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Public Service Vehicles Continue to Cause Mayhem On Barbados Roads

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Gusfield “Gus” JosephYesterday 75 year old Gusfield “Gus” Joseph formerly of Foul Bay, St. Philip was killed in a smash-up with minibus B76, reported to be driven by Bernard Atkins, 34, of Maxwell Hill, Christ Church. Based on what we have heard and read, Mr. Joseph was a naturalized Barbadian citizen who has made a significant contribution to Barbados. Where he is said to have made an even greater contribution is as a family man. After hearing about this needless killing we could help but to direct our anger at the Barbados authorities.

How long must Barbadians complain and cry-out at the behaviour exhibited by many Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) operators on the highways and byways of Barbados? How often have we heard our teachers express concern at the ‘minibus’ culture which is wrecking havoc on the learning of our young people each and every day? How many Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Transport through the years have stifled their consciences when PSV permits were SOLD by successive Minister of Government shortly before they demitted office? How many PSV traffic violations have been ‘fixed’ in our courts because of who own the PSVs? How many traffic violations are committed on the road everyday and John Citizen ignores it all by consoling themselves that we need the PSV to get to work, school or play?

We received a note from a BU family member that only the day before, on the same route, driving the same bus, the driver Bernard Atkins was observed driving without due care and attention. It is reported that in one instance the bus ‘rode’ the sidewalk when the driver turn his eyes from the road while in search of passengers coming from side roads. We are our own worst enemies.

The BU household have believed for a long time that when a law abiding citizen is killed or maimed by a PSV, the stain of the deceased blood should be on the hands of the authorities, who have absolutely refused to do anything to arrest the runaway PSV industry through the years. The PSV industry has shown over the years that it cannot regulate itself. The government has used punitive tax measures to act as a deterrent but that has failed. The time has come for the David Thompson government to respond to this matter which has become a ‘lie-sore’.

How long is too long when it is so bad? May Gus Joseph rest in peace.

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99 responses to “Public Service Vehicles Continue to Cause Mayhem On Barbados Roads”

  1. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    J wrote “I was in Toronto recently and the Toronto Transit Commission has advised females travelling alone at night that they can ask the bus driver to permit them to disembark at a place other than the bus stop.”

    I personally would have no problem with such an amendment to the laws of Barbados. In fact, I would encourage it.

    Please note, however, that your language included “at night”.

    Thus, even within this context, this means that there is no justification for PSVs blocking traffic by their stopping at any point which is not a designated bus stop during daylight hours.

  2. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    Let’s not fool ourselves PSV operators are road hogs. When things busy, they want to knock you off the road, then mid-morning to afternoon, they want to drive at 5 mph to look for people who still in treir houses dressing. Dare not blow your horn. You are deliberately blocked and abused. These guys think they own the road. Quite recently, I was driving behind one,there were about 10 vehicles behind me wanting to pas and the PSV driver made 7 stops in the space of 50 yds to collect people standing next to the road. Why couldn’t all of them stay in one spot? P.S.NONE were at a bus stop. He was driving in the center of the road because antother PSV was somewhere behind.

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Inkwell we read you submission. It definitely highlights someone who is very knowledgeable and passionate about the PSV business.

    While we agree with you that when the pricing structure governing the PSVs is stacked against most other businesses in Barbados it appears to be grossly unfair, but we need to go back to the beginning.

    We seem to remember that it was Tom Adams who decided that he would use heavy or punitive taxes in the industry as a strategy to force PSV operators to conform to some kind of acceptable behavior while at the same time generate taxes to offset societal cost involved in the regulation of that sector i.e.Police. MTW Wardens, Court System etc.

    Even though we agree with much of what you wrote it is centred on the symptoms and not the systemic. The other question we can ask is how come the market for permits has been bullish over the period. It suggests to us that there is still money to be made. Well that is up until recently.

  4. Inkwell Avatar
    Inkwell

    David, there was a high demand for permits primarily on two routes, Highway 1 to Speightstown and Highway 7 to Silver Sands, because these generated high levels of passenger traffic and even with the bus fare at $1.50 and few school children to dilute revenue, (paying only $1), it was still possible to make a profit.

    The way to get PSV operators to conform is to remove the oppressive and discriminatory conditions impacting their daily existence and putting in place a pricing structure or in the absence of that, a system of subsidy whiallow them the opportunity to make a decent living

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks for the feedback even though our sources and observation indicate that ZR permits have been a hot ticket item period.

    After many years of accepting the punitive price system it seems unbelievable that the PSV industry would not police itself by way of engaging simple PR strategies. In fact it is our understanding that many of the owners are not members of the association charged to regulate itself.

    We accept that the private transport system delivers a service which is in demand. We all know why. We however don’t support the wholesale integration of the current rowdy private transportation system into a national system being proposed by government. Lets have some rules first, and a purge is absolutely necessary.

  6. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “…Lets have some rules first, and a purge is absolutely necessary”

    David,

    I am hereby challenging both you and BFP that if Bush tea had the power to appoint you and any persons that you nominate, to any positions in government that you should specify;
    -that there would be ZERO positive change in the current situation.

    What change what?!?

    You all continue to miss the real point of the challenges that we face as a country. What rules are you talking about David, something like the ITAL that BFP is hooked on?

    You don’t think that there are ‘RULES’ in existence for ZRs right now?

    Should they not be in uniform? … wearing badges? conforming to the traffic laws? not drinking and driving? not playing loud music?

    What new rules you want now? You want drivers to be graduates from Cave Hill? (..or better yet Cawmere? 😉

    THIS IS NOT THE PROBLEM.

    The problem is that ….a people ALWAYS get exactly what they deserve.

    In Bim, we have incompetent leaders, advised by idiotic civil servants who are employed for life…. and they all sit in position of authority in a country of blind sheep…. so what you expect?

    ZR drivers treat the law with scant respect BECAUSE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO.

    ..but why pick on them?!?

    Lawyers do the same, Doctors do the same, Business people do even more, News paper publishers are all laws unto themselves.

    Man David, … even ordinary citizens have scant respect for the laws and the rules.

    Even my friend Scout above, – criticizing a ZR man for blocking up traffic…. WHAT DID HE DO ABOUT THAT INCIDENT?

    …write anon to a blog….

    In England I once witnessed a young chap bypass a queue to pay a bill. EVERY LAST person in the line loudly INSISTED to the clerk that he take his place in the line…. and two old girls went out and came back with a cop in the meantime…

    .. they have a country of rules and order because…. ‘a people get what they deserve’.

    Did Scout report that ZR to the police? to the owner? (or if these jokers failed to do their duties – flatten all four wheels 😉 ? )

    When we could have civil servants who cannot get a simple demerit system to work,

    Cannot deal with offenders who have hundreds of charges pending,

    Cannot solve basic problems with water leakages, a hospital casualty, a youth service etc etc etc

    and when these same people continue in position year after year, government after government, minister after minister – and not a boy can touch them…

    — you really expect things to improve? Or that we really need MORE RULES for ZRs? or that ITAL is an issue?

    ….Man wake up David – you smarter that that…

  7. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    As a youngster, there were anumber of “pickups” as they were called in that day, doing a thriving bisiness. These owners would channel their money into real estate and most of them collected the fares themselves. No-one knew how much they were making. Today, as a fellow starts seeing a few dollars from the business, he/she wants a second or third bus. it is daid that when they were offered a certain sum for work done during Carifesta in Barbados, they said that they could make three times that amount on the road. They were paid what they wanted but the taxes were raised to accommodate their self-confessed earnings. Who’s to be blamed.GREED.

  8. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Bush Tea

    Sound doctrine that can not be refuted.

    The Scout

    You have reprted exactly the truth of what happened in 1981

  9. Avatar
    Anonymous

    If this driver is a rastaman with fairly long locks
    If this bus is a sam lords castle minibus
    If the bus was not exactly the usual size
    then this driver was driving erratic and doing nonsense for quite sometime.

    What kind of system do we have where such a driver can do so much folishness and no police officer reports him ?

    Somebody should have reported him to an officer and that officer should have taken action.
    The police can behave a bit strange when you try to give them information though . I would not be surprised if some individual gave the police information in this particular case.

    One time I told a police officer that i had witnessed something and the officer’s response to me was as follows -“I AINT LOOKING FOR NUH WORK”

    some police officers behave funny but that is another story for another time

  10. Avatar
    Anonymous

    i agree with Bush Tea on civil servants

    remember too that most of them are women and that is a big part of the problem. One of the worse things to have happen in the modern day is the fact that women have been allowed in more numbers than necessary into the workplace———PROBLEMS———-women not easy bro

    women in the workplace: a big problem
    a topic for for another time and place though

  11. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Bush Tea et al.

    If I may be a bit presumptuous, I’d like to slightly re-frame your message and argument…

    1. A consumer will only receive the service they demand.

    2. Laws (read: rules) are easy. The enforcement of same is hard.

    A consumer, within this context, can be anything from, for example, a service subscriber of a telephony provider, to a citizen of a government.

    I think we all know that we Bloggers are having a tangible effect on the process and system. While we may not be acknowledged, we are being read and heard.

    We are daring to openly debate issues which some would rather not have discussed. Some of us are even daring to put our names behind our words.

    And others are watching, and witnessing that this can be done… Perhaps, over time, they will have enough confidence themselves to step forward when they feel it is appropriate and required.

    This battle will be a long one, with victories hard won. We *are* having an effect…

    (IMHO)

  12. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Chris H

    I have so much respect for people like you, Dick Hoad, Ian Bourne, Ian Walcott, Loveridge and others who are ‘man enough’ to give their name and address and STAND UP for their belief.

    WANNA IS REAL REAL BAJANS.

    If 20% of us were anywhere like you, this would be a different place TOTALLY. (..that you were able to laugh at my assessment of your interaction with my lawyer ‘J’ places you as even MORE special in my book)

    …so the blogs are an important start – and I agree with you that they have made a vital difference …. but I doubt that most of us understand the urgency of the current threat to this place.

    Unfortunately, blogs are also available to idiots and those of us with hidden agendas who would, either in ignorance or for selfish ends- want to persuade the gullible among us that we are Xenophobic unless we sell (give away) our national birthrights…

    …my eternal thanks to David, BFP and people like you CH.. but we need more troops.

    Bush tea has a bigger battle to fight at another level so I will continue to be a cowardly blogger at this time…

  13. David Avatar
    David

    BT believe it or not we agree with both Inkwell and yourself. The rules we talk about should be directed at areas like the make-up of the ownership, more of a leadership role from the insurance companies which can impact recruitment etc. The regulation of the industry maybe achieve but the ownership and enforcement has become blurred.

  14. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Bush Tea.

    Thank you for your kind words.

    I believe strongly that we all are standing upon the shoulders of giants, and by moral imperative must do all we can for all. I take pride in those that stand beside me (including you, David, BFP, et al).

    Any student of history will understand how horrible we humans can be against each other. And I truly believe that this is not about any one group against any other. One need only travel to Cambodia and visit Pol Pot’s S21 and his Killing Fields (and be emotionally destroyed in the process), for example, to understand this point.

    If I may end this note with a cautionary bit of counsel… While I don’t agree with the philosophy, I would argue that everyone should be aware of Machiavelli’s work. Simply Google for “The Prince”.

    Be aware that many opposing you will be students of the work…

    Best regards to all.

  15. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    Before I say my piece let it be known that I am a ZR owner and part time driver.
    Let me say I am in agreement that some of the drivers of PSV’S have no right behind the wheel of a vehicle public service or otherwise.
    I have a few questions for the persons who have left their comments about PSVs on the site.
    1. Why am PSVs constantly blamed for the disrespectful unmmanerly school children and young people in Barbados. Why are we not applaused for the one who do well? The ones who go on to Community College and UWI,and are the current and future leaders of Barbados.
    2. Why is every industry in Barbados allowed to raise prices but everytime an increase in bus fare is discussed john public treats its like the plague? The last fare increase was in 1991 since then everything (insurance , parts, vehicle etc )has increased. Has anyone asked why thing with the PSVs are getting worse? At this juncture the industry is at an all time low and members are trying to keep their heads above water. You need to ask yourself, What has the government of Barbados done to improve the PSV industry in the last decade. Nothing! Think about it with the recent price increases some vans are now putting in $200 or more in diesel a day. To put things in perspective that is 134 passengers you need a day just to put diesel in the van. A van carrying 400 passengers a day and putting in $200 leaves $400 with which the owner has to pay the driver, conductor, road tax ( the highest in the land) the bank, the insurance company and maintain the van

    3. The callin programs are flooded with people who claim the owners of these PSVs are making a whole heap of money. If we are making a whole heap of money why is the average ZR van on the road 10 yrs old and the average minibus on the road is 15yrs old. If we are making so much money wouldnt we have new vehicles like the taximen. Instead of an old one which spend more time at the mechanic than on the road.
    3. The music that is played on 95.3 and 98.1 is badboy this and gansta that . When the DJs big up this block and that block and thug this and shotta that no one say a word. No one says a word but it is easier to go after me who plays nothing of the sort in my van. One radio program that is popular on saturdays was banned and after sales of the promoters product fell the program was reinstated yet me one of hundreds of PSV drivers who listens to nothing of the sort is constantly being chastised, try chastising Vic Fernands (95.3)and the folks at 98.1. I am betting it will never happen.

    The problem is 15% of the PSV drivers in Barbados are giving john public an excuse to blame the ZR industry/ZR culture (whatever that is) for societies ills and until they stop using us as scapegoats the problems facing the Barbadian society will remain the same.

  16. Gordon Avatar
    Gordon

    To Owner –
    It is very unfortunate if you are one of the reasonable owner/drivers. The fact is that a substantial number of drivers are abusive, and flout all the laws. I agree that fares should be allowed to rise and in fact, if they rise enough more people will leave the ZR transport.
    I would like to see on the spot fines introduced as soon as possible. Yes there will be some abuse but in the main it will work. If the Courts can’t handle the number of compalints then this would help. If a fine is not paid on the spot, the van is impounded until fine is paid + cost of impounding. ZR’s are not to blame for all the problems of the youth BUT the ZR’s contribute by demonstrating that the laws can be easily ignored.
    I knew Gus Joseph, a very nice man and am deeply sorry to hear of his death.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    The following comment was received from someone who submitted via the Feedback option:

    The requirement to have irrefutable evidence is known, quite simply, as an aspect of JUSTICE. I have every sympathy for the family, but much of what I have seen in your blogs suggest to me that many of those who write are promoting the kind of hysteria that so often leads to vigilante justice. In our kind of democracy, yes, sometimes the guilty go free, but I’d rather run that risk than to have the kind of response which seems to call for action outside of the law. In short, let the courts decide. Many good citizens are driving vehicles without all of the brakes functioning at the same time. What if the road was wet one day and one of thess citizens applied brakes leading to an accident, and what if it was discovered that 25 years ago, that citizen had two citations for speeding?

    Our friend (we will not print the name) dropped the word justice but we hope he recognizes that justice is a very broad concept which can be interpreted or executed in many different ways. Here is a snippet from the Wikipedia:


    Utilitarianism     is a form of consequentialism, where punishment is forward-looking. Justified by the ability to achieve future social benefits resulting in crime reduction, the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome.

    Retributive justice regulates proportionate response to crime proven by lawful evidence, so that punishment is justly imposed and considered as morally-correct and fully deserved. Retribution also means prosperity, prosperity results in crime prevention.

    The law of retaliation (lex talionis) is a military theory of retributive justice, which says that reciprocity should be equal to the wrong suffered; “life for life, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

    Distributive justice is directed at the proper allocation of things – wealth, power, reward, respect – between different people. A number of important questions surrounding justice have been fiercely debated over the course of western history: What is justice? What does it demand of individuals and societies? What is the proper distribution of wealth and resources in society: equal, meritocratic, according to status, or some other arrangement? There is a myriad of possible answers to these questions from divergent perspectives on the political and philosophical spectrum.

    Oppressive Law exercises an authoritarian approach to legislation which is “totally unrelated to justice”, a tyrannical interpretation of law is one in which the population lives under restriction from unlawful legislation.

    Some theorists, such as the classical Greeks, conceive of justice as a virtue—a property of people, and only derivatively of their actions and the institutions they create. Others emphasize actions or institutions, and only derivatively the people who bring them about. The source of justice has variously been attributed to harmony, divine command, natural law, or human creation.

  18. Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road Avatar
    Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road

    Thanks Scout

    I have been there to fuel up
    was there in december 2007
    not familar with the name of place.

    St.Philip is one of these places that when I am going there I take along a barbados map.

    One time I was trying to find a plastic bag victory motorcade-i think in bayfield and it took me two days of driving before I found the place.
    ——————-
    The ZRS and Minibuses employ some individuals who seemed to have taken adult freedom to the limit. By that I mean that when you reach a certain age where you can make your own decisions you feel this sense of freedom and like a child with a newly found toy you tend to overdo it.

    I took minibuses to school and I almost always preferred the buses with music. At the time the drivers were mostly the owners and the kind of rowdyism did not exist. Some how this situation changed and it probably has to to with who own these vehicles. Therefore to address the situation with ownership might be one prong in the fight to bring some semblance of sanity to the situation.

  19. Booga-liggy Avatar
    Booga-liggy

    “Justice delayed is justice denied”. This nonsense will stop when either the victim or relatives of the victim take the law into their own hands. That’s what I would do if it were my relative. They’re laughing at us on their way to the Courthouse and laughing even harder after their sentence. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh

  20. Booga-liggy Avatar
    Booga-liggy

    The Midnight Assassin (what a name) was an accident waiting to happen a long time. He was always a very reckless driver. It took three or so lives for that driver to realise that life is worth living. He should’ve been hanged. He is now a ‘born-again’ but what about those innocent lives that he took?

  21. Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road Avatar
    Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road

    Maybe we should hear from the driver of the MA
    COULD SOMEONE SEEK HIM OUT

  22. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Dear Owner.

    Thank you for stepping forward.

    1. To speak to your first point, my only guess is that the ZRs are blamed (inappropriately, in my mind) for the ills of our youth simply because the ZR culture is an example given to said youth of lawlessness unpunished. (Worse — perceived as rewarded!)

    2. To speak to your second point — I have tried to “run the numbers” based on what you’ve provided, and frankly, I don’t know how *any* ZR owner makes any money. Would you be willing to provide us with a bit more data?

    Specifically:

    2.1 How much a driver expects to make per hour?

    2.2 How many days a month a ZR van is on the road?

    2.3 How many hours per day a ZR van is on the road?

    2.4 How many passengers (on average) a ZR van can reasonably expect to transport, on average, per hour?

    2.5 What is the ratio of “full rate” passengers vs. “student rate”?

    2.6 How many kilometres per hour a ZR van is expected to travel?

    2.7 The cost (in $ or litters per k/m) a ZR van consumes per hour?

    I will close with a rather cold analysis — Machiavelli tells us that a “Prince” does well by letting others take on risks on his behalf…

    The current ZR situation appears to be a perfect example of a Government passing onto others the risk and exposure of what it cannot (or will not) do themselves,..

    Sad….

  23. NOlogic,here! Avatar
    NOlogic,here!

    Miraculously, Bajans are exempt from the need to PAY ATTENTION while driving.
    Aww what the heck..it’s only the most dangerous thing they’ll do, in any given day!

    Bajans can and do… chat on the phone, listen to distracting music(yes, distracting!) eat, drink, chossel ..ANYTHING BUT pay attention to their driving!
    We are an amazing nation.
    ———————–
    We also have suicidal black/brown yutes who wear all-black and other dark clothing AT NIGHT and then walk the roads, IN the roads, completely and blithely unaware of the fact that they are almost completely invisible!!
    HOW more of them doan get pick-off is beyond me.
    I had one over the hood of my car the other night
    – he WASN’T wearing white or anything even remotely light in colour.

    Can’t avoid you, bro,
    if I can’t see you…duuhh!!

    Yuh know, de old racist white bajan planters used to say dat black people shoulda only be allowed out at night
    if they wore white,
    or open dey eye BIG,
    or skin dey teet.
    I tend to agree, as unpleasant as that may be.

    Keep an eye out for the near-invisible Duppies walking our roads at night.
    Black ppl TOO love to wear dark or black,
    and then walk de road at night!
    Suicidal without even knowing it!
    How dumb is THAT?!
    ————————–
    Are we a nation of un-thinking twits?
    It’s really quite easy for intelligent ppl to come to that conclusion!

  24. Annoyed Avatar
    Annoyed

    NOlogic,here!
    I can’t tell you how much I agree with you! Yesterday two CO Williams men were nearly licked down in St Lucy, they had to jump into the pasture from the sidewalk where they were working, as a black car, too fast to get a #, was overtaking a car that was already overtaking a car!!
    Today on the same stretch of road one of the same men was licked down by a ladder that wasn’t tied down and ‘flew’ off the back of a truck, the man saw it just in time to put his arm up to protect himself, it knocked him to the ground, luckily no broken bones.

  25. dirtydirty Avatar
    dirtydirty

    We as bajan have to come to realise that not all PSVs are bad but as soon as one is in an accident we never ask questions we all say that PSV Wrong
    As for BERNARD he was an accident just waiting to happen
    But if not for the same PSVs unless the government wether BLP or DLP do something about the Transport Board many students and adults will get were there are going late

  26. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    Chris

    I cannot give you specifics because each route is different and each day is different.
    1. I cannot tell you how much a driver makes an hour but I can tell you that any driver worth his salt has to begin work early on morning as early as 6. am. At the end of the the rush hour the average driver may have between 70 – 100 passengers( depending on the route because traffic is usally a determining factor.)
    2. My vans work 6 days a week, the industry has not been able to attract much new decent and positive drivers so the few drivers I have and trust don’t share their vans. So on average 5-6 days a week
    3. The hours a day depend on how the day goes, a driver may start at 6 am and finish around 6 pm. Others may break at 10 am and return at 3pm until the road goes dead
    4. The average amount of passengers varies by route, some routes may muster 210 other about 270 on average
    5. During school time, when I work, I may carry about 15-20 paying school chioldren , I say paying because some parents place 4 children on the van but only pay for 2. Honestly I prefer not to carry secondary school children because they are loud, unmmanerly and destructive
    6. The speed limit is 60kph
    7. I cant tell you per hour because of the variables involved – traffic , number of passengers, manual vrs automatic etc. I will tell you I have gone from $60 2 yrs ago to about $110 at present.
    The sad thing is the transport board is making losses to the tune of 40 million yearly, while enjoying benefits which we as PSVs don’t enjoy. Take a second and analyze this. Govt subsidizes the transport board with 40 million dollars a nnually, divide that total by the number of buses they have which is around 300. That works out to about $133,333 per bus. That is above the money which the transport board collects in fares.
    Study it.

    But I am suppose to be making a killing according to some politicians and social commentators, well I am not and it is getting worse everday.

  27. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Owner.

    Thank you again for stepping forward, and giving us some idea of the reality you PSVs operators face.

    Assuming your numbers are accurate (and they survive a cursory “sanity check”) I have to ask: why do you all stay in the game?

    It seems to me that your above explains clearly why you all “jockey” so hard to stay ahead of each other. More specifically, you’re trying to stay ahead of the (subsidized) Transit Board buses, since competition between yourselves is really a zero-sum game.

    It seems obvious a major rethink on this whole “solution” to Barbados’ transit needs is long overdue…

  28. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    BTW, an annoying property of “WordPress” is that it often interprets a closing bracket as a “smiley”. Please note there was no “winking smiley face” intended above.

  29. Gordon Avatar
    Gordon

    These forums are great but if anyone wants to make progress on this issue of the ZR’s I urge you to write or fax (not e-mail) someone senior in Government, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and the PS in the Prime Minister’s Office would be a start.
    Discipline must be brought to bear. Whereas justice must be handled by the Courts, what has happened so far seems to be negligence on their part. Surely the owners must be held responsible if they employ a driver who has several convictions. The Joseph family should consider a civil suit against the mini-bus owner, if it turns out that the driver was at fault.

  30. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    Chris

    I am able to stay in the game because I
    dont owe much for my van, my insurance is low ( in comparison to other) and I do alot of my maintenance myself. However I would not risk buying a newer vans at this time because I know it would hurt me financially.

    Case in point. I dont think john public understands an owner cannot just hire a driver, He has to go to the insurance company for approval before he “hits” the road. I hear poeple saying a driver has convictions but convictions for what. 60 percent of the convictions are for stopping somewhere other than a bus stop and 30 per cent are for offroute. Would I hire a driver who has convictions for stopping somewhre aother than a bus top. YES I WOULD. Would the insurance okay him. YES THEY WOULD. As for off route if one of my drivers has my van on a completely different route I would have problem with it and him. But if he is stuck in traffic like friday evening traffic and he goes off route to get ahead of traffic I dont encourage it because it gives john public fuel to add to the fire but i understand.
    Study this. On Friday evenings the lights at rendevous cause a back up sometimes which can stretch as far as Coconut Court Hotel. So drivers sneak through the back behind Cheffette Rockley. One Friday evening the police carried out an operation to catch drivers offroute 3 police jeeps and about 8-10 policeofficers. Wouldnt it have been easier to place 1 officer at the lights so the drivers PSV and public could get to rendevous inless than a hour and a half coming from town.
    I am sick and tired of paying for the ignorance of a few . We the ZR association needs to stand up and be counted, we need to realize we can be an effective pressure group in Barbados with combined assets in the billions. A group when we speak government B or D listens. Until this happens we will achieve nothing.

  31. David Avatar
    David

    Owner while we may understand the PSV operators making some decisions like skipping across a back road etc it does not explain the following:

    psc operators swearing like pirates in full hearing of passengers

    playing loud music to the discomfort of many passengers and did we say it was flouting the law?

    playing songs of the Jamaican variety which have been banned on radio. Some say the Jamaicans don’t even play this music in their homeland.

    many of the offenses of PSVs despite what you say owner is for speeding.

    Lastly many of the BU family have to traverse the roads daily and we withness the outlandish behaviour of the PSVs and the sub-culture which has developed. Unfortunately we have seen a blame culture which has emerged about the industry which has driven us to a stalemate.

    Will this government crack this nut wide open?

  32. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    Gordon you are right send write of fax someone senior in Government, the PS in the Ministry of Transport and the PS in the Prime Ministers office tell them

    1. Raise bus fare so the PSV’s can make an honest living
    2. Stop giving PSV permits to their friends thereby saturating an already saturated market
    3. Lower my road tax from $4500 to something I can afford to pay
    4. Stop the police from discriminating against me example during Oistins fish festival they allow transport board buses through Oistins but ZRs have to go over Silver Hill even after the Ministry of Transport says we have to go through Oistins

    Just to name a few

  33. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    David
    Dont get me wrong I don’t condone bad behaviour. But I put this to you those drivers are in the minority. The police, licensing authority and insurance companies know who they are. If you are in a van, and the driver or conductor are rude,drinking, driving recklessly call the insurance and licensing authority let them know the van number, the time of day and the date. After a while no insurance company will allow that driver to drive on their policies. The problem is the passengers sit down and say nothing
    I have been in this business for a while and I can tell you not much drivers are charged with speeding.

  34. Winston Clarke Avatar
    Winston Clarke

    A friend sent me this article and I read the whole blog. I learnt some interesting and valuable information, but the one fact that was re-enforced was the typical Barbadian “don’t rock the boat” attitude.
    Something happens that horifies us and there is a loud outcry for a very short period until something else comes along. After the chilling and numbing effect of the incident wears off it is back to business as usual.
    Sure the PSV’s and ZR’s are guilty as hell for much bad behaviour, but let’s be honest most of us drivers committ the same offences ( I’ll take my lashes for this one).

    Let me say I have also seen some positives from the same disgusting drivers.. like seeing some one running to be picked up and they waited for them. ( I’m not talking about the persons to lazy or too “great” to go the the bus stop) I have see instances where persons are just a few yards shy of a bus stop and running to get the bus and the Transport Board bus passes them.. I think this is heartless especially when the next bus is due in another hour or so. But nobody complains about this because the law permits it. The rain is pouring, a bus stop is in appropriately placed, a PSV driver uses human consideration and puts the passenger off at the shop or yes, sometimes at the gate of the passenger, the law frowns on this because it has been flouted…

    I agree there is an element of trying to make as much money as possible but often the driver is not counting passengers,… he sees persons trying to get to work or school on time, or trying to get home after a hard day at the office.

    There’s much more to be said, but I know there are some persons who can’t wait to rebut, so let the ideas roll in….

  35. J Avatar
    J

    Dear Bush Tea:

    I’ve never spent even a minute studying the law. But since you believe that I am your lawyer you can start mailing me cheques right away.

    And we can take this standing in line thing too far you know. Just last night I was reading a English paper online and an engineer who had survived polio and who was on disability for chronic fatigue syndrome was beaten to death in a supermarket in the south of England because a women in the line though that he had jumped ahead of her and her boyfriend came in out of the parking lot and baet the engineer to death.

    In a supermarket line for C******* sake. Since when it is so important whether you get home from the shop at 6 or at 6:30?

    So no Bush England is not yet the promised land.

  36. Loretta Thorne Avatar
    Loretta Thorne

    There was a time I tried to not take PSV’s.Waiting for the Transport Board buses changed all that.Standing in the Fairchild St. bus-stand before 2.00 p.m for example waiting for a bus that shows up at 2.45.By this time the waiting passengers are twice as many as the legal limit of the bus capacity and angry.They don’t want the driver doing the speed limit but driving at a speed to make up lost time especially in areas of for example St .Philip where the road is clear.If the driver drives too slow he is verbally abused.
    PSV’s as someone else pointed out wait for you,help passengers off with bags of groceries and for the most part conductors and drivers I have encountered were helpful and polite.
    I wonder how many making extreme comments and tarring everyone with the same brush take public transport to get to and from work.
    Speaking of Toronto where I live there is no preset capacity on the TTC.Just as many bodies as can be crammed in.

  37. Booga-liggy Avatar
    Booga-liggy

    Asiba, to refresh your memory, the Midnight-Assassin accident happened about ten or twelve years ago just a few yards from the Catholic church on Black Rock in that ‘dirty’ corner going from town. The driver, as I said, is now “born again” and is more sanctified than the Pope. I guess he is remorseful but a few lives too late. One of his victims was a good friend of mine who was on his way to visit a very depressed young lady who was living in the Mental. I will never forgive him for what he did to my friend. I also have a pic of one of the victims with half of his head off. These PSV’s, ZR’s, whatever you choose to call them are nothing but ROAD HOGS. The few good ones are too few and far inbetween. Gimme a break.

  38. Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road Avatar
    Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-still 2 much FAT on the road

    Yeah Bro

    I remember the scenario

    I believe I still have the newspaper -the whole newspaper with it. It should also be available at the public libraryand UWI libarary (WIC) .

    I have newspapers from as far back as the 70s including the first nation which was left at my mother’s

    I would like to see the guy and talk with him
    maybe there is a book to be written here.

  39. TALKAHOLIC Avatar
    TALKAHOLIC

    If Ian Bourne is saying a man with 277 convictions and he is still on the road that means that government isnt making this reckless driving a priority. After these drivers causing a number if road fatalities and injuries something must be done soon.

    I also find that the bus drivers are no different to those driving the mini buses and ZR’s since these bus drivers used to drive the same vehicles. They drive the buses like they driving beetles or any other small car and I find it really ridiculous.

    Just my view.

  40. Anti-ZRS Avatar
    Anti-ZRS

    I live on the Silver Sands route which has many ZRs. I have no choice but to catch these “things” because the transport board buses are not reliable. I would love to sit down in my seat and not have to worry about being squashed against the side or not have to worry about getting out because someone in the back seat has to disembark. I long for the days of having a quiet ride to town and not hearing music blaring with loud raucous DJ’s talking about sex, weed and guns. I’ve been praying for the last ten years for the transport board to get it’s act together. I must admit that buses have been added to the Silver Sands route but i rarely see them. I think there have been enough accidents and it’s time for the relevant authorities to do something. They need to make a unified effort to get rid of the ZRS for good and revitalise the Transport Board system. For a country as small as Barbados, surely minor problems like these can be solved.

  41. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    So Anti/ZRs what you are saying is all ZRs on the Silver Sands route play one type of music.

    In the event they “get rid of the ZRs” who would drive the Transport Board buses …. ZR and minibus drivers.

    As per the size of the van that is the size dictated by Govt, ask them to increase our carrying capacity.

  42. Anti ZRs Avatar
    Anti ZRs

    I never said that ALL ZRs play “one type of music”. However, the ones that play “other kinds of music” are surely in the minority. And if it’s not the music, it’s the reckless driving, the language, the fact that some of the conductors are scared of being clean. Increase your carrying capacity??? Please…. You guys do that on your own. One Saturday, I observed twenty-two (22) people disembark from a ZR van on the same Silver Sands route. And another thing that peeves me… When the vans are in the terminal, why is it that the only time they can maintain order is when a policeman is in the terminal?

  43. Owner Avatar
    Owner

    So I am being held ransom for the behaviour of a few. I have never had 22 people in my van at anytime. I can bet they are only a few van on the silver sands route that would pack 22 people in . I dont have a problem with you saying some vans overload but i do when you say all vans overlaod.

    Secondly when the police are not in the stand all these bashment vans come into the stand and jump to the head of the line.

    My question to Barbados is around the clock security is always in the bus terminals, we the psvs are suppose to be the worse things on the road why dont they have round the clock security in the van stand

  44. buster Avatar
    buster

    perhaps the thing to do would be to replace the psvs completely ,.. and have an (elevated) monorail or ultra light rail built along the heaviest traveled routes and along the highway.it wont be cheap initially(probably about US400,000,000 mill.,)( but it would certainly reduce the pollution and traffic congestion along the Oistins and St. James corridors.

  45. A Avatar
    A

    Heres some ideas on the topic for setting standards of accountability for drivers and conductors.
    Some drivers are good, but again the majority are to blame so a standard needs to be set however harsh it may seem.
    Therefore how about the following rules so the general public can get a service thats SAFE and acceptable.

    Rule 1: The driver and conductor have to be 35 years of age or older
    Rule 2: The driver has to have a CLEAN driving record of more than five years.
    Rule 3: Any more than three convictions in any given year for driving offences and you will be barred from being the holder of that license for five years.
    Rule 4: Any offence fine will result in the driver AND the vehicles owner having to pay the same amount of the fine.
    Rule 5: No music systems allowed in any public vehicle carrying passengers.
    Rule 6: Vehicle speed limiters will be used and checked by cameras monitoring the roads.
    Lets not even start on the fines for the usual things like going off route, speeding through short cuts, overloading etc.
    Remember, three of those in a year and Rule three will be enforced.
    Bye bye, bad boys.

  46. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    @A ,we have no problems here in Barbados setting standards, the problem lie in maintaining and policing those standards. If we look at the Road Traffic Act and theRoad Traffic Regulations we have enough legislation there to take care of the PSV drivers. Probably what we need is further regulations to penalise and discipline the PSV owners as well. How come that we never had this omnibus of problems when private concessionaires were also operating public transport?
    One of the problems we face however, is that common sense has not yet been made available from Woolworths or PriceMart.

  47. upset bajan Avatar
    upset bajan

    fast foward 2017. A statutory Board has been set up to deal with the indiscipline of the PSV and what do they do. put them in uniforms and increase the number of PSV on routes that were over crowded in the first place. That makes no sense to me.

  48. James Avatar
    James

    FAST FORWARD 2020…Paul Alleyne mentioned above continue to rack up offenses in 2020, yet he continues to be allowed to operate on the roads of Barbados. He now operates an uninsured vehicle on the South of the island with the knowledge of the Police/Insurance/MTW/Transport Authority, etc. This same vehicle I am hearing he collected from a Police station (which is part of an ongoing investigation) with the help of a high ranking officer within the force. I also forgot to mention that the vehicle is operating with regular license plates and not the typical plates ZR or B.

    I am sure nothing will be done with him, since he continues to be guarded by high ranking members of the Police force.

  49. David Avatar
    David

    @James

    You should write a letter of complaint to the Chief Licensing Officer and cpy the insurance company.

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