Some commuters are now ensuring they enter Route 40 (Kitty/Campbellville) minibuses with $60 in change for the fare as some operators continue to charge more.
Recently checks done by this newspaper revealed that the minibus operators had increased fares from $60 to $80 and the situation prompted the Commerce Ministry to issue an advisory on Friday, urging commuters not to pay any increase.
The new fares are posted in some of the buses affiliated with the United Minibus Union. Operators explained that the decision to increase the fares was made at a meeting held by the union on Monday last week. They said that the price of bus parts, particularly, tires, and gasoline have gone up.
Some commuters have said that they work hard for their money and worry that the additional $20 dollars will eventually add up to a lot over time. One woman said that whenever she pays with a $100 note, she does not get back her forty dollars change. As a result, she now ensures that she has exactly sixty dollars in change when using the buses.
Minibus operators, however, maintain that they are taking $80. In the event that a passenger cannot or is not willing to pay the increase, they say that they will not get into a confrontation about it.
The Ministry of Commerce on Friday said that the price structure remains the same since the last increase in 2005, when minibus operators agreed that any future fare hike would be requested only when gasoline and diesel increase above one thousand dollars per gallon.
