As petrol scarcity bites harder in Kano metropolis, commercial tricycle operators on Friday increased their fares by about 70 per cent.
The petrol scarcity had reduced the number of tricycle operators popularly known as “Yan’adaidaita’’ on the roads.
Some of the operators now charged between N150 and N200 on some intra city routes against the previous N100.
Commuter going to Sabon Gari from Rijiyar Zaki paid between N250 and N300 against former fare of N200.
One of the operators, Isa Umar, said the petrol scarcity had seriously affected his business, saying that he was operating at a loss.
“I fill up my tricycle’s tank with N1,000 before fuel scarcity, but now I fill up with N1,700, and I hardly recover my money.
“I prefer to buy fuel from black market because you will not waste time,’’ he said.
Some motorists appealed to the Federal Government to urgently do something before the situation would cripple economic activities.
Out of the six filling stations along Gwarzo Road, only A. A Rano filling station was selling petrol at the official pump price of N145 per litre.
Other filling stations (independent marketers) were dispensing petrol at between N220 and N225 per litre.
NAN
