“We are experiencing hell even without death; times are rough. No respect, no civilization and no one knows the elderly. The conductors (apprentice) are now the Transport Ministers; they set or arrange the amount of transport fares the people will pay at their wish. What a hell” -Passengers cries.
Owing to this wickedness by conductors, passengers across the country have called on the relevant authorities, especially those at the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Drivers Union to monitor apprentices and drivers’ uncalled for behaviour.
They have also expressed consternation over the manner in which these conductors are behaving against passengers, whom they describe as saboteurs of the government hard-earned reputation.
“Sometimes, apprentices embarrass us in public. And can even molest old people who could take care of them, they just don’t spare them. We are in a state where everyone is a boss or have the right to do everything that they want to,” passengers fumed.
What is more disturbing for passengers is that, half-way fare payments have become a forced law on us in the country, they cried.
Even though government has announced fare limits and destination points for every vehicle, drivers are not abiding.
Speaking to one of the passengers, a business woman, Mathew S Kamara at Jui Community, she expressed embarrassment on how bus conductors are conducting themselves on a daily basis against passengers – even in front of law enforcement personnel.
She expressed a bitter feeling on the arrogance and rude remarks these conductors utter towards passengers, adding that even drivers are aware of what their apprentices are doing to passengers but oftentimes the drivers could not say anything.
Kamara disclosed to this medium that on her way home an apprentice was asked to wait for a pregnant woman to get seated properly, but the driver drove off.
And when the passengers expressed anger towards the misbehavior of the driver, the conductor humiliated everybody in the bus without showing an iota of respect.
“The apprentice continued to molest the passengers, and among his remarks were that that was not a time for lazy people in a manner in which everyone must just enter the vehicle so fast as he or she could do,”
“Can you imagine that?” Kamara asked.
She furthered said that some of these conductors are said to be drug addicts as they smoke Kush which is more or less a food for them.
She explained that Kush has made these apprentices to be weird as they are very unmannered.
Kamara maintained that even most drivers reportedly some the deadly substance as they care not but to molest anybody and public servants as they can talk to anyhow, anywhere and anytime.
Elizabeth Y Kanu also revealed that, “to talk about the way apprentices collect money from passengers is disturbing.
She maintained that, “sometimes when they went to the bus stops to wait for bus these conductors will collect money even before onboard the vehicle. They use obscene languages on people, no disciplinary measures”
Also, she lamented that drivers would be their listening to all the conversations and will not even halt his apprentice.
She however, called on government to institute precautionary measures against these rude drivers and their conductors.
A passenger, Alie K M Saffa buttressed on the same predicament, highlighted the reckless behaviors of drivers and their conductors against their attitude towards members of the public.
According to Saffa, the conductors are lawless and are out of control with no iota of respect for passengers.
He furthered that, this morning himself and one apprentice go into rift, explaining that, the conductor pick-up a passenger from Brook street to Rawdon street, and he asked the passenger to pay Nle 5 and the young man declined on the said amount, the apprentice started insulting the young man referred him as a false life.
“Such public attack on the passenger resulted me to get angry against the apprentice and argument ensued which resulted a fight, this kind of attitudes towards passengers is bothering everyone and it is not good in our society called Sierra Leone” he asserted.
He urged the government to put bylaws towards apprenticeship so as to nip this unruly behavior of apprentice against passengers in the country” he concluded.
A bus conductor, Amidu Y Conteh explained on the reason for their arrogance towards passengers, explaining that some passengers are in habit of bringing different kind of attacks which insulted them.
“Passengers know the transport fare by destinations and what they use to pay in a daily basis, there you will have some irresponsible passengers that will try to tease apprentices so that they can have their way to insult us, some passengers even called us all sort of names” he stated.
He furthered that, as apprentice we are surviving on half way collections and these monies they collect from passenger is what they are surviving on and feed their families as well.
Conteh maintained that, their bosses are not paying and it is not their intension to insult passenger but because of the challenges they faced in the hands of their bosses and how some passengers misbehave to them, they might go on the offensive.
He pleaded to the public to have mercy on them, as the only source of living is from passengers, adding that without passengers they will not be able to take care of their families.