LOCAL GHANAIAN TRANSPORT AND TECHNOLOGY

LOCAL GHANAIAN TRANSPORT AND TECHNOLOGY

In Ghana, majority of the population which is the lower and middle class use public transportation for their day-to-day activities. Just a hand full of people are able to buy a vehicle for their personal use let alone new car.

Since my childhood days, when I used to visit my grandmother with my mum, through my high school days till now, I have used the local public transport system. And through all these years, there has been little or no changes in their activities, fleet of vehicles, mode of operation etc. they have failed to realize that, customer needs have changed and the world has evolved which has caused entities to develop new products, services and upgrade to keep existing.

Through this, there have been development ride hailing apps such as Uber, Taxify and Lyft. Through these years, transport providers have tailored their service to satisfy the taste buds of their consumers in areas of safety and technology. In one of my articles, I wrote about how the indigenous transport can be competitive in this modern era.

In this article, I will focus much on the use of technology to improve and migrate their services to the next level and try to find local service provider have embarked on that path.

Basically, technology is the application of science in our daily lives to solve problems. It is used in all fields of life with transportation not being an exception. The following are areas, where with application of technology can move their services to the next level.

•  Routing

As I said earlier, since I was a child, I have used public transport till now. There has never been a change. There is no fixed formula for their pricing but only increase their fares to any value they want per their when there is increase in fuel prices. In terms of routes, there has been no changes unless trips to newly founded communities or developed sites.

Journey Routing 

We will realize that our settings have changed. We are in an era where GPS and Google maps can be accessed via a smart phone. How is the local transport providers’ union making use of this technology? Has it even popped up in their minds? How are they using this technology to better their services? Passengers always complain of being alighted at bus stops too far from their houses while others need to walk a distance from the bus stop to get home.

Have they thought of incorporating a smart phone in their vehicles including mini buses (trotro) and taxis, so that whichever zone they run, they would map out where ever they passengers will alight and use that route and not using the traditional routes where n passenger will get down.

This is one area where the ride hailing apps service are exploiting and are gradually making gains for the market.

•  Pricing

This subject always brings up one issue or the other. Either a passenger boards from the taxi rank or the bus terminal, each is expected to pay the same flat rate whether he or she alights midway through the journey or the last point. This is not fair and morally right and passengers always fight against this we know you and I cannot win against the system.

Taxi billing meter

Again, if you consider the ride hailing app services, before you board the vehicle, you already how much you are paying i.e. there is no flat rate.

If our local transport providers (intra city) are able to infuse meter billing into their services, their business will always be on the up rise irrespective of the economy, fuel prices fluctuation or whatever.

• Passenger data and information

This is one sensitive area where most of the local transport providers fail at. In my last article, I wrote about my experience with INTERCITY STC. I remember when booking my ticket, they took my personal details which includes name, contact number, age and the contact number of a relative in case of any emergency. Do any of the transport providers in the country (Ghana) ask for such information especially the intercity transport providers?

Do they know that with that information, you can know the number of passenger who use their services in a day, week, month and year? You can segment the passengers into age, sex and destinations of travel. This can help you design products and services to suit their customers, keep up and win new ones? In this era, information is gold. You can ask Mark Zuckerberg if you care to know.

• Goods tracking

Most intercity buses in the country also transport goods apart from the passengers. Recipients will wait at various bus stops and terminals by calling the drivers to know the current location of the bus. They will give you an estimated time of arrival but it’s never the reality.

Goods truck tracking

I have ordered goods from an online store and I could track the location of the product all the way from the country of origin till it got to Ghana and my city Takoradi.

I have in a situation where I waited for the arrival of a mini bus from Tema to collect and deliver goods to a client. I waited more than an hour from the estimated time of arrival the driver gave me. I could have used that hour used for waiting.

In this modern era, technology has become the spine of most institutions and transportation is not an exception. I still find it shocking why there is no conscious effort from the Ghanaian transport providers to blend their services with technology because they already have the customer base. Customers waiting for the arrival of their goods should be able to track the where about of the goods via a smartphone app.

Why are they afraid of making changes which will project them into the further of transportation? The world is moving at such a faster pace that I fear for the existence of such service providers in the next decade.

It is the main reason they are having issues and altercations with ride hailing apps services who are gradually eating into their customer base.
 Let us embrace technology. Even the most of the customers will resist initially, it will work out in the long term.

About the Author

Edmond Nana Cabir Flynt is a vehicle sales advisor and consultant based in Takoradi - Ghana. He is also a volunteer, an entrepreneur, and an auto show radio presenter.

For further enquiry, consultation, advertisement, product promotion (vehicle related), vehicle and accessory sale, contact him on the following numbers +233(0)209461930 /+233(0)548383591 and email nanaflynt@gmail.com

Follow me on social media

Facebook: Edmond Nana Flynt

Twitter: @nanaflynt

LinkedIn : Edmond Nana Flynt

WhatsApp : +233 (0)20 9461390

Instagram: @nanaflynt