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By Nakinskie Robinson
President of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), Egeton Newman, says the persistent rainy conditions on Tuesday have worsened the plight of operators.
Mr. Newman says the already dilapidated state of the country's roads has increased the repair bill for public passenger vehicles - an expense which he argues is expected to balloon after Tuesday's weather system.
"We have just had to encourage our members to take it easy as to how they traverse this roadway," he said, arguing that the roads are unlikely to be fixed in short order.
"I mean, some of these roads haven't fixed for 15, 20 years, you know, and it's getting worse and worse and worse. But we have to manoeuver, we have people to carry, have students to carry, and therefore we take our the time to
do what we have to do. There's no income interest on our operation, but we just have to do what we have to do," he contended.
Mr. Newman, who was a guest on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM, said TODSS has been utilising all its resources to advocate for its members but the operators cannot say for certain whether there will be no disruption in service in the near future.
He said the members remain restive over the promised 16 per cent fare increase that has not yet been realised.
Last year the government had granted a 35 per cent fare increase to public transport operators to be implemented in two phases.
It was agreed that 19 per cent would take effect on, October 15, 2023 and the other 16 per cent on April 1 this year.
But amid outcry from commuters, implementation of the 16 per cent increase was postponed.
Mr. Newman hopes the new finance minister, Fayval Williams, will address the issue soon.
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