As the police intensify their campaign against the use of ‘mag rims’, minibus operators are united in their call for them to be allowed to use the rims to ensure their safety and that of their passengers, saying also that the campaign is ‘senseless’.
Over the past two weeks many minibuses that operate on the East Bank of Demerara, West Bank Demerara, West Coast Demerara, and the East Coast of Demerara were taken off the road and detained at the various police stations for the use of ‘mag rims’.
Operators of those minibuses were detained and made to pay fines ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 for their failure to comply and in some instances they were made to remove the ‘mag rims’.
Drivers had earlier said that they were informed that “the wheels of the vehicles, by law, cannot be wider than the vehicle.”
Efforts to contact Traffic Chief Brian Joseph for a comment on the issue on Tuesday proved futile.
According to several minibus drivers, the ‘mag rims’ add stability to vehicles when they are navigating turns.
A driver, who asked not to be named, explained that “When buses come to Guyana for the first time, there used to be a lot of them toppling over and people used to say that the drivers don’t know how to drive. But when they start to use ‘mag rims’ and the wheels get wider, there were less toppling over and that shows that the ‘mag rims’ make it stable and style is just a plus.”
The drivers are also calling the move by the police “senseless” since they say that the removal of the ‘mag rims’ will put at risk the lives of the operators as well as the passengers.
Route 44 minibus operator, Michael Stanley, told this newspaper that he sees no merit in the police campaign since some of those same officers own minibuses and those buses are allowed to operate with ‘mag rims’.
He added that the rims are expensive and as such if the police want to crackdown on the use of them they should allow the minibus owners time to change those rims.
He said “If they want fuh crackdown pon this thing them got to give we lil time because fuh get back them original rim gon be real problem and then it gon be expensive too.”
Stanley dubbed the action by the police as understandable, yet senseless since he thinks that they should focus more on speeding and overloading of the vehicles rather than ‘mag rims’. Several other minibus operators expressed their frustration at the ongoing campaign and raised other issues that the police ought to address, which include speeding, touting, overloading, and loud music, yet they are concentrating solely on the issue of ‘mag rims’.
This had led to some concerns among the operators who suggested that “one of them big one like them have some stainless steel rims to get rid of.”
Over at the West Bank (Route 31) and West Coast of Demerara (Route 32) minibus parks, drivers are complaining that the police are detaining them for hours and they are often asked to remove their rims.
“Them man carry me to the Leonora Police Station and tek off me rims and them got it deh…I had to tek out all me passengers and then go and get money fuh buy new rims because them nah want we use the mags and that is not fair,” argued route 32 minibus driver Rajesh Sooklall.
Sooklall added that the officer ought to act more reasonably when dealing with the minibus operators since their livelihood depends on the operation of their vehicles.
In the meantime, Head of the United Minibus Association, Eon Andrews, also expressed his outrage at the actions of the police in the ‘mag rims’ matter, saying that he sees it as unethical and unnecessary.
