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Some minibus operators refuse to lower fares – GPTA
The GPTA has said that minibus fares will only be dropped if the prices of commodities, across the market, are dropped.
Despite announcements made by the Minister of Commerce, Manniram Prashad, that minibus fares should have been reduced today, the Guyana Public Transportation Association (GPTA) has said that fares will only drop when and if the general cost of living drops.
The President of the GPTA (ag) Edward questioned how come only public transportation operators were being asked to lower their fares.
At the same time, the Public Relations Officer of the GPTA (ag) Hiram Grant, said that he also found disparity in the fact the only the GPTA was being asked to lower rates, while other associations and commissions were not being asked to lower their tariffs.
He added that “if the government can give us (GPTA) some guarantee that prices of other things on the market will drop within a certain time, then we will drop our fare.”
The PRO of the GPTA (ag) also made it clear that the Minister of Commerce did not have the authority to endorse, or drop fares on minibuses or other forms of public transportation.
The decision of the GPTA not to lower fares, unless the cost of general commodities drops, apparently extends to cover all minibus routes (except the Georgetown/Linden Route), and also to speedboat fares.
Minibus operators are also saying that for them to reduce fares will seriously affect them.
A Route 40 minibus operator said, “If we gone back to $60, it mean we money gun cut real bad. Anytime I drop de fare, is me children gun start crying fuh dem milk and sugar.”
Some of the operators with whom Kaieteur News spoke made it clear that they too are consumers, and said that if they cut the fare, it would mean much less money with which they would be able to purchase foodstuff and other items, the prices of which have not dropped.
Added to this, the GPTA is claiming that they were never invited to any meetings with the Minister. Both the President and the PRO of the GPTA are on leave, and the acting President and the acting PRO of the association said that they did not attend any meetings with the Minister concerning a change in minibus fares.
Grant explained that to prevent any misunderstandings today, the GPTA was going to place copies of the fare structure in the minibuses so that passengers could see, and know the fare and then decide whether or not they would like to travel at that cost.
He also noted that Guyana practices a free market economy system, and if passengers did not want to pay the requested fare, then they did not need to travel in the minibus.
Notwithstanding this, the minibuses that ply the Georgetown/Linden route lowered their fares earlier in the week. This, they said, was due to the reductions in the price of oil on the world market and the subsequent lowering of the price of gasoline in Guyana.
Previously, Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon had said that the ultimate course of action to regulate the correlation between the cost of fuel and the fare imposed by the owners and operators of public transportation could be aptly controlled by a statutory regime. He added that such a provision exists under the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
Grant said that the GPTA would welcome joining up with the PUC. He told this newspaper that it would only mean an improvement in the quality of service the minibuses provided. However, he noted that there were no discussions going on at present between the GPTA and the Government.
He said that he had only heard about the possibility of minibuses falling under the PUC from an article in the newspapers.
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