Gomadi Yalla, nyaka hel and bugay (Atheism, Stupidity and Greed) are just a few words used to describe the decision of drivers to take certain passengers and leave others. For those who still do not have a clue as to what I am talking about, below is a concise explanation of the situation.
Taxi drivers, especially those plying the Westfield Brikama route have taken it to only take passengers either going to Tabokoto or Brikama. There are a host of towns and villages between Tabokoto and Brikama; Lamin, Banjulnding and Yundum to name just a few. This has caused a lot of stir amongst people and a number of reasons for why drivers are doing this have been given. The first is that drivers are no longer God fearing and hence are taking advantage of desperate passengers. The second is that they are not smart and do not know that they would make more money if they took Lamin and Banjulnding passengers. The third is that they are greedy and want to make more money than they should.
Each of these theories has a flaw. Taking the first, I find it hard to believe that drivers have always been motivated to do good for us. That they engage in driving for the good of the nation. That has never been the case nor is it now. I firmly believe they are as self interested as are we all are. The prospect of making a decent living is what has driven them to well... drive. On the second point, it would be a mistake to think that we know more about the business of driving than drivers. If we agree that an accountant knows more about book keeping and financial statements than a non accountant and carpenter knows more about making furniture from wood than someone who isn’t a carpenter. Why do we believe that we as a people know more about the business of driving than drivers? Another point that goes against this theory is linked to self interest. Drivers want to make more money. If they knew that they would make more money by switching their strategy (i.e. taking from Lamin and Banjulnding) then they would. If not every single one of them, most would.
The third theory, greed looks to hold up. The problem with this point is similar to that of the first. To claim drivers are greedy now is to claim that they were either not greedy before or less greedy. I won’t bore you with arguments about changes in population characteristics over time and the like, but to think that drivers alone of all Gambians have become greedier independent of all Gambians is quite hard to believe. As if there was a strange disease called greed that infects only Gambian drivers making them act in such a way, leaving the rest of us non drivers sounds a bit implausible.
Two thirds of the Gambia live on 17 percent of the country. That means that almost 1.2 million Gambians live between Banjul and Brikama. Imagine that more than half of these people have to either go to school, work or the market every morning. They also have to go back home every evening as well. Imagine also that there are not enough cars to move all these people at the same time. What does one do? In a free market, the price of entering a van would rise to the point that supply equated demand. Prices are a form of rationing and if prices do not adjust, then some other form of rationing must be done. This is where the Brikama direct comes in.
Drivers know that demand exceeds supply yet they cannot charge a higher fee. They also cannot increase capacity, meaning they cannot take more than their legal limit (in most cases 14 passengers). The aim of the driver would be to pursue a strategy that would minimize costs and or maximize revenue under this new environment. Given the nature of the passengers on the journey, the strategy that would reduce costs would be to take the passengers that would require the least stops. More stops would mean a longer journey and more fuel consumed. In terms of maximizing revenue, a driver would make more money by taking a passenger directly from Westfield to Brikama (D12) than by taking two passengers, one from Westfield to Lamin and another from Lamin to Brikama (D10).
During peak hours, i.e. morning and evening, drivers pursue this strategy of taking only “direct” passengers. This does not last all day as drivers return to taking passengers that are stopping en route during off peak hours.
This explains why drivers refuse to take certain passengers during rush hour whilst taking those same people when it is not rush hour. Someone would be tempted to interpret the driver’s decision to maximise profits by taking only direct passengers as greed, but the thinking of the driver is no different in rush hour than when it isn’t rush hour. This strategy is called profit maximization, and it is what every business tries to do. The excess demand has given drivers the power to choose who they will take. The inability of fares to rise means that another form of rationing must take place. In this case the rationing is “Brikama direct”.
an interesting insight in2 the microecon of gambian transport. i agree that price rationing does play a role here but consider this a passenger at westfield boards a "serekunda direct" (same thing happens on the banjul-serekunda route) gets off at lets say westfield but pays the serekunda fare. If the driver wanted to minimize cost why do they stop to pick other passangers going to serekunda?
ReplyDeletewhilst i appreciate the economics of it as an econ student, as a commuter i can't applaud this strategy for obvious reasons
if drivers pursue this strategy jus because they can't increase bus fares or carrying capacity should it be considered o.k?
would charging a fixed rate for peak and off-peak period help?
from my understanding the drivers dont want the consumers to pay below the fixed rate. and they know they can only pass this law when there is high demand of transportation in the market.
ReplyDeleteduring the off peak hours,not much people are in demand for transportation. at that point the Brikama Direct might not hold.
I believe what Mr Jallow said is simple and straight forward. Giving it a little more thought we will realize that is the same scenario that is going on in other industries. And these industries do come up with strategies in order to maximize profit.
ReplyDeleteOil prices are higher than they were a few years ago, and when has the government last adjusted the prices of the taxi market. This is also one of the issues why the taxi drivers are still holding on to their strategies. I personally believe that the charges in this market are not distributed fairly. Take for instance a passenger from Westfield to Bajulinding paying the same fare as another passenger from the same place to Latrikunda. I suggest government should look at the prices critically...
In conclusion, I strongly agree with what the drivers are doing. MS Bittaye.
i think this issue is a pretty controversial one which demands great thinking and great amount of consideration for the other party.....furthermore i think its two sided....on the one hand, the consumers want to benefit by having the drivers not only take Brikama direct but also those dropping off at the Lamins, the Banjulindings and in economics i think this is called self interest not selfishness; the drivers on the other hand are just mot willing to do that for the consumers not knowing that they could infact make more returns out of it, but i personally dont want to see the drivers' attitude as greed or selfishness but self interest which in economics is not bad.....the van drivers are operating in a free market barked by little government regulation; the price of oil keeps going up and up and this is not matched by an increase in transport tariffs which i think us bad, because it means all the extra cost is a burden of the van drivers....so that is why the drivers are so desperate to take it out on the people....but with the Brikama direct, am afraid they have chosen a bad fall....may be they need better education in terms of how to minimise costs and maximise revenues.....Mr Jallow, don't u think us opening such a school for drivers would make us billionaires soon?...lol.....although the Brikama direct is harming a lot of people, today it did me a lot of good when i was rushing home from school for the Manchester derby; i got home earlier than i could even imagine...thanks for your writings, they educate us a lot, keep it up the momentum yea.
ReplyDeleteits pretty nice to see mates and lecturer portraying such a wonderful piece.
ReplyDeleteam in support of customers and that i will really term this brikama direct as a Bugay or Nyaka Gomadi Yalla. the free forces of demand and supply in the market is inevitable. but there comes a time when drivers trick passengers;
imagine a situation where a driver will collect two fares on passengers if they decide to take tabokoto. then take a brikama direct from tobokoto. its is all backed by the demand for commercial vehicles.
another situation can arise when factors like yearly renewal of license and insurance occurs, that's the time its they consider themselves kings of the market.
the average Gambian depends on public transport, therefore with the transport routes and systems that we have it this country, it will practically impossible to have a fair game. drivers can be right at a point of maximizing profit and economist may be right in ensuring an even distribution of scarce resources.
i really appreciate this piece form you, Mr. Jallow and i hope to read more.
well such an interesting piece of work. but sometimes we shouil not blame the drivers much. the reason i said this is that most of the passengers are the ones that motivate this drivers into greediness. because of self interest those going to brikama direct often motivate them in one way or the other.
ReplyDeletelets look at this scenrio i experienced when i was going to my village for prayers. i borded a van til i got to brikama but when i reached it was late and there was no vehicle to gunjur, my village. i stood there with a corple of few people for sometime and fortunately a van turned up and the driver said he will drive us to the village BUT we have to pay D13 in excess of the normal fare, because he claim that he will come back to brikama empty.
and guess what some of us said said to the porposal. in this case can you blame the driver???
if we all said no the driver might accept the normal fare of D12.
i wil conclude by saying that some actions done by drivers are cause by some selfish passengers.
thanks for the job well done
I must say thank you Mr Jallow for such an interesting piece of work. Indeed every commuter in the country is aware of the transportation problems during rush hours. But we can't blame the drivers that much, as economic beings as the rest of us are, they are inclined to pursue a strategy that best satisfies their interest as anyone of us would have. since oil prices keep increasing whilst that of fares is constant, if "Brikama direct" is the strategy that will yield maximum returns at the end of the day, that's the one most of them will pursue.
ReplyDeleteSince there must be a price paid for in any choice made in economics, The "Brikama direct" means the poor will have to put up with inconvenience caused.
However, the problem can be solved if agencies like "Fangsoto" are established in the country and are allowed to compete freely in the market. Then the choices available to people to choose from will be many which in turn eliminates the hash rationing the drivers resort to. For expanding the real choices of people leads to development.
Hello nephew, I wasnt aware of your blogs until someone mentioned it earlier today. 'Brikama direct' is a great piece...keep them coming.
ReplyDelete