HOW THE INDIGENOUS TRANSPORT SERVICE PROVIDERS CAN BE COMPETITIVE IN THIS ERA

HOW THE INDIGENOUS TRANSPORT SERVICE PROVIDERS CAN BE COMPETITIVE IN THIS ERA.

Back in senior secondary school, phone booths with phone cards was the thing when you want to make a voice call. Soon after, “space to space “took over where vendors would charge people for using their phones for voice calls. Fast forward 2018 and smart phones are the thing.

The world is fast changing and it is the same for every industry with the automobile sector not an exception. The most common forms of public transport in Ghana are mini buses popularly known as trotro and taxi cabs. For years these has been the source of transport for many in the country conveying people to and fro.

Within the last 5 years, the landscape has changed. Now, ride hailing services are taking over with Uber Ghana leading the pack. They include Uber, Taxify, Dropping, Yenko Taxi and others. They have been recent agitations from the indigenous services providers against the ride hailing service providers even though they also have challenges on their own. So, how can the indigenous service providers be competitive in this era?

The uber taxi war. Photo courtesy kinibiz.com

Some ride hailing service providers. image courtesy tecniafrica.com

The following are measures they can implement

Road worthy vehicles

It is a known fact that over 80% of our taxi cabs and trotros are not road worthy and human friendly. Most of them lack basic things such as air condition and radio. The interior of these vehicles is nothing worth talking about. Excessive smoke from their exhaust, dysfunctional seat belts, faulty brakes etc are common with them. How do you expect to compete when your vehicles are out of touch? The respective unions should insist on this. They should also insist on proper maintenance practices, come up with bi-laws and enforce them.

Better customer service

It is very often that commercial drivers feel that they are doing you a favor rather than providing a service. In Ghana, drivers go on a holiday when it’s raining. You would find a taxi driver with no passengers but will refuse to pick up a standing by passenger because he has made his sales for the day forgetting that their work is customer oriented. They need to learn how to treat passengers better. They need to start looking at passengers as precious clients not just people. Enticing way of speech, better appearance in terms of dressing etc and they will see the surge in sales.

Touch of technology

In this 21^st century, technology has been coupled with everything. Barely can you do anything without technology and internet. They should add a touch of technology to their services. How about free internet service in trotros and taxi cabs? How about a GPS device to map out customer routes for better navigation especially for taxi cabs. The country is moving to a cashless economy and e-payment is now common. Payment of transport services with mobile money should be a major part of their transaction. Nowadays, most telecommunication networks offer this service and most people have mobile phones now. This will help them in providing better service.

Customer centric services

The transport unions should develop customer centric services for people in their respective catchment area. For every location the demography is different. Therefore, they should develop scheduled services to suit the customer’s needs. Scheduled transport is something which was popular in Ghana. The State Transport Company some time ago took pride in that but it is not the same nowadays. One of the reasons being that as a nation we don’t respect time. If the local transport providers are able to implement this, they will be amazed by the patronage.

Competitive pricing

Pricing has always brought a fight between passengers and drivers especially taxi cabs. Passengers feel they have over paid and drivers also feel shortchanged. If minibuses and taxi cabs can be installed with billing meters, this will eradicate the cheating notion.

In as much as the indigenous transport companies have their short comings, there are certain advantages have which can work in their favor.  Firstly, they have a brand name that the masses trust especially GHANA PRIVATE ROAD TRANSPORT UNION (GPRTU). Also they have existing structures and membership so implementing these ideas would not be of too much hassle. Lastly, they have influence on the government therefore certain changes can be aided by the government.

I believe if the indigenous transport service providers are able implement these ideas, they will stand the test of time until the next wave of change in the industry comes.