BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WITH the Transport Board meeting and discussing issues bus drivers are faced with on a daily basis, the Minister with Responsibility for that sector, the Hon. Ian Liburd, is questioning one of the proposals being put forward.
Speaking on Wednesday's (Apr. 11) edition of 'Working for You', Minister Liburd is looking at the proposed fee increases for commuters travelling on buses late in the evening and is of the view that it is difficult to impose at this time.
Liburd argued that the price of fuel has been steadily declining and that should have been felt by the commuters.
“The Board met and the information that I have garnered from the meeting is that the association, specifically, the West Line Bus Association President is supposed to, or was expected to, submit a proposal as it relates to changes of fares and things like that,” the Minister said.
He continued: “One wonders whether if there is a reasonable proposition to change bus fares at this time, because the cost of fuel is down for so long. And the cost of fuel went down to less than 40 cents per barrel and the commuters did not benefit from that. And there is that issue of the different fares for different times of the day. Is it equitable if you ride a bus this morning and ride it every day, then you come back in the evening and pay a different fare?”
That is one of several issues the various bus associations and their members want to be addressed, and they had recently threatened strike actions in order to achieve their goal.
At that time, the drivers claimed that the Transport Board was nonexistent and both the current and former administrations were ignoring their pleas for changes in the transport sector.
The issues facing the drivers came to light after popular Bus Operator Kevin ‘Broadie’ Newman was killed in an alleged robbery back in 2014.
However, the Minister expressed disappointment at the way in which the drivers brought the issues to the public. He believed that the issues could have been resolved at the level of the Board.
“I am aware that there were some issues raised in the public domain, which I felt was a bit unfortunate because I believe that everything you do, whether through an association or personally, you ought to have consultation before a confrontation. And one way for them to bring issues was through the Board which they are represented on.”
The Transport Board is staffed by members of various arms and sectors of the Federation, including the Police and Defence Forces as well as the Bus Associations.
