PERSONS commuting to the East Coast Demerara in the evening are being confronted by minibus and taxi operators’ demands for a fare of $200 and more per person from Georgetown to Victoria from as early as 19:00hrs (7pm). The bus fare from Georgetown to Non Pareil is a mere $120, but commuters have no choice but to pay a taxi another $200 to take them into the access road, because three bicycle bandits have been preying on hapless villagers walking to their destinations.
On April 30 last, this reporter was forced to pay more than $1000 to get home using public transportation, because a section of the East Coast Demerara highway remained closed to vehicular traffic due to the effects of the unusually high sprig tide, and minibus and taxi operators were figuratively “making a killing” exploiting this unhappy situation. However, the highway has now been reopened to traffic.

Commuters are being presented with demands to figuratively pay “through their noses” in order to get home via public transportation, and they have little or no choice but to accept the manipulation, since they must get to their respective homes and to their families.
And to add insult to injury, the minibuses are usually overloaded, but any objection to increasing the numbers in an already overloaded vehicle is met with a demand that the one raising the objection must exit the vehicle immediately.

This trend has been ongoing for quite some time; and because they see themselves as being able to successfully exploit this unsavoury situation, minibus operators and hire car drivers have hardened their exploitative attitude against the pleas of the travelling public. What now obtains is a most disgusting, rude and very disrespectful attitude to everybody, from children to elderly folks, and it leaves much to be desired.

It is a very discouraging experience to take public transportation home at night, because one is caught between a rock and a very hard place. One would have to wait for hours before one can board a bus, and if a police campaign is ongoing, it gets worse, because most bus operators would stop working right away. As such, many commuters are left stranded, and are forced to pay an added fare just to get to their homes.

Not only do commuters on the East Coast Demerara suffer, but I have been told that the same situation obtains on the West Coast Demerara and in other parts of the country as well.

Taxi drivers also charge an added fare at nights, especially after midnight. They demand as much as $500 as the new fare, and if the passenger has to go in an access road, they demand extra.              

Speaking to a senior police officer attached to the Traffic Department, I was told there is precious little the police can do to control any hike in fares, but once the vehicles used for public transportation are overloaded, the police can institute charges against the driver and conductor for an offence.
Meanwhile, the Consumers Affairs Department of the Ministry of Tourism has reportedly received several complaints from commuters in respect to the foregoing, and officers there are aware that minibus and taxi operators are taking advantage of passengers in several parts of the country.

A Tourism Ministry spokesperson has said that the subject minister is dealing with the matter, but that minister could not be reached for a comment.

The Consumer Movement of Guyana and the Minibus Association of Guyana were also unavailable for comment, as their respective telephone numbers remained unanswered.