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Mr Seth Tsedey, Vice-President, Northern Volta Cooperative Transport Society Limited, Hohoe has said the increase in lorry fares is likely to affect passenger turnout.

He said the phenomenon would in turn affect transport operators, adding that instead of families travelling, they may consider sending one person to represent them.

Mr Tsedey speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the 15 per cent increment on fares, said traders might get their counterparts sending them goods instead of them travelling to purchase the goods.

He said transport operators could, however not do anything about the increment.

He said once fuel prices kept increasing, there was the need for an increase in fares to enable drivers to make ends meet and ensure their vehicles were maintained.

Mr Tsedey appealed to the government to scrap the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy, the Special Petroleum Tax, Energy Sector Levy, Energy Debt Recovery Levy, and the Sanitation and Pollution Levy from the pump price of petroleum products captured in the 2022 Budget Statement. 

A passenger, Stella Denyo, said the increase in fuel prices and transport fares were worrying.

She said it would be difficult to transact businesses beyond one's boundaries and called on the government to intervene to prevent future fuel price hikes.

A dealer in footwear, Mr George Akomia, said the current increase in fares would greatly affect him.

He lamented that sales had not been good as expected adding that once buyers hear of the prices, they complained of lack of money.

Mr Akomia said the deplorable nature of roads coupled with the increase in fares only meant an increase in prices of the goods they hardly sold.

He appealed to transport operators to charge fares based on distances covered to enable people to save money.

Road Transport Operators, after negotiations with stakeholders, have agreed to increase public transport fares by 15 per cent, effective Saturday, February 26.