‘Oshodi Lagos bus terminal to handle 300,000 passengers daily’

Oshodi ultra-modern bus terminal in Lagos when becomes operational on May 7, 2019 will be handling about 300,000 passengers and increase to 1 million per day in 10 years, according to the chief executive officer, Planet project limited, Mr. Biodun Otunola.

Speaking during the tour of the multi-million naira facility on Tuesday in preparedness of the commissioning of terminal 3 by President Mohammadu Buhari on Wednesday, he said with the commencement of operations at the terminal will solve transportation problem in the state and provide enough capacity to take care of all the vehicles away from the road.

‘So in order to address traffic and other associated problems, the concept of developing multi-level bus terminal was developed by the state government. It is a multi-level because we need to take advantage of the fact that we don’t have land so the available land we have we need no maximize it.  We have in Oshodi  three terminals,  the first terminal is for inter-city operations meaning that if you are travelling to any part of the country, including West African coast, you will be able to get a bus that can take you to your destination and the terminal is meant to run 24 hours.  So, anytime you find your way there you will find a bus”.

“The terminals are designed in a way that we have other facilities. Terminal two is meant to serve Lagos West and all the people going towards Festac, Mile2, Abule Egba and other areas within the zone. The BRT in Abule egba also terminates in the second terminal, while the third terminal serves the people going to Lagos East and Lagos Island, people going through Ikorodu, Ojota, Marina up to Obalende including Berger”, he stated

According to Otunola, with the huge number of passengers trouping to Oshodi daily, the new terminal that can handle at least 1 million people every day  in the next 10 years, stressing that all over the world, the central spot like Oshodi is usually the most beautiful spot in places like London, Strafford but  reverse is the case in Nigeria.

Otunola said of the facilities at the terminal: “Each of the floors is about 3700sqm and that can take up to 4,000 people at a time. Each of the terminals is equipped with six lift and one escalator so in all in the whole project, we will have 18 lifts and three escalators. The lift will take you from one end of a terminal to the other. There is a sky work which is 152 meters long; it is the longest sky work ever in the history of this country. What it does is to take you from one terminal to the other, peradventure a passenger finds himself in a wrong terminal.”

It is designed in a way that will allow people to be comfortable and have a pleasurable journey, to be safe while travelling. Travelling as we know all over the world is meant to be enjoyed and not endured so this infrastructure is meant to address all of these challenges so that people can travel without fear, and the security of life and properties is guaranteed because there are CCTV everywhere and then there is a control room where all the activities in the terminal will be controlled from bus operation to security and ticketing system”, he said