Transportation fares not reduced in Canal # 1

Jan 27, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Justice should be given to those commuting between Canal No.1 and Georgetown via minibuses which ply this route.
Permit me to inform you that when the price of fuel escalated, the generally most accepted response was a fare increase of approximately $20.00 per passenger by most minibus operators. However, the users of public transport in Canal No.1, particularly the lower end, were blatantly exploited.
The call by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Transport, in conjunction with the minibus association and the Guyana Transport Association, was that fares once again resume their original status as a result of the lowering of fuel prices. However, minibus operators of the Georgetown/Canal No. 1 route have dropped their fares by a mere $20.00, instead of $40.00, in order to return to the original fare of $140.00 which was charged.
As a form of rubbing salt in the wound, if the passengers insist on paying $140.00, they become targets of unwarranted abuse by the conductors of the buses and drivers/owners. Further, the passengers are discriminated against, and are not provided services by these indiscriminate and un-conscionable vampires. I ponder whether or not this is in keeping with the Public Utilities Act.
Two specific and regular offenders of this injustice to the public are the bus owners/operators along with conductors.
They also exaggeratingly boast that Minister Manniram and the police have no authority to establish what the fares should be.
I do appreciate the Minister’s cordial and compromising approach, but at their juncture it now becomes imperative that the Minister, in tandem with the President of the minibus association and the Guyana Transport Association, intervenes and stamps out this bullish attitude, in the interest of the travelling public.
Permit me also to point out that these wrong-doers never display the fare structure approved by the Minibus Association and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce. I suggest that the above information about the display of fare structure be made mandatory nationwide.
The commuters and I hereby plead with the Minister and President of the Bus Affair Association and the Guyana Transport Association to intervene and resolve this disgusting issue in the interest of the commuters.
There is an old saying, “When you can’t hear, you must feel”. It is now time for some pressure to be imposed.
S. Gupta

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