By Emmanuel Joseph
A potential major disruption to the public transport system has been averted, following the intervention of Chairman of the Transport Authority Maria Theodore.
The island’s largest privately-run public service vehicle (PSV) organisation had told Barbados TODAY on Friday morning of pending protest action to press demands for a meeting with Theodore to seek to resolve a list of burning issues that continue to plague the sector.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael said the action was originally scheduled to begin next Monday on certain routes and then escalate across the island as long as the association’s demands were not met.
Raphael said the International Transport Federation (ITF), the world governing body, would also have been apprised of the situation.
However, by Friday evening, the AOPT leader contacted Barbados TODAY with the news that the Transport Authority chairperson had reached out to the association to start the ball rolling for the long-sought-after meeting.
“The date has not been set yet, but the chairman did reach out and she apologised. I think the chairman was ill-advised, and I believe that if she was advised properly, we would not find ourselves fighting in the Press over these issues,” Raphael asserted.
“Because of the lack of discussion, we can see . . . an increase in persons not wearing uniforms, pirates on the road, dragging continues, [operators going] off route continues. . . . As providers we cannot regulate; that is their job.
“In order for us to have our members regulated, we have to have a meeting with them. So I am happy that she did reach out to us. We are preparing to put together a team to have discussions going forward, and both parties should be happy. And in the future, I am hoping that we wouldn’t find ourselves in this position where we are begging a chairman,” he added.
Raphael said that had the planned action gone ahead, it would have also included support from taxi operators and regional transport counterparts.
He highlighted that it is very important for his association to meet with the authority, as the regulatory body, because there are too many serious issues to be sorted out for the sake of the travelling public.
The AOPT head contended that every night, PSV workers are reported by the police in the area opposite the Granville Williams Bus Terminal on Fairchild Street, and he welcomed the opportunity to discuss matters like this with Theodore.
“There are so many people who wait on those buses because the Transport Board does not provide a good service. We provide a good service after 6 o’clock, and the guys go home early because they are constantly being reported by some police officers,” Raphael lamented.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
