In response to fuel price hike… Minibus operators protest for fare increase

May 31, 2018 News

Route ‘44’ minibuses at Lusignan

…Govt. under pressure to reduce excise tax to cushion effects of global prices
The worldwide oil price increase continues to bite vehicle owners as gas prices escalate at fuel pumps across the country.
On average, fuel prices have increased by between $10 and $15 per litre over the past two weeks.
In response to the price hike, several minibus operators staged two separate protests, yesterday. They were requesting Government to approve fare increases or take remedial action to stabilize prices.
A group of route ‘42’ (Georgetown-Grove) minibus operators picketed the Ministry of the Presidency after they took their concerns to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Business.
Bus driver, Gary De Younge, told reporters those officials at the Ministry of Infrastructure sent them to the Ministry of Business where they briefly saw Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin as he was leaving for an assignment.
“I asked him to listen to us for two seconds; he just drove away. That is the reason why we came to the Office of the President,” De Younge stated.
He stated that operators along the route are asking for $20 far increase because the current fare structure has been in place since 2008.
Currently, short drops cost $60; from Georgetown to Grove is $100.

Route ‘42’ minibus operators protesting outside the Ministry of the Presidency.

“We want the gasoline drop or let the fare increase,” De Younge stated.
Another driver said that gas price jumped three times in one month. Drivers told reporters that the gasoline needed to transport passengers from Georgetown to Grove and return is about $1,400, but on one trip they make $900.
Another driver explained that when they make $10,000 at the end of the day, they have to pay a conductor $4,000 and $6,000 to the bus owner.
“What you going home with to put food on the table or to send your children to school,” the operator stated.
On the East Coast of Demerara, route ‘44’ operators protested at the Lusignan Market Square. They echoed similar comments to those of route ‘42’.
The current fuel price spike has engaged the Cabinet, but there has been no public decision to cushion the impact of the prices at the pumps.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) said yesterday that it recognized that there were similar increases in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas.
The union said it recalled in the past that oil prices, in some instances, exceeded the current international prices, but policies were embraced which sought to cushion the local impact.
“We refer to the reduction of the excise tax which, in effect, helped to soften, and in some cases nullified, the increased prices due to increases at the global level and which was a welcome effort that gave our people room to breathe.
The Federation, at this time, must express its strong dismay that as far as we are aware, no attempt has been made to embrace such a policy,” the union stated.
According to the Union, there is hardly any credible justification that can be advanced for not moving in that direction.
“FITUG, at this time, calls on the Government to stop turning a blind eye to what is taking place and to proactively act in the interest of our people who are already hard-pressed at this time,” the union stated.
In the past, prices at the pump fell when Government reduced the 50% excise tax on fuel imports.