Policy analyst Bright Simons has questioned the wisdom of digitalising Ghana’s troubled Ayalolo bus service before addressing its fundamental operational collapse, warning that fewer than half the buses still in circulation are actually fit for use.
Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, raised the alarm in a Facebook post on Sunday, 22 February 2026, questioning why attention was being directed at digital upgrades for a fleet that has shrunk dramatically since its launch a decade ago. “But before Ayalolo is ‘digitalised,’ can it first be FIXED?” he wrote.
His figures painted a stark picture. Of the 245 buses procured in 2016 through a Swedish loan arrangement, Simons said fewer than 70 remain in service nationally, with only 45 currently operational.
The numbers are broadly consistent with disclosures made in January 2026 by the Acting Managing Director of the Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE), Awudu Dawuda. Speaking on Citi FM’s Breakfast Show on 15 January, Dawuda confirmed that GAPTE was left with just 80 buses in Accra after the previous administration redeployed 60 to Kumasi, 10 to Takoradi, and 10 to Tamale. He added that roughly 60 of those remaining had been grounded by mechanical faults before GAPTE intervened to repair them using its own resources.
The Ayalolo system, derived from a Ga expression meaning “still moving,” was launched in Accra in 2016 as a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) initiative funded through a $95 million project backed by the World Bank, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF). It was designed to ease Accra’s chronic traffic congestion through scheduled, high-capacity urban transit along dedicated corridors.
That vision has largely stalled. Without dedicated bus lanes, the system was rebranded the Quality Bus System (QBS) and has since been criticised for operating at speeds that critics now derisively call Bus Slow Transit. Aayalolo management has itself acknowledged that the system has reached its operational ceiling and cannot expand meaningfully without dedicated road space and stronger enforcement.
The Mahama administration has pledged to act. Vice President Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, during a working visit to the Ministry of Transport on 16 January 2026, announced that the government would provide additional high-occupancy buses to support Ayalolo, Metro Mass, and private operators to ease worsening peak-hour congestion in Accra.
Simons indicated he was not opposed to digital innovation in transport but argued that upgrades cannot substitute for basic fleet management and maintenance. His post reflects a broader concern among analysts that Ghana’s public transport investments frequently stall between procurement and sustained operation, leaving commuters with fewer reliable options as urban populations grow.
