Lagos.Cool Editorial
Ikorodu to Ikeja is a long outer-mainland haul, roughly 25km from Lagos's fast-growing northern township to its business capital, mostly along the Ikorodu Road corridor through Mile 12, Ketu and Ojota. Off-peak it can be done in 45-60 minutes; at rush hour, when Ikorodu's commuter tide pours onto the same road, it routinely stretches to two hours or more, one of the longer daily grinds in the metropolis.
This corridor is where BRT genuinely helps. The Ikorodu-to-TBS BRT line runs a dedicated lane along much of Ikorodu Road, and taking it to Ojota or Maryland and switching toward Ikeja is usually faster and calmer than sitting in danfo through Mile 12. For the rest, danfo is cheap and constant, with Mile 12 and Ojota as the big interchanges, and keke covering the Ikorodu-end links. Ride-hailing over this distance is expensive and still stuck in the same traffic, so few do it daily.
The honest read: Ikorodu offers some of the cheapest housing in Lagos, and the commute to Ikeja is the price. The people who make it work lean on the BRT, buy a Cowry card, and leave brutally early — before 6 AM the corridor moves. For anyone weighing Ikorodu rent against an Ikeja job, budget the time, not just the fare, because on this route the hours are the real expense.