The president of the Gambia Transport Union, Omar Ceesay, has called on the government to provide standard garages for commercial vehicles.

Speaking to The Point, Mr Ceesay said that most places and highways in town have now been turned to garages, where commercial vehicles pack without authorization.

There is a need for the government to identify public garages for commercial vehicles and make easier movement of commuters, he said.

"It would be recalled that the government once allocated some places to be stationed as garages but those places are not convenient even though they are good places that could be used in the future," Mr Ceesay pointed out.

He said that if the government does not have money to allocate specific places as garages, they could go into public-private partnership to get things done for the better.

"I noticed that commercial drivers sometimes charge beyond the stipulated tariffs, which is unlawful," he commented, saying that if public garages are provided, drivers would know that they have to alight passengers at a specific place with a stated fare.

"There is no law against drivers who request passengers to pay more fares for a particular destination; hence the police do not have the right to stop the driver for doing that," he added.