The Lagos State Government has banned commuter buses, popularly known as Molue, from plying routes on Lagos Island, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

The government says no Molue bus should cross any bridge linking the mainland with the Island, such as Third Mainland, Eko and Carter bridges, as they could no longer operate in the Central Business District, CBD.

The state government said the decision was taken in its determination to ensure adequate monitoring of commuter bus operators as reagrds compliance with traffic rules and regulations.

The General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Engr. Babatunde Edu, at a stakeholder’s meeting with the Branch Chairmen of the Lagos Urban Bus Owners Association of Nigeria, LUBON, the operators of Molue buses in the state on Wednesday in Oshodi, said the new directive came into effect since 19 August, 2013.

“Though the Lagos State Government was supposed to have commenced enforcement last month, being a responsive and responsible government which believes in enlightenment before enforcement, we therefore decided to shift the enforcement to 4th of this month,” he said.

Edu stated that LASTMA has been mandated to ensure strict compliance with the ban and impound any bus that flouts the ban after 4 September.

The General Manager further said that Molue buses could ply roads in any other part of the state aside the restricted areas, reiterating that government has not banned the buses outright.

He said the buses are restricted to areas like Orile, Iyana Ipaja, Mile 2, Mile 12 among others and urged operators to voluntarily comply with the new directive.

While taking the operators through the prohibited routes, which include Iddo, Ebute Ero, Apongbon, Obalende, Idumota, CMS, among others, Edu appealed for cooperation and support of all the stakeholders.

Responding, the leader of the team, Engr. Taofeek Adesina commended the government for its effort to restore sanity and order in the state and therefore pledged the readiness of his union to lend its support.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

Samoo01: ‘‘The state government said the decision was taken in its determination to ensure adequate monitoring of commuter bus operators as reagrds (sic) compliance with traffic rules and regulations.’’


So Lagos State needs to eradicate the remaining few dozens of 'Molue' that has been facing sustained attrition by Fashola's administration or the ‘‘adequate monitoring’’ of hundreds of thousands of vehicles plying Lagos roads daily will be in jeopardy? You can't make this stuff up.


Granted, ‘‘Molue’’ has become too haggard for this age and its carbon footprint being its Archiles heel, it, however, hasn't outlived its usefulness; the great unwashed still use the ugly Benz to commute themselves due to its affordability and uproariousity.


Why ban it from plying Iyana-Ipaja (the same road that heavy duty trucks ply) if it can ply Agege? And why did the reporter find it superfluous to get reactions from 'Molue' unionists?


I've never entered a 'Molue' before but I've been wondering how no one is upgrading this low budget means of transportation in an increasingly unaffordable Lagos.

The convoluted atmosphere that has become increasingly emblematic of Fashola's administration is the APC echo chamber cocooning.


Just when you think life can't get worse for Lagos proles, Fashola stifles it further with yet another Soviet-esque ukase.


As egregious as the PDP has been for us, Fashola's Lagos is a forlorn harbinger of what Nigerians will go through should APC get the mandate to man Aso-Rock. Alas, there's no alternative to PDP and APC. Nigerians are in for a bumpy ride. Pathetic, really.

naptu2: [size=14pt]MOLUE[/size]


Molue (Bedford bus)

Molues took over when government banned the use of Bolekaja, for commercial passenger transport services. The molue is a large commercial passenger bus usually painted yellow and black. When bolekaja were banned, some transport operators replaced the wooden passenger cabins of their bolekaja with locally made metallic bus compartments. Thus the first molue buses were of the Bedford variety. However, with time the Mercedes Benz 911 flatbed truck, which had been fitted with locally made passenger compartments became the preferred brand for molue operators.

It is not clear what the origin of the term molue is. Some say that Molue is the corruption of “Maul Him”, a description given to the vehicle by the city’s elite who are piqued by the incessant manner the large bodied buses tear clothes and even flesh of passengers while either entering or disembarking as they reach their destinations. Others say No thanks to the recklessness of 'Danfo' buses (smaller commuter buses especially the Volkwagen types) conductors on the converted buses often admonished their drivers to 'Molue' (a corruption of the word remould) the smaller buses when they obstruct the larger ones. From that moment on the term 'Molue' became associated with the big bully nature of the 911 model of commercial vehicles in urban Lagos”.

Molue buses were a common sight on Lagos roads. They were the king of the roads. From Ojota to Ketu or Ikorodu and from there to Iddo, a major terminus made popular by the now comatose railway system, to Oyingbo, a bustling transportation haven to Oshodi, Costain, to Obalende, and from there to Apapa, then Orile, Iganmu to Mile 2 and further still to Okokomaiko, on the ever-busy Badagry highway and on the southern fringes of Iyana-Ipaja, Pen Cinema, Egbeda, to Idimu and Ijegun, and other emerging satellite towns of the state, such as Alimosho, the Lagos Molue at a time, captured the terrain, becoming an opium of the commuting masses.

These buses were so popular that they were even printed on postcards, greeting cards and favoured as the face of a developing city state of Lagos. Because it carries more passengers, fares on Molue are often times cheaper than the smaller commuter buses. The afro-beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang about them in his song "Shuffering and Shmiling", singing that in a molue we had "44 sitting, 99 standing". The 1980s group, "Too Cool for Zero" also paid tribute to the king of the road in their song "Molue, Lagos City Transport".

From wherever you boarded them, a ride in a Molue was an admixture of fun and tears. There, you might be unlucky to have your pocket picked by one of the extremely smart street urchins regarded as area boys, who deliberately crowded the two entrances, making ingress and egress a headache to passengers.


There was no decency inside the Molue. After filling all the seats, the spill over passengers were made to hang on a rail in what was usually called ‘standing’ in the buses. Passengers were so tightly packed that they made nonsense of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s mimickery of their plight in the song, Suffering and Smiling.The air inside the Molue most times are stale, passengers have to cope with the body odours until fresh air permeates the vehicle. Most Molues don’t have windows and passengers have to sit on bare planks which are crudely welded to iron bars by local smithes. A ride inside Molue during the rain can spell disaster if a special outing is in view, as one may end up drenched.


Apart from the steering wheel, the dash boards of most Molues are often barren of any functioning gadgets, the drivers who are often boxed in with a wired mesh, could be found dripping with sweat as they battle with the steering wheel. With no view finder and side mirrors, the typical Molue driver relies on his mates, better known locally as bus conductors to marshal the roads, and these barks instructions to him intermittently.

"O wa legbe e o, (there is a vehicle by your side), Wole wa, (enter this side of the road), O nbo le (a passenger is dropping) or more lewd ones like; Wole pelu senji e o, (enter this bus with the correct fare), O loyun o ponmo o (this passenger, obviously a woman is pregnant and carrying a baby), are few of the jargons of the Molue conductor.
The driver is ever in a hurry. Apart from when it takes off from its major park, Molue never stops. Whether you are dropping off the vehicle or boarding, you have to develop a running feet, as you practically jump off, or rush in, on motion. This act which has become the archilles heels of many hapless commuters have somewhat become the defining mode of recognising who just migrated to Lagos and who is a resident.


The Molue could be a market too. Itinerant merchants often make a kill inside Molue, hawking all manners of wares from the usual drugs to the cure-all herbs that take care of a thousand ailments. Standing at one corner of the bus, the agent projects his voice by usually cupping his hands round his mouth, clears his/her throat and begins by assisting the passengers to call out the many bus stops along the routes, before leading the passengers into prayers which often he/she uses to hoodwink them before bringing out his or her wares. Molues are also a veritable ground for peripatetic preachers. Many young pastors used the Molue as sound bites, from where they work on their confidence to handle microphone and address larger audience in the Church. It could also be a leveler of sorts, a melting pot for the upcoming middle class usually in his razor sharp edged shirts and tie and their female counterpart in their skirt suits, mingling and struggling for space with the pepper retailers, and the mechanics in their grease-blackened aprons.


Molue (Mercedes Benz 911).

zibi2: Fashola banned okada is not enough (moule)bus From island.Just watch he would banned our legs (leggedesbenze).....

Namiad:
all u said is total GARBAGE...u were just speaking english

Samoo01: ‘‘The state government said the decision was taken in its determination to ensure adequate monitoring of commuter bus operators as reagrds (sic) compliance with traffic rules and regulations.’’


So Lagos State needs to eradicate the remaining few dozens of 'Molue' that has been facing sustained attrition by Fashola's administration or the ‘‘adequate monitoring’’ of hundreds of thousands of vehicles plying Lagos roads daily will be in jeopardy? You can't make this stuff up.


Granted, ‘‘Molue’’ has become too haggard for this age and its carbon footprint being its Archiles heel, it, however, hasn't outlived its usefulness; the great unwashed still use the ugly Benz to commute themselves due to its affordability and uproariousity.


Why ban it from plying Iyana-Ipaja (the same road that heavy duty trucks ply) if it can ply Agege? And why did the reporter find it superfluous to get reactions from 'Molue' unionists?


I've never entered a 'Molue' before but I've been wondering how no one is upgrading this low budget means of transportation in an increasingly unaffordable Lagos.

The convoluted atmosphere that has become increasingly emblematic of Fashola's administration is the APC echo chamber cocooning.


Just when you think life can't get worse for Lagos proles, Fashola stifles it further with yet another Soviet-esque ukase.


As egregious as the PDP has been for us, Fashola's Lagos is a forlorn harbinger of what Nigerians will go through should APC get the mandate to man Aso-Rock. Alas, there's no alternative to PDP and APC. Nigerians are in for a bumpy ride. Pathetic, really.

Samoo01: ‘‘The state government said the decision was taken in its determination to ensure adequate monitoring of commuter bus operators as reagrds (sic) compliance with traffic rules and regulations.’’


So Lagos State needs to eradicate the remaining few dozens of 'Molue' that has been facing sustained attrition by Fashola's administration or the ‘‘adequate monitoring’’ of hundreds of thousands of vehicles plying Lagos roads daily will be in jeopardy? You can't make this stuff up.


Granted, ‘‘Molue’’ has become too haggard for this age and its carbon footprint being its Archiles heel, it, however, hasn't outlived its usefulness; the great unwashed still use the ugly Benz to commute themselves due to its affordability and uproariousity.


Why ban it from plying Iyana-Ipaja (the same road that heavy duty trucks ply) if it can ply Agege? And why did the reporter find it superfluous to get reactions from 'Molue' unionists?


I've never entered a 'Molue' before but I've been wondering how no one is upgrading this low budget means of transportation in an increasingly unaffordable Lagos.

The convoluted atmosphere that has become increasingly emblematic of Fashola's administration is the APC echo chamber cocooning.


Just when you think life can't get worse for Lagos proles, Fashola stifles it further with yet another Soviet-esque ukase.


As egregious as the PDP has been for us, Fashola's Lagos is a forlorn harbinger of what Nigerians will go through should APC get the mandate to man Aso-Rock. Alas, there's no alternative to PDP and APC. Nigerians are in for a bumpy ride. Pathetic, really.

PHIPEX: I have been thinking that Molue was banned from these routes years ago.