Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad is advising all commuters not to pay any increases in minibus fares until they have been so advised by the Ministry. He made this pronouncement during a press briefing in his South Road office yesterday, following an announcement on Monday by the United Minibus Union of an impending fare increase across the board. “I have met with representatives from the Guyana Public Transportation Association and the Guyana Minibus Association and we have all agreed that there will be no increase in the transportation cost.”
The Minister explained that the United Minibus Union is not a recognized entity and as such, they have no authority to announce a fare increase without consultation or agreement.
He said, “Over the years we have been dealing with these recognized Associations and in this case we see a couple unscrupulous operators who are demanding money from commuters.”
Meanwhile President of the United Minibus Union, Mr. Eon Andrews is stressing that several operators are determined to have an increase in fares and will soon be enforcing a raise of $20 across the board. 
Mr. Andrews made this disclosure, yesterday, during a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle and noted that the increase will be enforced by routes 31, 32, 41, 43, 44, 45 and 46 operators.
According to him, the decision to implement an increase was made on Sunday during a meeting with members of the association.
“During the meeting, we decided that an increase was needed since fares have been the same for some time now and prices for various things like parts and other things related to maintenance have gone up,” he explained.
In addition to this, Andrews noted that many of the owners and operators are self-employed, and they too are required to pay taxes.
He said, “Gas prices are only a small part of the problem, everything else has increased and so too must the fares since it has been at one level since 2005.”
In this regard he said that several attempts were made to contact Minister Prashad to discuss the increase but these have proven unsuccessful and a decision had to be made.
Andrews explained, “We tried to contact the Minister as a matter of respect because we wanted an input from the Government to see if anything could be done to assist us with our problem.”
As to the failed attempts made to contact him by representatives from this Union, Prashad said that he had indicated a willingness to meet with these individuals on several occasions but they have not turned up.
Meanwhile President of the Guyana Minibus Association, Mr. Lylon Withers noted that an increase at this time is highly unlikely since gas prices are still below $1000 per gallon.
As to the significance of this, he stated, “The agreement we have with the Ministry is that fares would remain the same until the gas price escalates above $1000, I do not think that the fares should go up at this time.”
In this regard, Prashad is encouraging commuters to remain vigilant of the gas prices by keeping track of the price at the pumps.
The Commerce Minister also emphasized that the Government of Guyana has always tried to ensure that transportation is affordable to all citizens over the years.
“Transportation is an important issue and it is important that persons understand what is going on,” he stressed.