By Iana Seales
East Coast drivers plying the Georgetown to Mahaica route pulled their buses off the road yesterday in protest over a police clampdown that prohibits them from driving along Bourda market on Robb Street and Thomas Street by the public hospital.
Referring to the move as “dictatorial and oppressive”, the drivers numbering in excess of 100 converged at the Mon Repos market to air their concerns while threatening further strike action if the police persist with the new rule.
“Is bread they taking out we mouth by implementing this new rule and it ain’t mek no sense because that is where many of us pick up passengers when we making return trips to the East Coast,” driver Wayne Collins said yesterday.
It was unclear how seriously passengers on that route were affected as some buses continued to work.
Contacted yesterday, Traffic Chief Neil Semple said the police would not bend with respect to the change. He said the East Coast drivers were overreacting because the new rule was fair and suitable for everyone, including city drivers plying the hospital route. According to Semple, the East Coast drivers have long been imposing on the Thomas Street route but this will not continue.
Semple said he met a small delegation of the drivers who were part of the strike action yesterday to explain the new rule and found them to be understanding. He said they were confused as to what exactly the new rule stipulates which, he pointed out, was a widespread problem, adding that the drivers needed to re-read the rules and be a bit more rational.
The change that the drivers are rejecting prohibits them from driving along Robb Street, Thomas Street and past the public hospital. They are also banned from driving along the seawall, which had become a frequent practice since the installation of the new traffic lights.
At the beginning of the year when new road service licences were issued the new rule was circulated to drivers but many ignored it, given that the police were not stringently enforcing it. However, drivers had up to mid-March to start obeying the rule or face the courts.
On Friday last, spilling over into Saturday and Monday the police cracked down on the drivers who ignored the rule and placed them before the courts. Over 100 drivers were picked up and many had to pay a fine.
Rohit Rambarran, who was elected to speak on behalf of the striking drivers, told Stabroek News yesterday that they are not going to sit idly by and let the police or the government dictate which routes will bring in a dollar. He said those who have been around long enough know how hard it is to ply the East Coast return route many hours of the day without making trips to Bourda market and the hospital.
Rambarran said the police are asking them to work for less now even as the gas price increases. Additionally, he said, commuters, particularly schoolchildren, who wait for the buses at certain locations, would be severely affected by the new rules.
Yesterday Rambarran and several others formed a large delegation and went to see Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, but were unable to meet him. He said they have been pushed around by everyone including the Traffic Chief and are fed up of the run around.
The strike will intensify, Rambarran said, if the police continue to prosecute drivers for plying the old route. He said a few drivers are still running the road but pointed out that they too will eventually join in when the new rule affects them fully.
“This is a struggle for we, but people don’t realize that. Running the road is hard and many of us can’t hold at the park so we have to find passengers by using other routes,” one of the drivers added.
