THE COMMISSIONING OF LAMATA PLACE, THE OJOTA BRT DEPOT, LAUNCH OF THE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM (ITS) AND E-TICKETING SYSTEM
Speech delivered by His Excellency, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State, at the commissioning of LAMATA PLACE, the Ojota BRT Depot, Launch of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and E-ticketing system on Thursday, 9th November 2017
Protocol
A little over 100 years ago, the first organized transport system in Nigeria, the Lagos Steam Tramway, operated between 1902 and 1913 and connected Lagos Island with Lagos Mainland. This Steam Tramway was the forerunner to the inauguration of commercial road transport services in Lagos and Nigeria.
More than one hundred years on, we are on the verge of installing an efficient, integrated and intermodal transportation system in Lagos. Our policies and projects are geared towards easing the way our people move in Lagos. Our plans for public transportation takes into account the expected increase in the state’s population which is projected to reach 36 million people by 2050 making Lagos the sixth largest city in the world.
Today, we are here to inaugurate a building which is a testimonial to our commitment of giving Lagos a world-class integrated transport system. This LAMATA building will give Lagos State Metropolitan Transport Authority a more convenient ambience to deliver the transport infrastructure that will support the vision of our government to move Lagosians from place to place, conveniently and comfortably.
LAMATA is at the forefront of the implementation of the Lagos Strategic Transport Master Plan (LSTMP). This first phase of this plan is already ongoing with the Bus Reform programme, which will herald the injection of over 800 new buses into the bus system early next year and the construction of Bus Terminals, Bus Shelters and other traffic decongestion initiatives across the State.
We are confident that the projects in the first phase of our bus reform system will be completed by the middle of 2018.
As we commission this building, let me also state that our government has introduced the Intelligent Transport System (ITS), to digitalise the transport system. The ITS has been implemented on the Ikorodu to TBS BRT system with various components including Automatic Vehicle Location System, Passenger Information System, the renewed Electronic Ticketing System, amongst others.
The ITS has immense benefits for the Government; complementing the State’s Smart City Initiative and improving data collection to afford better planning for transportation. Additionally, the operators can optimize their bus schedules resulting in more efficient bus deployment and fleet management, Control Centre monitoring and transit communication with Control with the drivers.
The ITS platform is very robust and is bound to improve passengers’ travel experience around Lagos. This project is scalable with plans to deploy across all the public transport modes including the Rail mass transit, waterways and others, resulting in seamless travel across the state.
Our government has invested time and resources in developing robust plans and reforms that will transform the entire transportation landscape of the State, delivering befitting systems that support our dream of a Lagos as a true centre of excellence, uplift the standard of living of the people and enhance the aesthetics of our environment without jeopardizing the livelihood of our people.
As a government, we will not rest on our oars. We will continue to provide leadership and service with accountability. We will continue to serve you with the mandate that you gave us. This is our commitment, a commitment we have pledged ourselves to.
I thank everyone who has made these projects possible as we look forward to a Lagos with first-class mobility and connectivity.
Itesiwaju Eko lo je wa logun.
His Excellency,
Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode
Governor of Lagos State
November 9, 2017