The State Transport Company (STC) has denied allegations that it deliberately assigns faulty buses to the Upper East Region, blaming recent service disruptions on a nationwide shortage of coaches.

The rebuttal follows complaints by Upper East Regional Minister Donatus Atanga Akamugri over frequent breakdowns, cancelled trips and ticketing bottlenecks affecting passengers travelling to and from northern Ghana.

Speaking to Citi News, Intercity STC Coaches Limited Deputy Managing Director Alhaji Nuru Hamidan acknowledged that the state carrier is operating with an inadequate fleet, despite earlier plans to acquire 120 new buses to ease terminal delays.

"Everybody in Ghana knows that STC does not have enough buses. We have granted numerous interviews to explain our fleet challenges and account for our operations. At STC, we do not allocate specific buses to specific regions," Hamidan said.

He explained that vehicles are deployed strictly by passenger demand, availability and operational timetables rather than geographical quotas.

"Our buses operate on schedules. When a passenger books a ticket, the available bus serves that journey. We do not have particular buses reserved for Kumasi, Cape Coast or other regions, so we do not discriminate," he added.

To bridge the fleet gap, Hamidan disclosed that STC has entered into revenue-sharing partnerships with private transport investors, including an alliance company identified as GH that has supplied 50 buses for the busy Kumasi–Accra corridor.

"We are appealing to them to extend the arrangement to other regions. If that happens, some of those buses will be deployed there," he said, noting that expanding private fleet alliances could help stabilise long-distance services to the Upper East Region.