Dear Editor,
It’s refreshing to read the editorial ‘A tasteless manifestation of the way we live’ (Stabroek News, March 25), about the plight that commuters have to face every day using public transportation. Before I outline a few points, let me explain that once I entered the police outpost by the Stabroek Market and told the officer that the route 32 minibuses then loading were demanding an astounding $500 per person to go anywhere on the West Coast, and the officer informed me that there was nothing he could do because there was no law against it. As a result of that I penned more than one letter requesting that they explore the possibility of introducing a law against overcharging, because to my knowledge, all the different zones seems to be overcharging commuters.
Owing to the comical behaviour in parliament by some parliamentarians, I don’t believe that commuters will be getting any help from them any time soon because most of them travel with their fancy duty-free vehicles and fail to see the plight that commuters are facing. Apart from looking at the work they are doing, one would assume that most of them are not industrious, because nothing meaningful is coming from them except voting and in some case getting sick conveniently or abstaining.
Editor, many times Ministers instruct commuters to walk with the exact fare, but when you do that, some of the minibuses operators would demand more money or insult you. Some would exit the bus and challenge you or would physically attack you. Lots of people would say it’s not worth it to go to the station and waste time for forty or twenty dollars, and given the attitude of the police, nothing would come from the matter. In most cases, these operators would look for people whom they could take advantage of to challenge, and because of the hardship in getting to and from one’s destination, other passengers would stay quiet, because they are scared of victimization. That is what we have descended to.
This is how someone gets victimized. If you pay the fare that is stipulated by the ministry, the conductor/conductress would note your face and refuse to allow you to enter the bus after that.
Then he/she would point you out to other bus operators and they too would join in denying you entrance to their bus unless you are friends with them. But it doesn’t end there. If the operators cannot handle you, they inform the touts at the bus parks and they dictate whether you can go into any of the buses that they are loading. This is no exaggeration; ask any commuter about the behaviour of the touts and they will tell you. Every time you go to the park you witness the touts insulting a commuter.
As I mentioned before in previous letters, the clothes of many commuters get damaged or they get grease on them, and when you complain it is either a barrage of insults or they apologise; but when you travel with them again, the same faults could be seen. As for stopping at the gas station, some bus operators prefer to put just the amount of gas in their tanks that is required for each trip and they are well known for that.
As I said before, the powers to change these abuses lies in the hands of our parliamentarians, but given their comical behaviour since getting a one-seat majority, no changes will be made because they don’t use the public transportation, and with their lapsed attitudes they fail to see the suffering of those who helped to put them where they are. We have indeed made something manifest.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
