Public Service Vehicle (PSV) owners and operators have been put on notice that the sector will soon be more strictly regulated to deal with inappropriate behaviour in their ranks, among other issues.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Santia Bradshaw announced on Tuesday that the Transport Authority Regulations, which she believes will give greater teeth to the Transport Authority in enforcing road traffic laws, will be approved by Cabinet before the end of the year.
The regulations will address the behaviour of PSV operators, permits and licences, and place greater responsibilities on the owners of vehicles for the conduct of their drivers and conductors.
Speaking on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the House of Assembly, Bradshaw said that for a long time, PSV passengers and other members of the public have expressed concern that some drivers and conductors were not behaving as they should, considering the many lives they have in their hands at any given time.
“The cry from the public is one that I don’t think that we can continue to ignore. The Public Service Vehicle culture is one that I think has been plaguing us for decades. My personal view is that we have to move to the direction where not only the regulations are introduced but we also have to take certain steps that there is enforcement,” she said.
“Because without the necessary enforcement, without the necessary steps being taken to ensure that people are on the roads to identify problems that are taking place on our roads and to report that to the Transport Authority so that action can be taken, the regulations will certainly mean nothing.”
The Minister said the Transport Authority Regulations will make provision for transport inspectors who will assist in monitoring the behaviour of PSV operators on the roads.
“The truth of the matter is that those regulations are being reviewed by the CPC [Chief Parliamentary Counsel] currently. I know that their workload has been quite heavy and, as a consequence, we have had some delays in terms of getting the amendments to the regulations done. But I can assure that before the end of this year, the public can certainly look forward to those changes.
“And what we anticipate in the coming weeks, therefore, after those regulations have been issued, is obviously a public education campaign that enables the general public but also the conductors, the owners and the drivers, to better understand their responsibilities. I say those three categories but the truth of the matter is that it also places an onus on the general public as well,” Minister Bradshaw said.
She insisted that as users of PSVs, the public had a responsibility to ensure that behaviours that can be a danger to themselves and others are not encouraged.
The Transport Minister urged all stakeholders to treat the regulations seriously when they are introduced.
“To be able to let us, perhaps for the first time, be able to bring the level of regulation that is required in the PSV sector. We have had good support from the associations who themselves have been calling for a number of these changes to be made.
“I hope that that is able to trickle down to the actual owners, conductors and operators and the general public, because at the end of the day it is important that we have a transportation system that works not just for one individual but that works for all of society as well,” Bradshaw said.
