By Emem Idio

YENAGOA—COMMUTERS travelling for the New Year celebrations were yesterday stranded in most parts of Bayelsa State, as there were no vehicles in most of the transport companies and motor parks in the state to convey them to their various destinations.

Stranded Commuters 

Some of the commuters who had thronged the Ekeki Central Park about 5a.m., hoping to catch early vehicles were disappointed as the park was empty of vehicles.

The situation was the same at other private operated parks and terminals located in the state capital as there were no vehicles to transport commuters.

The situation affected transportation fares as the few available vehicles increased their charges by 50 percent. As it were, Yenagoa by bus to Port Harcourt is now N1, 500 as against N1,000, while Yenagoa to Uyo is now N3,000 as against N2,000 previously.

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A manager of one of the privately operated terminals, Mr Joel Johnson, said the situation was caused by the massive outward movement of persons in the Yuletide season, adding that some of the drivers were yet to return from their trips.

He said: “The shortage in vehicles is because of the Yuletide season. We have more people going out and few coming in, so most of the vehicles that went out are not yetback, hence the shortage. It’s unfortunate but we are making efforts to check the situation by recalling available vehicles from our nearby terminals.”