Hundreds of commuters found themselves stranded at major transport terminals across Accra yesterday, as an acute shortage of intercity buses coincided with the post-Christmas and New Year travel rush and the resumption of work and school. The chaotic situation left passengers, many of whom were students, facing long queues, frustration, and fears of missing crucial reporting deadlines.

The severity of the bus shortage was evident at the Kaneshie-Takoradi VIP Station, where hundreds of individuals bound for Takoradi and Cape Coast were left without transport. Passengers reported forming queues as early as dawn, only to find themselves still waiting unattended by midday, with no clear indication of when buses would become available. Students, in particular, expressed profound distress, having arrived at the station as early as 4:00 a.m. and fearing sanctions for potentially missing their 4:30 p.m. reporting times at their respective campuses.

Similar scenes of widespread frustration and anxiety unfolded at the main VIP and STC stations at Circle. Commuters, laden with luggage, endured hours under the scorching sun or sat on their bags, meticulously monitoring the stations for any sign of resolution. The situation was compounded by heavy human and vehicular traffic throughout the capital, making alternative travel arrangements equally challenging.

Transport managers, speaking on condition of anonymity, shed light on the underlying causes of the unprecedented shortage. A significant factor was the extensive hiring of buses by various organizations and event planners for Christmas and New Year excursions. This reduced the available fleet for regular intercity routes. Furthermore, poor road networks in some parts of the country exacerbated the problem by delaying the return of the few available buses to Accra, preventing them from being reloaded on schedule. Mr. Adakabre Frimpong Manso, General Manager of VIP Jeoun Transport Company Limited at Circle, attributed the surge in passenger numbers directly to the reopening of institutions like KNUST and Second Cycle Schools, alongside the natural influx of travellers returning after the festive period.

As a temporary measure, managers at the Kaneshie station advised stranded passengers to return home and attempt to travel from midnight onwards, in the hope that more buses would have returned by then. However, many passengers voiced strong dissatisfaction with the lack of preparedness, urging transport operators to implement better planning strategies for peak travel periods, especially during major festive seasons, to avert future recurrences of such a distressing ordeal.