Tamale: Yellow-Yellow Tricycles Collapsing Taxi Business

Traditional taxi drivers in the Tamale Metropolis are gradually getting out of business.

This is not about the perennial upward adjustment of fuel prices or the rising costs of spare parts, but due to the influx of Yellow-Yellow tricycles popularly known as Mahama Camboo.

In major cities like Accra and Kumasi today, international taxi service provider, Uber, is the main headache of commercial taxi motorists, who claim they are gradually losing their source of income.

In the Tamale Metropolis, the invasion of the Yellow-Yellow tricycles is the headache of traditional Taxi Drivers.

The Mahama NDC administration in November 2015 distributed the Yellow-Yellow tricycles to some youth in the Northern Region to be used for commercial purpose to ease the transportation difficulties in these regions.

The distribution was done through the Micro finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC).

From all indications, the Yellow-Yellow tricycles commercial transport business has come to stay, with many young men dropping out of school and reaping from it.

The Yellow-Yellow tricycles business is relatively the cheapest means of commercial transportation for people from all walks of life in the Tamale Metropolis.

Whereas traditional taxi drivers charge between GH¢5.00 and GH¢10 when chattered for a short distance, a customer pay far less than that for a longer distance on a Mahama Camboo.

Due to this, many commuters will on any day go for the Yellow-Yellow tricycles.

On December 1, 2015, traditional Taxi Drivers in the Tamale Metropolis hit the streets against the use of the Yellow-Yellow tricyclesfor commercial purposes.

These traditional Taxi Drivers insists that they are increasingly losing their business to the Yellow-Yellow tricycle operators.

Checks revealed that a Yellow-Yellow tricycle rider records about GH¢50.00 profit daily, but this can go up to GH¢150 cedis on a good day.

The speed at which these Yellow-Yellow tricycles are multiplying in the Tamale Metropolis is alarming.

The traditional Taxi Drivers have emphasized the need to stop the tricycles from operating as taxis since it is gradually collapsing their business.