The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that in Q4 2023, a total of 672,198 passengers travelled via rail system relative to 1,337,108 reported in the corresponding quarter of 2022, indicating a decline rate of -49.73 percent.
Regarding revenue generation, N1.07 billion was received from passengers during the reference period, showing a decrease of 7.51 percent from the N1.15 billion recorded in the same quarter of the previous year, while the volume of goods/cargos transported in Q4 2023 stood at 119,286 tons compared to 53,136 tons recorded in Q4 2022.
Also, N423.22 million was collected from goods/cargos conveyed in Q4 2023, up by 169.16 percent from N157.23 million received in Q4 2022, and other receipts amounted to N393.72 million, showing an increase of 3.02 percent in Q4 2023 from the N382.17 million collected in Q4 2022.
The NBS said on an annual basis, the number of passengers in 2023 fell by 32.08 percent compared to the previous year, and the revenue received from passengers declined by 2.64 percent in 2023, while volume of cargo and revenue from cargo rose by 102.04 percent, and 144.32 percent respectively relative to 2022.
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A report on Transport Fare Watch for December 2023, in the Q3 2023, informed that the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop declined to 13.83 percent from N1,047.64 in November to N902.70 in December 2023, while on a year-on-year basis, it rose by 40.03 percent from N644.66 in December 2022.
The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey, in another category, intercity per drop was N7,402.16 in December 2023, representing an increase of 19.26 percent on a month-on-month basis compared to N6,206.53 in November 2023, while on a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 86.40 percent from N3,971.22 in December 2022.
According to the NBS, in air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes for a single journey was N85,692.12 in December 2023, showing an increase of 5.36 percent compared to the previous month of November 2023.
However, on a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 14.87 percent from N74,597.30 in December 2022.
The NBS said, the average transport fare paid on Okada transportation was N419.73 in December 2023 which declined by 11.29 percent when compared with the N473.13 recorded in November 2023, while on a year-on-year basis, the fare declined by 9.04 percent when compared with N461.45 in December 2022.
It added that for waterway passenger transportation, the average fare paid in December 2023 increased to N1,386.76 from N1,352.70 which represents an increase of 2.52 percent on monthly basis, while on a year-on-year basis, it increased by 34.77 percent from N1,029.00 in December 2022.