~Says president of mini-bus union; urges commuters, minibus operators to uphold COVID-19 rules

PRESIDENT of the United Minibus Union, Eon Andrews, has urged that minibus operators and commuters maintain the necessary COVID-19 guidelines as the country sees a slow in the spread of the deadly disease.

He noted that Guyana has seen an all-time low in the number of coronavirus cases and to maintain that, it is critical that both commuters and operators continue to observe the social- distancing rule — taking two passengers per seat — and wear the necessary protective gear such as masks to avoid a second wave of the epidemic.

Andrews stated that a visit to several minibus parks showed that operators have been living by the necessary rules; however, he added that, “What you find there will always be persons who set out to break the law who has [sic] no respect for anything or anybody and it will happen and there is where the police will come.”

He further stated that, “It is expected as responsible persons and as transportation providers that you comply with the health requirements outlined by our local ministry and PAHO.”

Additionally, he added that minibus operators and commuters should have a mutual understanding and to remind each other of the necessary precautions; for example, he stated, “Commuters must be able to tell bus drivers that you have to do the right thing or the bus driver must be able to tell the commuter my bus is moving yes, but I’m not going to take you if you don’t have on a mask.”

TOUTING STILL PREVAILS
However, Andrews revealed that he is still very deeply disturbed by the number of bus touts who are still active at the various parks since the outbreak of the disease. He added that he had hoped that the epidemic would have seen a decline in the number of touts operating.

“ I am still disturbed that touting is still prevailing, especially at the Georgetown bus parks; these people are still touting and they may or may not have on masks and I was hoping that this would have been a good opportunity for the police at least to get rid of that touting and after this would have finished and work out a [system] so they could sustain it.”

Meanwhile, the Education Department of Police Traffic Headquarters during the week visited several mini-bus parks in Georgetown, ensuring that drivers and conductors alike are aware of the COVID-19 emergency measures in keeping with the Public Health Ordinance, Chapter 145.

The act makes provision under section No.7 for social-distancing and physical-distancing protocols which dictate that persons should maintain a distance of at least six feet in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Sergeant 21613 Kenyatta Bishop, Sergeant 18177 Sheldon Wickham, Lance Corporal 23154 Tiffini Lawrence and Constable 24733 Javell Frazer sensitised the mini-bus operators to the number of passengers that should be on board. This amounts to half of the amount that they were previously allowed by law to transport. For example, a 15-seater vehicle should not carry in excess of eight passengers at any given time and that includes the driver.

The mini-bus operators were also instructed that each passenger and driver must wear protective gear, that being a face mask, at all times and they should ensure that both passengers and mini-buses should be properly sanitised.