Submitted by Inkwell
The Government of Barbados is the cause of, is responsible for and should be accountable to the people for the runaway indiscipline being exhibited by operators in the Public Service Vehicle Sector. It has caused and is responsible for the escalation of that indiscipline over a period of more than twenty years.
Every time a PSV stops at a place other than a bus stop to pick up or put off a passenger, the Government is to blame.
Every time an operator overloads his PSV, the Government is responsible.
Every time a PSV goes off route, the Government is to blame.
Every time a PSV overtakes other vehicles dangerously, it is the Government’s fault.
Every time a PSV driver curses you for objecting to his “bad” driving, the Government is to blame.
Every time a PSV driver drives like a madman to get where he is going as quickly as possible, the Government is responsible.
Every time a PSV conductor illegally stops traffic on a main road to let out his driver from a side street, it is the Government’s fault.
Every time a PSV driver or conductor appears in court for the umpteenth time on a traffic violation charge, the Government is to blame.
Every time a PSV driver stops suddenly in front of you, without indicating, to pick up a passenger, it is the Government’s fault.
And the Government chooses to do nothing about it!!
You see, the Government has for the last twenty years been forcing private owners of PSV’s to subsidize public transportation out of their own pockets. It has long been a Government policy to keep bus fares low so that they would not be burdensome on the people who use public transportation most, the lower socio-economic classes. And that is laudable, don’t get me wrong. It may be laudable, but in these economic times it is unrealistic, since this subsidy has to be financed by you and me, the taxpayers and contributes significantly to the country’s fiscal deficit, currently the cause of much concern. Records for the last twenty years are not readily available, but reports state that the Government subsidized the Transport Board a whopping $142 million over the three year period to 2009. That is nearly $4 million a month, folks and God knows how much free travel for school children has added to that. The PSV sector, which transports approximately 60% of public transport users, receives no subsidy from the Government, but gets in its place unfair competition, outrageous tax impositions and unfair police treatment.
The Government has restricted the income of PSV’s to $1.50 per passenger since 1991, 19 YEARS, YES 19 YEARS. It is a miracle and a testament to the resourcefulness of PSV owners that many have been able to keep their vehicles on the road. How can a Government in all conscience use the law to disadvantage a section of the governed which contributes significantly to the economy of Barbados?
Government knows that a fare of $1.50 comes nowhere near to covering the cost of providing a transport service, but has kept that fare in place since 1991, without acknowledging the damage that it was and is doing to the private owners, who are not fortunate to have a taxpayer provided subsidy.
Each of you knows painfully how the cost of maintaining a motor vehicle has risen over the last twenty years. A PSV must work on average fifteen hours a day, six or seven days a week and the need for maintenance is therefore much greater than the average vehicle. PSV owners cannot continue paying higher and higher operating costs while being restricted to income based on $1.50 per passenger. I won’t even get into the ridiculous fact that the same fare applies whether a journey is Bridgetown to Hastings or Bridgetown to Sam Lords. (Why don’t they do that to taxi owners?)
Ask yourself which business could survive today’s operating costs on income legally restricted to 1991 levels. The Government provides free (subsidized) education. Does it restrict what private educational institutions charge?
The Government provides free (subsidized) medical and dental services at the QEH and polyclinics. Does it restrict what private medical and dental practitioners charge?
No, but it restricts the income of the PSV sector for 19 years and expects it to remain viable.
Meanwhile, Government is subsidizing the Transport Board $4 million per month (and rising?) and running up the fiscal deficit.
And to make matters even worse, the Government removed the one subsidy that PSV owners enjoyed…that on diesel. Yes, the Government saw fit to further burden PSV owners by increasing the price of diesel in 2008 from $1.46 per liter to $2.77, an increase of 77%. A minibus uses on average 100 liters of diesel a day. Expense on fuel therefore leapt frighteningly from $146.00 a day to $277.00 a day and had to be paid for out of the same numbers of passengers paying $1.50. No wonder PSV’s have to fight for every $1.50 they can get to survive, and if they have to take a cussing from you to do it, so be it. They have finite space. They cannot extend the length of the vehicle to accommodate more passengers. The diesel price came down as low as $1.27 for the period between January and May last year, but has climbed steadily since to $1.73, where it stands at present and forecasts are that the price of oil has nowhere to go but up.
Meantime Government is subsidizing the Transport Board $4 million per month.
But it is not only the PSV owners that the Government in disadvantaging. There are over 1000 drivers and conductors working in this sector and they have not been able to get a wages increase for NINETEEN YEARS. No matter how you compute it, $1.50 can only stretch so far and a minibus can still legally carry only 34 passengers. How would you feel if you hadn’t had a salary increase for nineteen years? And you knew that the Government was responsible. Wouldn’t you be tempted to rebel at some level? Would you not at every opportunity carry as many passengers as your vehicle could hold and to hell with the law? Especially when Transport Board buses are allowed by the same law enforcers to carry as many as they want without harassment? And might not your attitude after so many years become “well if dem ain’t care nutton bout we, we en care nuttun bout dem neida.”
PSV operators are struggling to survive. They have families to feed and they right now have to work on average a fifteen hour day for earnings which often fall below minimum wage. And many of them subsidize their incomes by dipping into the fare bag, further hurting the owner.
Who is responsible for this situation, the owners? the workers?
I am stating categorically that the bad behavior by workers in this sector is a direct result of unfair treatment by the Government
THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE!
It will be difficult to reverse the “minibus culture” which unfortunately has been allowed to become ingrained over many years, but any attempt MUST be based on an increase in bus fares so that owners and workers can earn an income which bears some semblance to the ever escalating cost of living or if that is not desirable, provide a subsidy to the private owners as it does the Transport Board and reduce road taxes and provide duty concessions on parts and replacement vehicles.
Something MUST be done, otherwise the madness will continue as the workers struggle and owners slowly but surely go out of business.
But maybe this is the plan.
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