The Economic Impact of Government Intervention in Public Transport System: A Case Study of the Uduaghan Bus Scheme in Delta State, Nigeria

This study investigated the Economic benefit of government intervention in public transport system with direct focus on the Uduaghan Bus Scheme which was introduced during the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan which lasted from 2007 to 2015 in Delta State, Nigeria. The core aim of this paper is to address economic relevance of government intervention in urban/rural transportation system and the challenges regarding mass transit in Delta State. This Uduaghan initiative introduced 300 bus units to provide cost-effective, reliable and efficient transportation, thereby relieving traffic congestion associated with informal transport systems that are otherwise very costly in terms of safety and economic considerations. The study adopted mixed-method research, employing a combination of survey data and qualitative interviews to evaluate commuter/citizens satisfaction, operational efficiency and economic impacts of the Uduaghan Bus Scheme. The study results revealed that while the Uduaghan Bus Scheme has improved public transportation system, it still suffers from high operability setback which had considerably tilted the balance in favour of this scheme so far. This study concludes that there is drastic reduction in cost of transportation across board, easy accessibility to the urban and rural areas, and state-of-art transport vehicles within study period. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that; Nigeria government should subsidize the public transportation scheme through the provision of government transport bus scheme and provide quicker solution to its operational efficiency.