Gambia
Transport Service Company (GTSC) on Sunday launched its Express Banjul-Dakar
International service.
The
Banjul-Dakar Express Service is scheduled to leave Kanifing at 7am for a
non-stop journey to Dakar thrice weekly Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A
luxury coach with air conditioning, fans, refreshments, in-bus entertainment,
Wi-Fi, seat belts, curtains, fire extinguishers, and first aid kits are some of
the available facilities on the service.
With
this unique express service, passengers can now leave The Gambia and travel on
a direct trip to Dakar in comfort and speed- thus saving customers several
hours off their journey time relative to other available services.
Currently,
passengers normally have to use three different connecting transports to get to
Dakar i.e. travelling from the Kombos to Amdalie and catching another vehicle
to Karang and subsequently connecting to a final one from Karang to Dakar.
However,
with the introduction of this new service, customers are assured of a direct
trip to Dakar.
Lamin
Sisay, a Senegalese residing in Dippa-Kunda stated: “GTSC is my service of
choice. I am visiting Dakar to attend a wedding and will join GTSC bus back to
The Gambia on Tuesday.”
Ebrima
Diouf, also a Senegalese on the bus to Dakar applauded the launch and said:
“GTSC is my favorite service, the seats are comfortable and the staff is
friendly.”
Similar
sentiments were made by Gambians and other nationals on board the bus.
Fabuka
Njaay, the Marketing Manager of GTSC stated that regional service expansion
through cooperation and collaboration with key stakeholders is core to their
strategic growth.
He
indicated that the successful launch of the Banjul-Koundara, Banjul-Bissau and
Banjul-Dakar service was the result of intensive Marketing Research and
strategic alignment.
Mr
Njaay further indicated that passengers on these services would be issued
paperless tickets which are sent to their phones.
These
booking have details which include the names, picking points, phone numbers and
destinations of passengers and are captured in GTSC cloud database.
This
database is continually analyzed to derive useful demographical and consumer
behavior related information by way of data mining which are imperative for
service enhancement and continuous improvement.
The
bus was full to capacity with 44 passenger onboard-all seated as it left the
Kanifing depot for Dakar.
