There has been widespread disruption in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, following a ban on motorbike and tricycle taxis.
There were long queues at bus stations even though extra transport was laid on, while some walked for miles.
Commercial motorbikes are the most common form of public transport in the city of at least 20 million people, which is notorious for traffic jams.
The authorities said the ban was needed because of safety concerns.
They said the motorbike taxis, known as okadas, and tricycles, called kekes, caused “death and disorderliness”.
The ban did not include private motorbikes and motorcycles used by delivery companies but on Saturday, the first day of the ban, there were complaints that the police were arresting them.
A few commercial dissenters were arrested over the weekend, but there was near total compliance with the ban on Monday, the first working day since it took effect.
The ban affects the city’s main business areas and the bridges and highways which link the different bits of the coastal city. Okadas and kekes are still allowed in some of residential areas of the state, especially where many poorer people live.
The decision has not gone down well with commuters, who feel the decision is elitist and targets the poor.
The government said it had provided more public buses and boats for those along the waterways, but the truth is that the kekes and okadas provided a badly needed service.
They plied the streets and hard-to-reach areas where buses and taxis are unable to go.
There was a small protest in the Ijora area of Lagos, where a handful of okada riders burnt tyres and blocked the main road.
But they were dispersed by security forces, who had earlier warned that defaulters would be dealt with.
There was also a protest on Friday against the ban as riders who belonged to ride-hailing companies called for better regulation rather than an outright ban.
It is said that it is most unlikely that there would be a reversal on the ban.
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