Taxi Drivers who operate within the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology KNUST campus, say the closure of the school is beginning to take a toll on their business.
The drivers, who mainly convey passengers to and from campus say their daily sales have sharply reduced since all students left the school on Tuesday with virtually no activity on campus.
On Wednesday, the usual bustling at the KNUST taxi rank had significantly waned with most drivers busying themselves with games such as draught and ludo due to lack of passengers at the terminal.
According to the drivers, they averagely transport about 500 passengers in and out of the campus, but the situation is entirely different now.
One of the drivers, Nana Asumadu, said they have begun recording low sales following the closure of the school.
“Most of the Taxicabs that operate here are on work and pay basis, others belong to owners and some drivers here also own the cars. For those who operate on work and pay basis, it is usually difficult for them in this time when there are no passengers. Our elders say when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers and this is really true. When such issues come, there is always a ripple effect on our business. Sometimes it is not easy to explain to the car owner about the decline in sales”, he explained.
Another driver said, “It is really worrying. You can see it for yourself. Some of our colleagues are busily playing games like draught and ludo because there are no passengers around. We now rely on the buses that come from Accra to get passengers to areas like Kotei, Ayeduase, even with that, we compete with each other for passengers. If the buses are not coming, we just idle around. We are appealing to the authorities to ensure this matter is resolved quickly so the students can resume, because their presence in the school help our business”.
Meanwhile, the few passengers who have businesses to conduct on campus prefer to walk from the school’s junction to the campus to avoid waiting for several minutes for the Taxi cabs to get the maximum number of passengers before departing.
The drivers have therefore called on the government and other stakeholders to expedite processes in addressing the issues to allow for the early reopening of the school to save their business.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/Citinewsroom.com/Ghana