is to plead with our passengers when there is a little delay on the road or in the issuance of tickets or change,” he said.
However, in an interview with LEADERSHIP Sunday, the Head, Marketing and Communication, Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited (AUMTCO), Mr. Tunde Akintola, disclosed that the situation is a threat on their customer relations department in a way, adding that the company is working really hard to ensure the success of the BRT system.
He said that the mass transit system, being a new policy, is still improving on its services, and the management is working towards perfecting it.
“And when you have hundreds of people at work, to control them is always difficult. But I want you to understand that in our customer relations department, we have a set of training every month for the drivers, vendors (conductors), supervisors, and the entire staff members; most especially to improve on our customer relations. So, you will realise that we have our customer relations number at the front, rear and inside each of our buses. And we always tell the passengers that the best thing they can do for us is to call us if there is anything wrong in the way the driver drives or the way the vendors conduct themselves. What they need do is to give us the plate number of that vehicle,” he said.
Akintola also hinted that passengers have been calling to complain about some of the things going on in the buses, as well as the attitude of some of the drivers and conductors. “And I can tell you that customers have called to give us suggestions, reports, and immediately, we sprung into action. We gave those found guilty all the necessary sanctions, because we already trained them. We don’t harbor them at all. When you don’t act according to the laid-down objectives of the company, you might get sanction of one month suspension or termination of appointment. Most especially rough driving, insulting passengers, not issuing tickets on time, or not giving change to customers when you are supposed to – all attract sanctions from us.”
He said that “reports of bad customer relations among the conductors were very much in the past, but since the management has introduced sanctions on erring ones among them, they have been very conscious, because they know they can be easily reported by any of the passengers, or any of the secret monitoring and surveillance people we have.”
On the issue of hawking or preaching inside the BRT buses, Akintola said the FCT Administration has stated that any company whose driver allows hawking or preaching in any of the buses will be fined a certain amount of money, considering the present security situation in the country.
“If anyone is found preaching or hawking inside the bus and refuses to stop when the driver or vendor tells him to stop, they always get to the nearest police station to report. The police have helped in such situations in the past, by ordering such person to get down from the bus. For instance, soldiers in Abacha Barracks have been helping us to order such hawkers or preachers out of the buses. In the aspect of vendors insulting passengers, I want the Abuja residents to call to report such cases to us.”
The company’s head of marketing also hinted that AUMTCO would be introducing a new procedure very soon, whereby passengers can purchase tickets from outlets before boarding any of the buses. “We want to go into cashless issuance of ticketing, whereby tickets will be rolled out and sold at various points just as recharge cards are sold.”
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