CTUSAB: Bus fare hikes may follow govt divestment

The Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) on Thursday pressed its opposition to the government’s plans to privatise the Transport Board, warning that bus fares could rise and arguing that affordable public transport remains a core social duty of the State.

At a press conference on Thursday, CTUSAB General Secretary Dennis DePeiza said the ongoing move to shift more of the public transport system into private hands risked weakening service reliability and pushing costs onto commuters at a time when many households were already struggling.

“There are some key areas that government has as part of its social responsibility,” DePeiza said. “And transport is one. Public transport, right across the world, is not placed in a divestment mode where you just sell it off to the private sector. Government has a responsibility for healthcare, for education, and it has one for transport.”

Details of the restructuring were outlined in an official Ministry of Transport and Works letter circulated recently.

The three-page document, signed by Permanent Secretary Jehu Wiltshire, confirmed Cabinet’s approval of a transition to a new Barbados Mass Transit Authority, which would regulate public transport and hold the bill of sale for the buses.

Under the plan, all Transport Board workers would be severed, with discussions to be held with the relevant unions on separation packages. Former workers of both the Transport Board and the Transport Authority would then receive priority access to becoming owner-operators and would be eligible for financing at two per cent interest.

DePeiza argued that Barbados was already close to full reliance on private operators. “In our country, we have already placed the transport system virtually in the hands of the private sector. I’m sure there are well over 500 route taxis that ply in Barbados, as opposed to 100 or less Transport Board buses,” he said. “And all those are on the lucrative routes. Those minibuses, ZRs, call them what you like, are on the lucrative routes. And the people of Barbados do not have a scheduled bus service.”

According to DePeiza, the current structure leaves the public exposed. “We have a service that is virtually, I would say, in common, unregulated. Because those ZRs do what, and minibuses run when they like, how they like, if they don’t want to. And there can be no guarantee,” he said. “And we have to ensure that in a 24-hour economy, that Barbadians have transportation to all quarters of the society.”

He warned that further privatisation would prioritise profit over national needs. “How are we going to do that if we don’t have a reliable transport system? If you’re going to put transport into the hands of persons who are only there for profit, and not to ensure that the society functions as it should, on a 24-hour basis, we are only going to be making things worse.”

DePeiza insisted that government must continue subsidising public transport even if the system does not fully recover its operational costs. “It may not make tonnes of money. It may come up short. But that is part of the responsibility of the state to the people of Barbados,” he said. “And I think that any movement away from that, to me, would be a government that is not thinking clearly,” he said, referring to times past when there was no public transport after 6 pm.

DePeiza said there was a strong possibility that fares could increase.

“You know full well that once that part of them changes, that there’s going to be a new bargain. Because there’s no need for government to be giving concessions to the private person who operates on his own. And therefore that fellow is going to determine that I have to pay X, therefore X plus X means transfer to the consumer. And that is where we’re going to have a real problem.”

He warned that any upward shift in fares would quickly hit vulnerable households: “We know bus fares are $3.50 now and we hear about the constant rising in oil prices and all these different fuel adjustment costs,” he said.The CTUSAB official added: “If those factors and the import element of shipping costs continue to escalate, the cost is going to trickle down to us who are going to have to walk to work.”

“Basically because a lot of people are not going to be able to afford to get to work regularly, send to school children regularly, do things they want regularly. We’re going to create a different Barbados. And I think that we have to understand this is not about making people rich.”“We cannot allow this to happen in modern Barbados,” he said.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb