By Ibrahim Sesay
Metro Transport Company (SL) Limited, the operator of the Waka Fine bus service, has announced a profit of NLe3.8 million during its maiden Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Friday October 10, 2025 at the company’s headquarters within the SLRTC compound, PWD, Blackhall Road, Kissy.
The landmark meeting brought together shareholders, Board members and key stakeholders to review the company’s financial and operational performance since its inception. The event featured the presentation of financial statements, election of Directors and detailed discussions on operational challenges, strategic investments and future plans to enhance service delivery.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Board Chairman, Kobi Walker, described the company’s first-year performance as encouraging but warned of rising operational costs that could impact profitability.
“The company was able to record NLe3.8 million as profit, but we must be mindful about that,” Kobi Walker said. “In year one, the buses were new, so repair and maintenance costs were minimal; just about one percent of our revenue. But now, we are seeing a massive escalation of maintenance costs that is significantly eating into our bottom line.”
He further explained that Management is taking concrete steps to reduce expenditure and improve operational efficiency.
“We are putting systems and processes in place to ensure all costs go through proper channels,” Kobi Walker added. “We are policing and patrolling these systems to avoid wastages and unnecessary expenditures.”
The Board Chairman acknowledged the complexities of formalizing Sierra Leone’s informal transport sector and maintaining effective relationships with Government regulators and staff.
“Formalizing an informal sector has its own challenges,” he said. “Our relationship with regulators is one we continue to nurture to ensure efficient mass movement for the people of Freetown. But as business people focused on profit optimization, we sometimes see things differently from regulators.”
Looking to the future, Kobi Walker revealed that the company aims to expand its fleet and improve operational capacity to meet the growing demand for safe and reliable public transport.
“Our short-term vision is to invest in more buses,” he said. “A team has already been set up to explore investment options so we can increase the number of buses we manage.”
He concluded by appealing to the public to support the Waka Fine initiative and take collective ownership of the service.
“This is an opportunity to sanitize the public transport sector,” Kobi Walker stated. “These buses belong to the people. Use them as your own so that we can generate the resources to expand and make transportation easier for every Sierra Leonean in the Western Area.”
Metro Transport Company operates under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, managing 50 Waka Fine buses along two major corridors: the East route (Calaba Town–Central Bus Station) and the West route (Lumley–Central Bus Station).
The company was established to formalize Sierra Leone’s informal public transport system and operates under the framework of the Sierra Leone Integrated and Resilient Urban Mobility Project (SL-IRUMP); a Government initiative designed to modernize urban transport, reduce congestion and improves mobility across Freetown.
