COMMUTERS say that the touting nuisance at city bus parks has intensified and it is now a predatory commercial enterprise and a nurturing ground for thieves.

Passengers as well as some minibus workers yesterday at the Route 48, 44 and 32 bus parks expressed their frustration about this nuisance. “Touting is a free-lance business,” said one woman, who travels frequently with the Route 44 buses.
She said that whenever she goes to catch a minibus the touts would scramble her belongings and force her into buses of their choice. The woman said further that it is fear which keeps her from retaliating because most touts would get aggressive and “cuss me.”
According to several minibus operators from the Sophia bus park, most drivers and conductors are hesitant to speak out against touting because the touts would help them load their buses during the ‘peak periods’.
However, the operators expressed annoyance that touts would load their buses even when they object. They also bemoaned that those touts would demand money anyway. “We can’t pay touts “cause at the end of the day we losing money and it going into them pockets.”
Meanwhile, several touts who spoke to this newspaper said that they should not be branded for what they do for a living.

A BIG HUSTLE
“People have to hustle. All of us ain’t gon be drivers and conductors ’cause we gon have to learn to count money good,” said a tout at the Sophia bus park. He insisted that some conductors are “ignorant” about how to load buses and that is reason for touts.
“I think they need to provide jobs for these people. There aren’t any jobs so these men would come out on the park and solicit passengers…. They would run up to the people and scramble their bags and pull them and push them into whichever bus they’re fulling,” said Jerold, a conductor who has worked at the Sophia bus park for over five years. However, he said that there is a flip side to touting because some travellers have gotten so accustomed to touting, they would give the touts their bags to hold as they are escorted to a bus.
“You can’t tout for all your life so they have to find another job, adding that touting has become a breeding ground for thieves. Look every week we would see men posing as touts and going around the passengers and then them does strike and run away.”
The Route 44 bus park is another dangerous area for travellers at night, since thieves would lime at the park, posing as touts and snatch passengers’ bags, phones and purses, said one traveller. She stated that these thieves would pounce on people and touts and conductors would just watch, without any attempt at intervening.
Head of the United MiniBus Association, Eon Andrews, said that the union refuses to recognise touts, “…even though it is not inconceivable that we might be able to create a legitimate role for these persons whom we now call touts.”
According to Andrews, touting tarnishes the image of a “comfortable environment,” for travellers. “It more or less creates an image of problems.”
He said further that, “There are many unruly operators within the industry who sometimes collaborate with rogue police traffic personnel that give both the traffic department and the sector a bad name. But an end to such abuse can be possible with the creation of an institution that can provide effective representation for the service providers and the passengers. In the streets there is both recklessness and vulnerability…and the problem arises from the actions of a minority.”
The head of the minibus union also contended that “unionization of the industry is a challenge and should be seen in the context of creating relationships with the authorities and about making life more comfortable for commuters.”
Meanwhile, he was proud to announce that the union has managed to construct a working relationship with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force. He added that the ministry and the traffic department were supporting their initiatives that “seek to bring a sense of order to the chaos that sometimes attend the industry.”