Business News of Tuesday, 3 March 2020

Source: Stabus

No more 'trotro' as stabus launches bus booking app

Stabus vehicle Stabus vehicle

Have you ever used public transport in Ghana? If yes, you have experienced the following:

You fight or join a long queue to board a bus.

The buses you board are overaged, non-AC, coupled with unreliable departure times.

Your in-bus experience is bad: unrefined service from conductors, uncomfortable sitting arrangements, reckless driving, and unplanned stops among others.

To address these inefficiencies, stabus, a mobility technology company, has launched a bus booking app in Ghana that connects passengers to private AC buses and enables them to ride to work and back home. The app enables you to select your preferred pick-up and drop-off locations along a fixed route. According to Isidore Kpotufe, founder and CEO of stabus, “the service has been active in Accra since November 2019 and has recorded a total of 328 trips with 250 unique passengers along the Adenta – Accra, Spintex – Accra and Accra Mall – Accra routes”.

“To provide a reliable service to passengers, our buses leave on specific schedules and whenever possible use shortcuts, enabling our customers to get to their destinations on time”, Isidore said.

The morning departure times are 5:30 am and 6 am and evening departure times are 5:30 pm and 6 pm. The CEO explains that in order to scale the service, the buses are provided by third parties and must meet some conditions. “Demand has been overwhelming and we are aggressive on launching stabus on new routes, without compromising the quality, of course”, he stated.

stabus charges a fixed fare and its pricing is 10%-30% higher than that of regular trotros. When asked about the pricing model, he explains that “This is a premium service. Our buses are well maintained, always air-conditioned and our drivers are trained against a number of 10 indicators. Our trips provide total peace of mind to passengers. You don’t get this with trotro. This is premium.”

Active routes

Stabus is currently active on the following routes:

Adenta to Accra and Accra to Adenta (morning and evening)

Spintex to Accra and Accra to Spintex (morning and evening)

Accra Mall to Spintex (evening)

Dansoman to Circle and Circle to Dansoman (morning and evening)

Pokuase to Circle and Circle to Pokuase (morning and evening)

“To activate a new route on our platform, we must have a minimum of 50 passengers for that route. And we are on course to adding new routes soon”, he added.

stabus is poised to change public transport as we know it. Visit www.stabus.co to learn more about the company’s vision for public transportation in Ghana and beyond.