The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority said on Monday that it had committed about N4.5bn to the state’s Bus Rapid Transit system, which will roll out on March 17.

It said the money went into the provision of infrastructure, including road demarcation, rehabilitation and construction of bus shelters.

The Managing Director, LAMATA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, made the disclosure in Lagos at a press briefing ahead of the BRT Lite operation.

He said, “The BRT buses will operate between 6am and 10pm. The BRT lite is a state-of-the-art infrastructure complete with 26 bus shelters, two terminals and a bus depot with fuel dispensing facilities, mechanical workshop, generators and maintenance personnel to provide the necessary support.”
Citing experiences in other countries, he insisted that the LAMATA project was the cheapest in the world.
According to him, about 126 high capacity buses will be deployed in the Ikorodu Road-CMS route for the first phase.

He said, “Shadow runs of the BRT Lite is expected to begin from February 28, which will see the buses run around the entire corridor; while trial runs, which is expected to simulate the real process of picking and dropping of passengers will follow afterwards and terminate on March 16, 2008.”