…conductor seen gyrating in moving bus while door open

THE United Minibus Union (UMU) has condemned the reckless road use of minibus operators in a video which recently surfaced on social media.

The video showed a bus driving along the East Coast of Demerara, while the person sitting in the position of the conductor gyrated to loud music, while leaning himself out of the open bus door. Seconds later, the driver of the mini-bus opened his door in the moving bus and pushed his legs out, also gyrating to the music.

The acts were videoed by someone within the minibus and some of the occupants of the vehicle were heard laughing. “That is against the Minibus Code of Conduct. This is crass indiscipline and danger to life and limb,” UMU President, Eon Andrews told this newspaper on Tuesday. The Union is still trying to determine the route of the minibus seen in the video; the driver of said minibus and when the video was taken, even as the police are also looking into the matter.

Andrews said that he finds it hard to believe that the bus could have been in the regular process of transporting passengers. “It could well be that they were coming from some social function, probably some beach or some creek or something…I can’t see them doing that on a regular day,” he said, adding: “They have to face penalty. I’m hoping that the police find them. We’re not going to condone anything like that.”

Meanwhile, another photo circulating social media showed a Route 40 -Kitty/Campbellville minibus letting off passengers on the pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Camp and Regent Streets. The photo was taken by an individual in another vehicle at the traffic stop.
“You’re not supposed to put off passengers there,” Andrews said. “You have to use the designated bus stops along Regent Street…they will kill a lot of people for Christmas.”

The UMU has been working over the years to get mini bus operators within various routes uniformed and in adherence to the Minibus Code of Conduct implemented by the Ministry of Business. While some progress has been made, the Consumer Affairs Division continues to receive a steady flow of complaints against errant minibus operators.