By Emmanuel Joseph
Public service vehicle owners (PSVs) on Wednesday accused the government of discrimination against them when it comes to advertising on their vehicles.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael complained that the Ministry of Transport was giving the state-run Transport Board free reign to advertise goods and services on its buses, but is preventing ZRs and minibuses from doing likewise.
“We are seeing the Transport Board capitalising heavily, advertising on their electric buses to cut costs. We cannot do that and it is a very unfair practice and we want it stopped,” Raphael told Barbados TODAY.
“We want to seriously address this matter because, recently, the MTW would have made a number of bus owners remove signage and markings on their buses, while the Transport Board can continue to capitalise very big…’cause you see the electric buses with paintings advertising, not only from Barbados but from overseas as well.
“So, we are calling on the powers that be to let us have a share in the market, and obviously with the World Cup coming, and more advertisement is expected, I believe that some companies may want to advertise on some of our PSVs.”
The spokesman for the PSV owners pushed back against critics who suggest that businesses may not want to associate their products with an industry with a reputation for lawlessness and disorder.
“Some people may say these fellows are unruly, untouchable, dragging, and they may not want to associate their brand with the guys. But let me say upfront, a small percentage of our guys continue to create issues for the industry. Most of our operators are very good operators; some of them are older guys who have been working for many years who are well-known and respected,” he said.
“The association is going to be moving within the next couple of months to rebrand its activities and how we do business going forward.”
Raphael said the rebranding will coincide with this year’s celebration of public transport from 1957 to 2024. He noted that during a week of activities, a bus will be repainted in “old-time colours” to provide an opportunity for Barbadians to reflect on the era. The bus will operate on some of the routes.
The AOPT leader also suggested the industry has solutions for the very modern problem of traffic congestion.
“The way to deal with the whole question of traffic congestion is to create a park-and-ride system. We, as an association, have called for a park-and-ride where persons who have to go into Bridgetown can put down their vehicles and ride, not on our buses – because some people would have issues with our buses – but to turn out a special number of vehicles that would pick up persons from various points,” he said.
Raphael also returned to the idea of water taxis, a method of transport first mooted several years ago, noting that while water taxis were not of interest to the PSV industry, they were worth a try.
“A matter like that would not interest us at the moment. I suspect that other persons who are basically seacraft operators would more be interested in that, but we welcome it. I believe it will work but it has to be carefully thought out and would have to have the Coast Guard on board,” he suggested.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
