We Will not Reduce Transport Fares – GPRTU to Public

Despite the recent drop in gasoline prices, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has said that it has no plans to lower transportation costs.

This comes after the Association of Passengers in Ghana (APG) organization recently issued a press release urging the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) to immediately lower transportation fares to reflect the current market prices of gasoline and diesel.

“Although prices of petrol and diesel had recently been reduced, it is unfair that GRTCC has not made changes to the current public transport fares.” They contended

“Our checks from some energy institutions such as COPEC and the IES have revealed that the fuel prices will further decline in the coming days, hence our call,” Afia Kwarteng Asamani, the convenor of the Association, has stated in a press statement.

Abass Moro, the GPRTU's public relations officer, told the media on Tuesday, December 6, however, that the recent drop in gasoline prices is insufficient rationale for a reduction in transportation costs because the cost of auto parts is still rising.

He did, however, warn that the transport union would raise transportation costs if gasoline prices rose.

He asserts that the GPRTU will only take into account lowering transportation costs if a litre of petroleum is supplied for GHC10.00.

“If any member of the public is expecting a reduction in transport fares following the recent reduction in fuel prices, that person should forget it for now. The public should rather appeal to the government to reduce fuel prices to GHC 10.00 per litre, which will at least be reasonable. When that is done, then there will be some reduction in transport fares," he stated.

Prior estimates from the Institute of Energy Security indicated that costs will drop between 10% and 8% starting on December 1st, 2022.

According to the Institute of Energy Security's (IES) prediction, customers will notice a decrease in the cost of gasoline and diesel products for the second consecutive quarter.

Goil is currently selling petrol for GH15.41 instead of GH16.82 and diesel for GH18.86 instead of GH20.50.

Petrol costs GH15.40 and diesel costs GH18.85 at Total filling stations.