Africa 24news
By Hassan I. Conteh
The promised number of public buses into the country has arrived in Freetown Tuesday afternoon.
The green, white and blue coloured buses – colours of Sierra Leone’s national flag- of came in at around 3:00 pm on the 5th December, 2023.
They are expected to ease the transportation difficulty in the country especially between Waterloo and Freetown, a 23 miles ride away.
The transport ministry is now in the eyes of the public on how these new buses will be distributed in by district levels or by provinces.
Initial reports by government transport and aviation ministry had said the buses should be fifty (50) in number.
With this number Freetown-and Waterloo road service, according to many people, should get about 20 vehicles.
This is because the capital has been expanded with communities beyond the central business area having huge population of those doing business in the main capital, including those who work at both public and private offices.
There are also many people living now in the outskirts of the capital in such as places like Jui, Yams Farm, Rokel, Grafton, Waterloo, Kissy and Four Mile.
At the height of the national night curfew in the country, many people in Freetown have reacted to the news about government’s new buses as welcoming.
But many Sierra Leoneans are concerned about how the new buses will be distributed by provinces: west, north, east and south. Or whether it is only government workers who are going to get the largest share of the buses or they are meant for public commercial use to pay minimal fares than the current high charges.
“We are happy especially at this curfew time, but we hope authorities won’t be biased in allocating the new buses; if they are going to be taken care properly it will going to be a big help for us passengers.”
“And we want the government to reduce the heavy transport charges on us on the new buses,” says Kadiatu, a biscuits seller at Abacha street in Freetown as she was sitting on a stall while the buses were passing from Easten Police Kissy Road right up to PZ.