Transport Authority to postpone granting of road licences
Published:Saturday | March 19, 2022 | 12:06 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
BUFF BAY, Portland:
The Transport Authority (TA) is to delay the issuing of 45 new road licences to owners/operators of taxis for a month, as the transport regulator seeks to create a balance among those desiring to operate and those commuting the Buff Bay to Port Antonio route.
The decision to postpone issuing the 45 new road licences to route taxi operators, which was approved on March 12, was taken during an emergency meeting held at the Buff Bay Police Station conference room on Wednesday in Portland.
Among the parties present that sought to address the concerns raised by irate bus operators were a team from the TA led by Managing Director Willard Hylton, mini-bus operators, Gavin Powell from the office of the member of parliament in West Portland, and representatives from various taxis in the parish.
The minibus operators had staged a protest on Monday demanding that the TA consider their requests to provide commuting service to the public, instead of granting licences to taxi operators to ply the Port Antonio to Buff Bay route.
At the meeting, Hylton pointed out that the TA is committed to fulfilling its responsibility to ensure that there is an adequate and legal public transportation system in place. He said that a research team will be sent out by the TA to review and make its findings known during the one-month period of delay. This is to determine whether or not minibus operators are competent and disciplined enough to be granted licences to operate the Buff Bay to Port Antonio route.
“We are a regulator and we take responsibility for the fact that we said we were going to issue those licences, but now we have to back-track,” commented Hylton.
“I don’t regard it as an embarrassment for the Transport Authority, I regard it as part of how we solve the problems that we face. We have a responsibility to respond to the public. Our responsibility is to pay attention to the cry of the stakeholders. We did have a meeting with the major stakeholders last week and we have decided to engage the other stakeholders and that is why we are here today, because we want to find a middle ground.
“We have 25 applications in the office for route taxi licences that we said we’d issue. I do understand that when you have people who invest millions of dollars for years, it’s not easy for you to tell them to pack up and leave. But also, we also have to spend some time to get them to understand how we are going to change the mindset about how we operate as business people,” he added.
Hylton also urged the minibus operators to ensure that they honour their designated route during the one-month period of its decision to delay the issuing of licences to route taxi operators, especially along the Buff Bay to Port Antonio route, where the (TA has identified that there is a definite need to fill at least 225 seats for the commuting public.
During the one-month delay, taxi operators who are currently engaged in plying the route are expected to discontinue, so that the research team can better and accurately assess its findings on the claims made by minibus operators.
Meanwhile, West Portland Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz, who joined the meeting via telephone, pointed out that the situation should be treated with urgency, as there is no way that students should be left stranded and unable to travel to school, especially with the reality that significant learning has already been lost as a resulted of COVID-19.
“Bear in mind that there are a lot of students that were stranded while attempting to travel from Buff Bay to Port Antonio, which has to be resolved,” said Vaz.
“I am in no mood to react to any demonstration or protest, as there is always an avenue for us to have dialogue. This protest action on Monday and also the week before inconvenienced a lot of commuters. I am hoping that this matter will be resolved speedily,” he added.