I support the increase in bus fares

Jul 09, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The price of gasoline is now $980 per gallon at GUYOIL gas stations. However, at some other companies, the price has long broached the $1,000 mark.

GUYOIL is doing a great public service by trying to keep the price of gasoline down, something that the government will no doubt highlight in opposing the increased bus fares imposed by minibus operators throughout the country.

Notwithstanding the GUYOIL price, it would be highly unreasonable for the government, considering the steady rise in fuel prices over the past two years, to deny public transportation operators an increase in fares.

These operators had promised not to increase fares unless prices reached the $1000 mark. This was indeed also a commendable decision that was taken by the public transportation operators.

They must be hailed for being so considerate because when you think about the way the price of gasoline has moved over the past two years, fares should have been increased a long time ago.

The public transportation operators have done a yeomen service to the travelling public by holding fares constant in the face of escalating costs.

I therefore support the increases that have been proposed by the operators. I believe that these increases are long overdue and I would hope that the government would recognize that despite what GUYOIL is selling petrol at, the average price of gasoline throughout the country has gone beyond the $1000 mark and therefore the public transportation operators are justified in their demands for a new fare structure which they have announced.

I do not accept that the cost of spare parts has increased in the country. This therefore should not be used as an excuse for higher fares. However, the basis of the increase in the most recurrent of expenses in operating a minibus— the price of petrol— alone justifies an increase in fares.

I am also saying that the new fare structure will not cause undue hardships to the travelling public. While budgets are tight, an extra $20 or $40 per route will not bankrupt anyone. I believe that the travelling public should pay the increases which are reasonable.

I believe that the government knew that it did not have a strong case to oppose any increases in fares and thus tried to throw in a red herring to scare the public transportation operators.

That red herring was the announcement that the government planned to bring back the big buses into the country.

We all know a bluff when we see it and I believe that the public transportation operators realized that this was a ruse and did not allow themselves to be deflected from the mission of setting a realistic fare structure.
Guyanese are not going back to that era of the big buses.

While these are safer and more desirable for public transportation, Guyanese are always in a hurry to go nowhere. We have reached the stage where we leave home late and expect to still get to where we are going on time.

This means that we have grown accustomed, despite the inherent risks, to making up the time by joining vehicles that have no compunction in racing us to our destinations.

The big buses were tried a few years ago and did not work out. I believe that they may still work for some longer routes for interior locations.

But for the usual routes now serviced by minibus operators, I do not believe that the Guyanese public will offer the sort of support to justify their return.

The government must therefore, if it is keen to help the public deal with this new increase in transportation, pay a top up on the $4,000 cost of living allowance.

A $1,000 increase should be sufficient to deal with the increased transportation fares, thereby moving the cost of living allowance to $5,000 per month for those earning below $50,000 per month.

I am sure that we will hear that this $1,000 increase will cost the government a couple of hundred billion of dollars.

Just how the government arrives at these numbers is beyond me and this is why I am disappointed that the opposition has never asked for the public accounts committee to verify these calculations which are made by the government when it attempts to cost some of the measures that are being implemented.

Whatever the millions that have to be found to pay the additional $1,000 cost of living allowance, which I should remind all is a temporary measure, I believe the money must and can be found.

After all we are spending some $500 million on CARIFESTA, the benefits of which are questionable.
In addition, I am reading that we are spending $500 M on shoring up the conservancy, something that I am very concerned about.

I am asking whether any technical analysis has been done to guide the works being carried out because simply putting more weight on the existing dam is not necessarily the right thing to do.

What is needed is some technical analysis of the dam structure to determine the best method of fortifying it.

And perhaps in answering that question, the Minister of Agriculture can explain whether this $500M that is being spent are emergency works and if any tender was issued for the works done.

I would be greatly disturbed to discover that the NDIA is itself carrying out such a massive task which requires such a significant outlay of public funds. After all, the NDIA is supposed to oversee the works itself and therefore cannot be expected to oversee itself.

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