Now that the government has announced another cut in the excise tax on gasoline to avoid any further hikes in fares for commuters,  it is to be hoped that owners/operators providing public transportation services would do the right and fair thing BY honouring their social responsibility.
Co-operation is a two-way process, and the providers of public transportation, via minibuses or else, need the support of commuters as much as they need this mode of travel. Let, therefore, good sense and fairness prevail to avoid unpleasantness, or worse.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh’s announcement of the excise tax decrease from 15 to 10 per cent, followed by that made last year, came with an appeal for cooperation in the public interest.
Coinciding with this latest reduction in the excise tax was an appeal also by the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Irfaan Ali, for an end to arbitrary increases and unregulated changes by private operators of public transport services.
The government, in our view, has rightly proposed that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) be the body with which the operators of public transportation services should negotiate for regulation of fares, rather than continue an undesirable policy of arbitrary increases.
Precedent for this policy exists elsewhere within our Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and there is NO good reason why it should not be pursued with mutual satisfaction here in Guyana.
GUYOIL  understands its obligation to continue retailing gasoline at G$980 per gallon, and, therefore, providers of transportation services for the public must appreciate why they too should NOT hike unjustified fares.