On August 12, 2024, the government will formally introduce the much-anticipated “Tap n Go” system for commercial taxi drivers across the nation, barring any unforeseen events.
This will allow commercial taxi drivers to go digital, much like ride-hailing services like Uber, Yango, Bolt, and other internet transportation providers.
The country’s banks will work together to implement the scheme in order to guarantee prompt payment of drivers’ commissions.
Vice President Bawumia made the announcement yesterday during the 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU), which was place at the Pentecost Convention Centre in Gomoa Fetteh.
Over 3,000 delegates from across the nation attended the three-day conference, which had as its topic “Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Electric Vehicles for a Cleaner Environment: The Role of the Transport Unions for a Digital Economy.”
The “Tap n Go” system for Metro Mass Transit Limited buses was introduced by Dr. Bawumia, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, sometime in February of this year. The system’s goals are to guarantee operational efficiency, transparency, and convenience of accessing public transportation services.
Thus, the Vice President hoped that the “Tap n Go” system for taxis would help the local taxi industry, which had been negatively impacted by online transportation services, to recover.
He also announced that another 50 electric buses would arrive in the nation by December of this year, with the first 50 expected to arrive by the end of August.
This action is a part of the government’s policy mandate to progressively switch from using fossil fuels to electric cars for transportation in order to lower the cost of public transportation and aid in the fight against global warming.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the government is currently working nonstop to install charging
stations in each gas station to facilitate the charging of electric vehicles.
He said that in order to lower the cost of transportation, the hybrid charging points will use solar energy and electricity to charge the batteries of electric vehicles.
Therefore, he begged GPRTU members to back his presidential campaign so that he could implement comprehensive transportation changes that would benefit them and all citizens.
In order to promote peace and unity inside the union, GPRTU leadership was advised to settle internal disputes by Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary General of the Trade Unions Congress (TUC).
Baah also emphasized the significance of transportation to the country’s economy. In order to enable its members, including commercial drivers, to buy brand-new cars and construct their own homes, he revealed the TUC’s goal to open a Labour Bank in Ghana.
The GPRTU’s National Chairman, Nana Nimako Bresiamah, provided an overview of the organization’s history and its transformation into a thriving national union with 3,400 branches.
He outlined a few of the difficulties the organization has encountered over the years, such as internal legal disputes that kept it from having the 11th quadrennial delegates conference the previous year.
Thus, in an effort to promote understanding and harmony inside the union, the head of the GPRTU made an appeal to all rival factions to give peace a chance.
He declared that the union was ready to cooperate with any administration in order to improve the lives of its constituents and the general public.
The head of the GPRTU made a plea to the government to think about creating a transport bank so that business owners could get cheap loans to buy brand-new cars for their transportation companies.
Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II, the Paramount Chief of Gomoa Assin and the event’s chair, praised the GPRTU’s leadership for managing the union’s operations successfully over the years
in spite of the numerous difficulties it has encountered recently.
In order to protect their own lives and the lives of their passengers, he counseled commercial drivers to abstain from driving under the influence.
In light of the impending elections, the chief emphasized the importance of a free, fair, and transparent political process on December 7, 2024 by pleading with the populace to refrain from actions that could spark a national crisis.
BY: APPIANIMAA MERCY
