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What is more difficult for transport companies in Nigeria and Africa is having access to their inventory and onboarding this company to your online directory. This is the reality for us at T40 but shouldn’t be an issue for you.
This will be a series of articles where we will evaluate the travel ecosystem and I will feature some amazing colleagues in this article series
- The evolution of the Travel System in Nigeria and how it has grown over the decade
- The Operator’s eye view of ground transportation In Nigeria
- The Traveler’s eye view of ground transportation
- The Partner’s eye view of ground transportation
- How Powering your travel inventory can enhance and improve the travel system
So we begin
Have you ever sat down to think about how the ground transport system came about in Nigeria, I am not so old but I have spent over 12 years of my life traveling. Not the best I know, but I researched so you wouldn’t.
During my time traveling in 2012 long luxurious was the only efficient means of ground transportation, in recent days we have had executive buses and sprinter buses.
Now we spend less than 10 hours to shuttle from Lagos to Abia state, But as at the time of long luxurious, this same route can take 19 – 23 hours. Traveling was an extreme sport think of it as a marathon, you need to be emotionally ready and then physically ready.
As a kid, I was so happy about the idea of traveling, seeing the beautiful luxurious buses that were fine outside and full of issues internally.
Problems with travel 10 years ago
- Poor roads and road network
- Poor Customer Support Experience
- Poor Vehicles and Transport Network
- Transport Network
1. Poor Road and Road Network:
Nigeria has had far worse roads than we currently struggle with. In 2009 the NMES conducted a cross-sectional survey of 173 firms and derived objective data on the impact of road infrastructure on small business creation and 176 Journal of Sustainable Development Studies development. The figure below shows this data. A little less than half the firms have a tarmac road in good ‘condition’ in the immediate vicinity
This shows that less than half roads were in good condition, road was a big deal for a ground transport company, imagine you are in a luxurious bus and the road is extremely bad. This was the contributing factor to poor ground travel experience and the entire transport system in Nigeria. But current travelers can’t relate.
2. Poor Customer Support Experience:
On Monday, we discussed internally to understand what is key to good transport system in Nigeria, Superior support always tops our list. Let’s talk a bit about my experience
As mentioned earlier, you have to be prepared emotionally and physically because no one cares about your personal experience compared to now, if you book your interstate travel via intercity you will get the best experience.
The travel day always begins with confusion, you get to the park which is so disordered, and you look for where to get a ticket with the hopes that you don’t get scammed, If you successfully get a ticket you begin finding your bus as well as watching over your luggage (except you have plans to travel without your luggage), it doesn’t end in getting into the bus, you look for your seat as well pray for a good travel experience, in most cases, you don’t get one.
This are friction point where the lack of good customer support affects the business of having a successful travel. Traveling with Intercity means getting superior support.
3. Poor Vehicles and Transport Network
Beautiful outside and Ugly inside. What do you think contributes to the poor experience you have as a traveler if not Poor Vehicles, a Journey that should be 10hrs becomes 15/19hrs.
Long luxurious buses provided by this transport network were full of faults, they come with a shiny outside look, the interior sometimes looks good but we can proudly say the same about its engines or wheels they always have issues.
Poor vehicles created bad experience a lot for travelers in Nigeria specifically travelers who travel through the east-to-west route, I was one of them so I can relate to poor transport system Nigeria offers.
4. Transport Network
We have had some of the best transport networks that are currently in operation today, with some in our network of transporters. This transport network contributed to the large problems with travel 10 years ago. Luckily, they have grown now, but how do you explain to travelers that there is no orderliness at your park?
On Friday, 13th, October 2023, we had a closed brainstorming session to figure out the problem with travel and logistics services in current times and the past. What came up was the lack of orderliness. 10 years ago orderliness was a big deal as no transport operator had this checked.
I understand how it feels getting to the park and you are confused about what action to take next. The Transport operator partners in our network are efficient and can provide you with a good transportation experience, and if you book and hear Chinyere or David’s voice say HI on my behalf as we also provide superior travel support.
In the next series, we will have a look at Transportation 10 years after 2022, key problems, prediction, and outlook. My colleague will handle this
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