MINISTER of Tourism Irfaan Ali yesterday held a press conference with the United Minibus Union as he sought to sensitise the public on the Government’s position that there is no fare increase and the current situation which commuters face is unacceptable.

Speaking during the press conference at the Tourism Ministry’s boardroom on South Road, the acting Tourism Minister noted that it has been several months now that the ministry has been monitoring the present situation of fare hikes and unfair treatment of commuters by minibus operators.
“Over the past months we have been receiving many complaints from commuters in relation to the imposition of fares that were not sanctioned by the ministry or any authority that has jurisdiction in terms of the setting of fares,” Ali said.
He noted that the ministry has consistently issued notices that outline clearly the fares to be paid by commuters and also outlined the fares that were not to be paid by commuters and still “we have been receiving hundreds of letters expressing concerns over fare hikes, especially from the Georgetown zones, 31(Georgetown to Whales) and 32 (Georgetown to Parika) route zones.”
REFUSING ‘SHORT DROP’ PASSENGERS
He expressed concern that some commuters had related that operators refused to accept ‘short drop’ passengers after 18:00hrs unless commuters pay full price.
The situation as viewed by the ministry and Government is unacceptable and this calls for a comprehensive look at the country’s transportation system.
The Government through the Ministry of Public Works and transportation intervened by providing some relief that is aimed at addressing the immediate situation. “It is clear that the public pressure is pushing us in the direction to have the public sector playing a greater role in the transportation sector,” Ali said.
According to the Tourism Minister, “it is not our interest to be involved in a way that would see new competition in a service that, more or less, has been provided by the private sector for many years now, but under the current circumstances in which the public is requesting of the Government to act on their behalf in what the commuters feel is unfair treatment, then we will have to do so and come up with a transportation solution.”
SEVERAL MEETINGS
Minister Ali reported that there were many meetings between the ministry and the minibus operators and their representatives and there was an agreement that “once the gas prices at the GuyOil (Guyana Oil Company) stations, which the Government controls, is less than a $1,000 then the increase in fares would not become necessary.”
Ali noted that the Government took all the necessary measures to make sure that the gas prices are kept below $1,000 and still some of the operators have increased their fares.
FOUR CORE ISSUES
The Tourism Minister explained that the Minibus Union was engaged on four cores issues as to the Government’s position on the issue of public transportation – the Government would take the necessary steps to keep gas prices under $1,000; the union will immediately revert to the fare structure that was put in place in January 2011; talks between the two entities will commence to integrate the service under the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and workout institutional arrangements under which public transportation will be managed and regulated in the future.
Concluding, Minister Ali emphasised that a properly regulated system must come into place that would see proper rules, procedures, guidelines and modern principles integrated into the public transportation system and monitored by the regulatory agencies.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)