Aden: Transportation Prices Between the Absence of Government Control and the Greed of Drivers

Mamdouh says: "My daughter is still in her second year. I don't know for how long will I pretend to have enough income to cover their transportation fees and for how long will I keep making temporary solutions to the situation that we are in today." He added, " Ruqaya is the oldest of my sons and the one who loves education the most, but the transportation costs that we are incurring day after day is raising in which has exceeded the reasonable limits, and her mother and I can no longer bear all these burdens that the conditions of this country have placed on our shoulders."

Ruqaya's father continued, saying: "130,000 Yemeni riyals (approximately 90 US dollars) is the total salary of my wife and I, who occupies a job in one of the government departments in the governorate, and we have four children, all of whom are students of different levels, and you can imagine the situation of the others."

Another group of students who were able to find jobs with a relatively fixed salary - in light of the faltering exchange rate - were able to support themselves in bearing the burdens and changes of these conditions. Although some of them have to do some side work to bear the costs of studying, including transportation, this means doing extra work and wasting other studying hours at work. This is for those who were lucky and found a job that would help them in the hardships of life in the city, according to what Wajdi Samir, a 22 year old student at the Amin Nashir Institute for Medical Sciences, in Khormaksar.

Ahmed explains to "South24", with grief and sadness on his face, the great difficulties that he faces every morning while taking public transportation and having to leave the house early to make up for the time he spends waiting for someone who accepts his ride at the old price.

Ahmed adds: “This color that covers my skin now is not mine, I acquired it in the past days as a result of my long stay in the striking sun, and the humiliating part is that one of my basic rights has become like a kind of beggary that the government give, while if there was a real state carrying out its duties, I would be able to ride a public bus and pay for transportation without having to beg the bus driver on the amount of money I could pay.”

With the increase in the severity of the administrative chaos that some state institutions are witnessing in the areas under the parity government, citizens are wondering about the role of the General Trade Union for Transport, in what is being committed by taxi drivers, demanding local authorities, the General Union and relevant government bodies to reconsider the rise in transportation prices which is a requirement that concerns all citizens.

In the context, a member of the union, who requested anonymity, revealed to “South24” the illegal increase in the transportation fare between the districts and their suburbs and not keeping pace with the distances traveled, stressing that the union obliges its taxis to the official price in accordance with the official oil price and that any increase in other transportations that is not subject to the union, the union is not responsible for.

He stressed that "the union calls on citizens to ride transportation from the main stations in various districts of the governorate and not to ride on buses that operate without legal license, since whoever rides with them helps spread them."

He stressed that the union is not among its tasks to monitor all transportation, blaming Aden Traffic Department for the randomness and chaos that occurs.

Observers believe that the current chaos and lack of oversight contributed to the greed of drivers who are eagerly waiting for any new dose of fuel in order to raise the price. The victims are always the citizens and the general public, especially the poorer ones and those with limited income.

Earlier last October, Aden governor Ahmed Lamlas directed the necessity of arranging public transportation in the governorate, and re-structuring and organizing the chaos in order to address the problems of traffic routes, leading to a scheme for pricing (3). He also directed a subsequent meeting of the local authority to operate the technical workshop for land transport and assign the head of the Chamber of Commerce to prepare a study to assess the status of the institution. (4)

The “price dose” that entered Yemen into the current war was not the last and it seems that it will not be so in the near future. Rather, the suffering of the citizens, who have been bearing the results of the political war for years and unfortunately will continue to increase, waiting for someone to put an end to everything that has happened and is happening.