Dear Editor,

WITH cunning strategies, the minibus union and the ministry responsible devised a method to fool commuters with empty promises and with brutal bullyism. They have imposed unconscionable fare increases that create additional burden on us without any sort of compromise or fulfilling not even a fraction of their promises. With all that’s happening, the unconscionable increases have been imposed on commuters; whilst they surrender themselves to the increase, they are still forced to travel under the same disgraceful conditions, despite the glorious promises of reform for the minibuses by the union and ministry.

Some minibuses were quick to impose the increases even before the stipulated time and many rushed to paste up the new fare structures on their vehicles to inform unsuspecting commuters of the increase. Mind you, the last increase of $80 was never approved by the previous administration; instead, the relevant ministry at that time advised commuters to walk with exact fares. Now the fare should have been increased by $80 but ironically, it’s $100.

Editor, almost all the schools on the West Coast of Demerara, East Bank of Demerara and the East Bank of Essequibo have traffic ranks on the public road in the vicinity of the schools to assist schoolchildren crossing the road in the mornings and afternoons. Surprisingly, many minibuses with overloads pass these officers. Some even stop at the officer’s signal to allow children to cross and continue their journey, even though the officer could see the lawlessness. On Tuesday afternoon, one black “pitbull” was leaving the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling and two officers in front of the Vreed-en-Hoop police station stopped the bus, saw the disrespect and after some haggling with the conductor and driver, the bus was allowed to continue.

At the South Ruimveldt Park (Route 41) touts/conductors/drivers could be seen daily fighting with passengers or to get them into buses. A wide variety of profanities could be heard throughout the day being used by the operators and touts to exercise their minds, sometimes to the amusement or disgust of commuters. I must add that almost all the parks, this atrocious behaviour is prevalent. Deliberate parking by ‘hotplate’ minibuses at the park sometimes makes the traffic get congested and the officers present would conveniently focus their attention elsewhere. Many bus seats are uncomfortable to sit on and in some, the presence of sharp edges to inflict damage on you or your garments are still present. In my opinion, all the glorious promises of a better service that were attached to the fare increases were just a fly-by-night concoction devised by the union and the ministry just to impose the increases on citizens. Conveniently, we are seeing images of bigger buses and hearing of better service after the increases have taken place. The hypocrisy is indeed real!

Regards
Sahadeo Bates