WITH the number of rising cases of the deadly COVID-19 now pegged at 125, it is critical that Guyanese everywhere adhere to the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their families; however there are still a few minibus operators who are still not conforming to the necessary measures to protect themselves and commuters.

Minibuses are Guyana’s main source of public transportation and as such, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had advised that minibus operators carry half the number of passengers that they usually would as a means to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus; however, many minibus operators have been disregarding this.

According to President of the United Minibus Association, Eon Andrews, it is the ‘hustle mentality’ that keeps operators from placing their health and the health of others first. Andrews noted that, “There are still buses who are accepting people in the bus without masks, buses are leaving the parks with the correct amount of passengers only to go a few miles and pick up more passengers.”

Andrews added that he was optimistic that the COVID-19 epidemic will motivate minibus operators to be more compassionate towards their passengers, thereby putting their (passengers) safety first during the health crisis. “I was hoping with this COVID-19 scenario is teaching them that passengers are their brothers, their sisters [and] their mothers, which means that they must be respected, and that they must be treated in a special way,”

In addition, Andrews expressed concern over minibus touts still traversing the bus parks; he was especially concerned that several of his visits to the various parks showed that touts were not wearing any protective gear for the safety of themselves and others.
“They are still jostling persons to get into buses and they don’t even have on masks…they are agents of death,” he stated.

While acknowledging that they too still have to work given the circumstances, touting is still very much illegal; nevertheless, it is still extremely critical that people protect themselves.

Speak up!
However, while there are a few minibus operators who are adhering to the rule, there are still a few who continue to have a nonchalant approach to combatting the virus.
In several videos and photos published on social media websites, minibus operators were seen still overloading the buses and carrying three to four passengers in a seat, whereas they were advised to carry just two passengers per seat as a means of maintaining the three-foot social-distancing rule to slow the spread of the virus.

Andrews further noted that commuters and civilians must object to minibus operators over packing and ‘doubling up’ and report such to the relevant authorities.

Traffic Chief Linden Isles had urged minibus operators and commuters to adhere to the precautionary measures when travelling to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
During an invited comment, Isles had told the Guyana Chronicle that traffic ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) have been placed at every bus park across the country as part of an anti-COVID-19 exercise to ensure that persons are abiding by the law and are practising social distancing.

“We have ranks at all the parks throughout the 10 administrative regions; we have traffic ranks going around and talking to the drivers, advising them, because we know that there are some of them who are not complying, endangering the life [sic] of the commuters and their own lives,” he said.

He noted that a few minibus operators are still not implementing the precautionary measures and ranks will continue to educate both commuters and minibus operators about the seriousness of the epidemic and the consequence of having a carefree approach to fighting the virus.

Nevertheless, the traffic chief is urging citizens to report instances of minibus operators over- packing buses to the relevant authorities.