PSVs put off the road due to COVID-19 breaches

by Kareem Smith 

The COVID-19 Monitoring Unit has started making use of new regulations that hit owners and operators of public service vehicles (PSV) with a seven-day suspension for protocol breaches on their buses and vans.

A driver and conductor were the first to feel the brunt of the new measures when they were ordered off the road for breaching COVID-19 protocols on Wednesday.

“This morning, we had to remove the minivan B116 driven by a Mr Euklyn Maynard and conducted by Pedro Nicholls on the Hillaby route,” confirmed head of the Unit, Ronald Chapman.

“We had to remove them from the road and they are off the road from the 18th to the 26th [of November].”

When contacted, the owner of the minivan confirmed the vehicle was pulled off the road but offered no further comment.

The new measures were contained in an amendment to the Emergency Management (COVID-19) Protocol Directive, 2020 sanctioned by Prime Minister Mia Mottley on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer.

The measures, which took effect on Monday, were presented as a response to the PSV sector which is apparently among the least compliant with the COVID-19 protocols.

“The COVID-19 Monitoring Unit has made repeated efforts to secure compliance to this order with little success,” states the directive.

“To this end, we are now informing all owners of public transport that as of Monday, November 16, 2020, any breach in these regulations will result in the immediate suspension of the vehicle, driver and conductor for a period of seven days.”

PSV owners have questioned the rationale behind penalising permit holders along with the drivers and conductors.

In fact, chairman of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO) Kenneth Best last week described the measures as being “harsh, discriminatory, and totally unfair”.

He argued that the owners, who in most cases were not the operators, ought not to be subject to strict liability for the actions of their drivers, conductors and passengers.

“It will be extremely difficult for a driver who does not have a conductor to keep his eyes on the road while still attempting to look back every five minutes to see if a passenger continues to wear his mask. So, I am saying that in those circumstances, what is being suggested is extremely harsh,” Best said at the time.

“To penalise the owners who have not committed the infraction, to penalise the vehicle and the permit is extremely harsh. I could understand if you penalise the driver, conductor and the commuter because everybody was informed
of the protocols.”

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)