Bicycles, usually very rare on Jos roads, have surfaced on major highways due to the recent ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in the city.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the bicycles, in different shapes and sizes, now compete for space along many highways in the metropolis as residents move about conveying relations and friends.
NAN reports that before now, the bicycles were only being used mostly by school children, farmers and junior level workers.
A visit to the Ahmadu Bello Way and Terminus in central Jos where the bicycles are being sold have also revealed a rise in their cost.
A used bicycle in the area which usually sold for between N9 and N10,000 has now risen to between N13,000 and N14,000, depending on the manufacturing company.
At Nasarawa Gwom and Katako, a new bicycle went for N13,000 as against the old price of N10,000.
Mr Jerry Gwani, a carpenter, told NAN that he abandoned his bicycle three years ago when he bought a motorcycle.
“I stopped using my bicycle when I bought a motorcycle, but with the ban, I have returned to it since it is not banned. Usually it is the children that use it to run errands but I am back to it now,’’ he said.
A school girl, Anastasia Augustine, said she had resorted to the bicycle because her father could no more convey her to school on his motor cycle.
It will be recalled that the Plateau Government had banned the operations of commercial motorcyclists last week, two years after the first attempt resulted into riots in the city.
The Police Commissioner in the state, Emmanuel Ayeni, had on Friday in Jos told journalists that the ban was a total success and thanked members of the public for their cooperation.
Similarly, the Commissioner for Information, Yiljap Abraham, also described the ban as a “huge success’’ and said it was imposed to de-congest the roads and minimise threats to security.
