GUYANA’s present public transport system of minibuses and taxis is woefully inadequate. It can be described as a broken system, because it is poorly regulated and doesn’t work the way it was intended to work. For any system to work well, there has to be a set of mechanisms in place to ensure that it does. If there are no such mechanisms in place, the system falls apart, and that is what is happening right now.

A prime example of this state of affairs is the fares charged by minibus operators. From time to time the operators increase the fares they charge commuters. When commuters complain, the authorities place notices in the newspapers, informing the public that fare increases have not been approved, advising commuters not to pay the increased fares. However, not paying the requested fares may result in an assault on the commuter or him/her being left stranded. To avoid this, commuters quietly pay up.
Another example of the broken system is, the crowds of commuters who assemble at the bus parks and along the minibus routes every morning and night, sometimes long after dark, including schoolchildren and the elderly, waiting to be picked up by a minibus. Fights often break out at the minibus parks, exposing the young and vulnerable to injury.
And when a bus eventually arrives, there is a stampede as commuters try to get onto the bus, only to be told that they have to pay double or three times the regular fare. It is a take-it-or-leave-it situation, because there is someone waiting behind you who is willing to pay that price. If you refuse to pay, you may be stuck there for most of the night, if not for the whole night. The situation gets worse at month-end, when the minibus operators demand even higher fees.
Apart from the high fares charged, the buses travelling to the different destinations are not easy to tell apart, as buses travelling in the same general direction have the same numbers and designations, although their final destinations may be different. Although this may not be a problem for commuters who daily travel the same route, it may present a challenge for those not familiar with the setup.
There is also the question of speeding, which often results in serious or fatal accidents. A minibus is more likely to end up in an accident than a private vehicle, simply because of the carelessness displayed by the drivers.

So what is the solution?
There is clearly a need to ensure that operators abide by the approved fare structure and that consumers are not overcharged. However, enforcement is a different matter. How would the ministry compel operators to abide by the approved fare structure, when commuters are left at the mercy of these operators who can choose not to pick you up when you refuse to pay the fare? Will it help to place a ministry official or policeman at the terminal where commuters get onto the buses? But what about when the bus leaves the park ? Are there enough policemen or ministry officials to police each and every bus?
What about corruption? It is a well-known fact that some policemen and government officials accept bribes. Wouldn’t they just turn a blind eye even when they see operators overcharge commuters? People are generally afraid to be seen as reporting on someone, because they might be targeted. So what can be done?
Many members of the public have called for the government to bring back large buses, but is that really the solution?
Right now the roads which are already narrow are at maximum capacity, with the many cars which are on the roads. GRA has just announced that 2013 has become the year in which the highest number of private vehicles have been registered. Bringing in big buses will add to that number and will further congest the roads. The other question is, how many buses will there be, and which routes will they travel? What times will they travel?
There is also the question that commuters might prefer to travel with the minibuses in the morning, since the big buses are bound to be slower and commuters generally want to get faster from point A to point B, especially in the mornings. So, if government decides to bring back the big buses, it might perhaps be more cost effective to deploy them in the evenings, because that is when commuters feel most of the pain.