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Route #42 operators ‘exploiting hapless commuters’

Feb 23, 2012 News

 

In any mixed economy as in the case of Guyana the market, whether for goods or services, is regulated in some way or another often times with policies emanating from some piece of legislation.
Left unchecked the parameters determining how the demand interacts with supply would allow for the exploitation of a consumer and this, some consumers say, is exactly what has evolved from an un-monitored public transportation system along the East Bank Corridor up to Grove/Diamond.
According to the regulations that stipulate how the public transportation operates along this corridor, they are permitted only to operate along the EBD on the Public Road.
There are the exceptions of Agricola and Mocha/Arcadia, but these routes have dedicated minibuses servicing those routes (not in an ad hoc fashion) and have been allowed such a route by way of regulation.
The frightening phenomenon that has evolved in recent months much to the annoyance of hapless and sometimes frustrated passengers is the arbitrary decision taken by some of the operators during the peak travel period in the evenings.
What has become the practice is that some of the operators have decided that the only destination (and not route) that they would be servicing would be along the main road bordering the inside of the Diamond/Grove Housing Schemes.
Where the exploitation comes in is at the level of the passengers who would want to disembark the minibus before the main road inside of Diamond, for which no approval has been granted for minibuses to ply.
Under the current fare structure for the approved route passengers pay $60 for a destination before Providence, EBD, and would incrementally rise to $100, which is the fare for the Diamond/Grove area.
A large section of the minibus operators, however, have decided that they will be servicing a destination route which ends on the inside of Diamond along its main road, and any person wishing to stop at any point in time along the route is being forced to pay an arbitrary demand of $160.
It should be noted that when the spike in passengers that travel “along” the EBD route subsides the minibuses revert to operating within the regulation.
Persons that require stopping at any point along the route for which the buses have been lawfully permitted to service are forced to pay $160 or suffer a verbal assault by the minibus operators.
Some of the operators have even resorted to ejecting passengers who refuse to pay the amount demanded along some desolate stretch of road, as was the case last Tuesday evening when one such passenger who spoke out against the demand was forced out of the minibus (number provided) after being berated by the driver.
The Grove/Diamond scheme passengers have become accustomed to being serviced by vehicles which would pick up passengers at the “Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme’s car park.”
These drivers would charge $60 for a drop along the main road bordering the two Housing Schemes or $100 for a “drop to spot.”
What passengers are now being forced to do is pay $160 from the Stabroek bus terminal to the Diamond/Grove Car park (or for any destination along the route) for which the fare is $100/$60/$80 and would now have to pay another fee to utilize the services of one of the cars.
Those who cannot afford to pay the arbitrary demand by the uncouth minibus operators are forced to walk for long distances in sometimes unlighted roads to get to their destinations because of the “highway robbery” by the minibus operators.
While there are those that don’t mind paying the $160 for a drop by minibus along the Public Road in Diamond, there are hundreds of passengers who would not opt for this service, but are being forced to pay the $160 demand even for drops up to Eccles along the EBD Corridor (a $60 drop).
The legitimate car operators that service the Diamond/Grove passengers travelling internally are now lamenting the conduct of the minibus operators who sometimes force passengers to walk long distances.

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