The digitalization agenda blowing across the world has caught the attention of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU).
It is against this background that the national drivers union, the GPRTU has taken the lead amongst all transport unions in the country to launch its ‘Oya App’ to drive digital inclusion.
The launch of the pace-setting App was held at the forecourt of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Accra on Tuesday, August 9.
The bus tracking and digital payment app is the biggest technological reform introduced by the GPRTU in the last three decades of operations.
Oya is in line with the Union’s vision of providing safe transportation through digitalization. Primarily, the app will improve road safety, enhance passenger security, ensure convenience and motivate drivers.
The Oya App has been introduced by the GPRTU to bring solutions to vehicle manifest database, digital payment of transport fares, luggage tagging and ticket printing among others.
The app will also help passengers to alert over-speeding, report bad driving, and also call for emergency services when needed.
Delivering an address at the launch event today, Nana Nimako Bresiama who is the National Chairman of GPRTU explained that in a digitalised age, his outfit has decided it will not lag behind.
He said as a union, it has decided to go digital to help address critical issues of transport while exhibiting professionalism at the highest level.
“We don’t just want to be common drivers. We want to be professional with our work and that is why we are going digital.
“We want our drivers to exhibit top most professionalism to reduce accidents on our roads. Let’s all come together and help. The GPRTU of yesterday is not the same today,” Nana Nimako Bresiama stressed.
Adding to that, General Secretary of the GPRTU, Godfred Abulbire emphasised that the union intends to become more marketable for passengers to feel safe when using the services of members.
He further disclosed that the GPRTU is set to introduce a towing system that will see to the swift removal of cars that break down on roads to help reduce accidents.
“Today we are proud to announce that we have gone further to adapt a towing service. We will make sure all our members subscribe to it so that whenever a car is damaged we will get it towed at a highly subsidized fee which will be paid once a year.
“Our image is highly dented but after discussions with road safety, we want to rebrand by having stickers that will distinguish us from other transport unions. Very soon all GPRTU vehicles nationwide will be embossed with our stickers,” Godfred Abulbire shared.
The GPRTU General Secretary added, “We forge ahead after today’s launch to make sure the manifest system and the towing policy are fully enforced.”
Impressed with the introduction of the Oya App, Acting Director General of the National Road Safety Authority, Ing. David Osafo Adonteng applauded GPRTU for taking the bold step.
He urged other unions not to fold their hands and allow the digitalisation train to move and leave them behind.
In his view, going digital as demonstrated by GPRTU is the way to go.
“We at the Road Safety Authority are happy and we salute you for putting in the work for this dream to come to life.
“We must salute GPRTU for the good work they keep doing to help deal with accidents in the country.
“If you stay and you don’t join the digitization train you will stay and rot. I must be frank, GPRTU you have taken the lead in this race,” Ing. David Osafo Adonteng said.
Representatives from the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Roads and Highways who graced the launch of the Oya App applauded the GPRTU for setting the pace and admonished the union to continue coming up with initiatives that will not only make the transport sector better but help reduce accidents involving commercial vehicles drastically.
At the launch of the app, the GPRTU disclosed that it has decided to do in-service training for all drivers to promote professionalism.
The ‘Oya App’ is already available for download on the Apple Store and Play store for IOS and Android devices respectively.
