FARE HIKE CHAOS

Chaos is set to reign in the island’s public transport sector today as while interest group leaders are asking taxi and bus operators to delay applying a ministry-approved 15 per cent increase in fares as they lobby for a higher percentage, some are pressing ahead with plans to slap commuters with as much as a 50 per cent hike.

In a statement issued on Saturday night, Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS) President Egeton Newman said that the organisation has asked Transport Minister Robert Montague to put the fare adjustments on hold until there can be further consultations between them and also with the head of the Transport Authority, Willard Hylton.

TODDS has also called on public-transportation operators not to increase fares until Montague justifies the 15 per cent figure.

The group is also calling for the publication of a fare table to give the commuting public a clear understanding of any fare increase.

Taxi associations have been pushing for a new fare table as the cost of petrol and other operational costs continue to rise. In 2019, TODSS threatened legal action to force the Government to grant fare increases for the island’s more than 40,000 public-transport operators.

Public-transport operators in the Kingston Metropolitan Region have expressed mixed reactions to the request from the TODSS president.

“That nuh right. We a wait a long time for a fare increase. Fifteen per cent small, but we will work with it, but to ask us to hold on is just not right. Couple years ago, mi a pay $32,000 for two tyres. Now mi a pay $53,000,” said Davian Clarke, a Toyota Coaster bus owner who plies the Kingston to Morant Bay route.

“If mi nuh have $14,000 to full the tank a gas oil, it nuh make sense. Mi used to full the tank for $8,000. Now a $14,000, so it nuh mek no sense we wait any longer,” he continued.

He said that the present fare from Kingston to Yallahs is $170 and $250 to Morant Bay, and with the increase, he plans to round off the fares to $200 and $300, respectively.

Route taxi operator Ricky, who services the Cross Roads to Mountain View and Vineyard Town route in Kingston, said he is willing to wait to get more information because he does not understand the 15 per cent as it sounded small.

“It really wicked pon the people dem (commuters), but we need it (higher increase). I hope this time it will be a little better,” he told The Gleaner. “We really don’t want to pressure the people them any way because a long time dem nuh get no raise a pay, but we have we expenses, too.”

Route taxi operators who ply the Half-Way Tree to Papine route in St Andrew have taken a unified position. They told The Gleaner that they would not put their fare increase on hold.

“A long time we a wait. We a charge $100 when we should a charge $120. Right now, we a go put it at $150,” said Jerome, who has been operating a route taxi for more than 10 years. His colleagues agreed.

In his Sectoral Debate contribution in May, Montague said that the Government was not considering a fare increase at a time when Jamaicans were facing hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic. He changed his tune last Friday, announcing a 15 per cent fare increase for public-transport operators while excluding the Jamaica Urban Transit Company and the Montego Bay Metro.

Numerous calls by The Gleaner to his phone to get his reaction to the demand from TODDS went unanswered yesterday.

But according to Newman, the decision was arrived at by a majority vote during a meeting attended by president of the Jamaica Association of Owners and Operators, Louis Barton, and four small association presidents.

The last fare adjustments for the public-transport operators were in 2013 when a 25 per cent increase was granted.

editorial@gleanerjm.com