A Bus Rapid Transit driver, identified only as Folashade, has been allegedly attacked by a yet-to-be-identified motorist in the Ikeja area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the woman loaded her bus with passengers at the BRT terminal in the Oshodi area of the state on Friday.
Folashade’s passenger, who asked not to be identified, said the woman, who was on the BRT lane, was blocked by the motorist.
The eyewitness stated that during the encounter, which was filmed, the man allegedly assaulted the BRT driver and broke her wing mirror.
The passenger said, “She was commuting us to Abule Egba. But on the way, we encountered mild traffic on the BRT lane close to the bridge under construction in Ikeja. Our driver was on the right side of the lane when she noticed that a bus ahead of her had broken down on the corridor.
“So, she started manoeuvring to the left side of the lane. Suddenly, she saw that a private car behind her also wanted to move. Despite being ahead of the car and on the BRT lane, our driver slowed down for the motorist to avoid a collision. As the motorist overtook our bus, he suddenly started marching his brake to force our driver to stop.
“He did that up to three times to the point that all of us started complaining. Even our driver had to appeal to us; but most of us who sat at the front observed what was going on. So, our driver waited and after realising she had stopped, the motorist came out of his vehicle with a horsewhip and started using it to hit the mirror of the bus till he broke it.”
The source said some of the passengers attempted to apprehend the motorist, but he escaped.
A representative of the Lagos BRT, Rasaq Obadina, said he would get back to our correspondent, but had yet to do so as of the time this report was filed.
The spokesperson for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, Kolawole Ojelabi, warned motorists against attacking BRT buses.
He said, “LAMATA is a government-implementing agency and we regulate public transport in Lagos. So, when such an incident happens, it is the duty of the operator to report the case. It is wrong for any driver or member of the public to attack BRT buses.
“If there are issues, there are channels to report such issues. They can look at the bus number or call the call centre to report the issue and we will trace that bus to the operator and bring the issue to their attention and we will ask them to investigate it.”
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