Car hire services at the Lagos airport get trendy as operators comply with the directive to purchase a new, uniform model of cars
By Funsho Balogun
Taxi patrons at both the local and international wings of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, MMA, are getting a new deal in luxury rides. In place of the rickety contraptions that once passed for cabs at the airport, passengers can now choose to zoom off in the comfort and convenience of new Toyota Camry cars, thanks to a directive from the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, which cab operators are increasingly complying with. FAAN insists that the standards and services rendered at the MMA be upgraded to rank it among the best 50 airports in the world.
Two years ago, FAAN began giving vent to federal government’s desire to ape the taxi culture at leading airports in Europe, Asia and the United States of America. At such airports, new, glittering automobiles not older than five years are the norm as taxis and unsightly ones a strict impossibility. More often than not, there are uniform specifications restricted to renown brands like Toyota Lexus, Toyota Camry, BMW and Mercedes Benz.
Government’s sight must apparently have been assailed by the ugly spectacle of all manner of the scrappy taxis that dotted the MMA’s car hire parking lot so much so that in 2006, it inaugurated a Presidential Task Force On Ground Transportation to fashion out order and beauty on airport cabbing. After taking a hard look at the various brands that could possibly pass the test, the task force picked the Toyota Camry 2005 model ahead of the Peugeot and Mercedes Benz brands which were virtually discarded for what was regarded as their notoriety for fuel guzzling and problem of over-heating. The task force also considered stylish design and comfortable seating that would match the calibre and class that air passengers ooze.
Living the FAAN dream, naturally, was an initial challenge to the cab operators many of whom practically live from hand to mouth. A strong representation to the Authority for a change of mind was fruitless. Rather, FAAN advised them to source for funds from banks to purchase the cars and actually assisted in arranging loan facilities. Unexpectedly, most of the financial institutions the Airport Car Hire Association, ACHA, the operators’ umbrella body, contacted for collaboration on the project initially developed cold feet. But intense marketing eventually convinced managers of the First City Monument Bank, FCMB, to partner with the association.
Other banks soon followed suit. These include Intercontinental Bank, Ecobank, Afribank, First Bank and Fidelity Bank. While the banks mobilised funds for a 70 per cent splash of the cost of each car, the proprietors were to pay an equity contribution of 30 per cent. As the success of the project grew, the banks agreed to scale down the operators’ equity to 20 per cent. As Chief Clement E. Agwu, a past chairman of the ACHA explained, “an almost new Toyota Camry goes for N3 million. Thirty per cent of that is about N900,000, which a beneficiary is expected to pay before a car is procured and delivered to him.”
A beneficiary enjoys a grace of three years to pay back the money. The operators admitted they could not afford brand new cars and must settle for alternatives that are not older than three years and are considered as good as new. They also concurred that their latest acquisitions have, indeed, polished the image of the business while also matching what FAAN actually wanted.
The project and arrangement are not a Lagos affair alone. It also applies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and the Port Harcourt International Airport where the association equally effectively operates. However, of the three brands - Mercedes E Class, Peugeot 406 and the Toyota Camry - proposed by FAAN, although with a preference for the last brand, the Abuja branch of the ACHA opted for brand new Peugeot cars.
Proprietors of car hire firms told TheNEWS that business has been better with the introduction of the new scheme. Customers are pleasantly surprised that introduction of the modern fleet has not necessarily translated into hiking charges within the Lagos metropolis. Trips from the airport to other states, however, attract rather premium rates. While charges within Lagos range from N2500 to N6000, hiring a Camry cab to Abuja from Lagos may cost as much as N60,000 while a return trip may draw a tariff up to N120,000, depending on negotiations. A passenger desirous of retaining the services of a cab within Lagos for long hours or the whole day must budget between N16,000 and N25,000, or an average of N1,500 per hour.
With these rates, the car hire service providers have been meeting up with the various charges imposed by FAAN in tune with the concession agreements. Both the ground rent (also termed concession fee) and sticker fee amount to between N33,000 and N38,000 annually, for each vehicle. There are also the union fees to pay. Each proprietor is confined to a maximum of five cars, as allotted by FAAN.
Membership of the airport car hire business is not all-comers affairs, declared Agwu declared. Although FAAN regulates their activities, the association itself controls admission to protect competition and allow sane rows of cabs jostling for fares. Admitting more members, in its thinking, translates to an unwieldy increase in the number of cars that would merely crowd the park with no fare to ferry. Despite this, there are grumbles of illegal intrusion of unregistered operators allegedly masterminded by FAAN officials.
Presently, the Camry fleet consists of about 200 vehicles; the proprietors complained the number included interfering players. ACHA members were particularly miffed about what they called FAAN’s role in authorising additional car hire service providers. These, an allegation went, are being accorded preferential treatment by giving them spaces inside the arrival hall and thereby allowing them early access to arriving first class passengers who are believed to be freer with cash and are ever willing to patronise car hire service providers.
Joshua Olatunde Olagbadebo, another former chairman of the association recalled that at the take-off of the Camry project, ACHA members were moved out of the Arrival Hall while their space which was meant to be allotted to PAN Express was allocated to other car hire providers.
Apart from being a reliable source of income for the proprietors, the car hire service business has taken thousands of people off the streets, employed as drivers, mechanics and other appendage service providers. The drivers, for instance, are entitled to 20 per cent of each day’s income on each vehicle. The ACHA has been in existence for over 30 years but was incorporated in 1998.
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