By Subhana Shiwmangal
Speedboat operators plying the Vreed-en-Hoop to Georgetown route went on strike yesterday to press for a $20 fare increase, forcing government to deploy boats and buses to help scores of stranded commuters.
While the boat operators said the hike in the $100 fare is overdue as a result of the rising cost of living and the effects on their operations, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill was adamant that the government will not be approving any increases of fare for any transportation structure across Guyana at this time.
Edghill acknowledged that there had been engagements with the operators earlier in the year on a proposed fare increase but said the government’s position remained not now.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a Facebook post, stated that the strike had caused a massive build-up of traffic at the Demerara Harbour Bridge and it left scores of commuters stranded.
The post further stated that the Guyana Police Force and Coast Guards assisted the river commuters across the Demerara River between the Vreed-en Hoop and Stabroek Water Taxi landings.
As a result of the impasse, boats were deployed by the Maritime Administration Depart-ment (MARAD), the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and the Guyana Police Force as well Sheriff Security. Additionally, 14 boats from the Parika service were also allowed to operate along the route.
In a public notice posted on its Facebook page, MARAD also announced that the Guyana Defence Force had added six buses to assist in shuttling passengers across the Deme-rara Harbour Bridge from 14:00 hrs to 20:00 hrs. Passengers were asked to assemble at the Ashmin’s building at the corner of High, and Hadfield streets Georgetown.
“All support service vehicles will operate free of cost for today, December 9, 2022. These services are offered to commuters in response to the strike action taken by the water taxi operators as a consequence of MARAD’s decision not to increase the fares,” the notice stated.
Meanwhile, a MARAD staffer told Stabroek News that about 57 private operators were on strike.
He added that it’s left to the policymakers to either agree with the increase or to decline it but he suspected that if the strike goes on, alternative water taxis will be used, like what was happening yesterday.
He opined that the boat operators should have waited until the public servant receives their 8% increase to seek to raise fares and not before.
Up to yesterday afternoon when Stabroek News revisited the Vreed-en-Hoop and Stabroek stellings, water taxis were still seen transporting passengers between the two routes while the boat operators remained on strike.
Only $20
The strike came just two days after MARAD issued a notice warning to operators that disciplinary action would be taken against those who were demanding increased fares from passengers.
Vice president of the Demerara River Speedboat Association Lalbachan Babulal told Stabroek News that the operators would continue to strike until the $20 increase is agreed and MARAD withdraws the threat of disciplinary action.
Babulal added that it’s only $20 they were asking for while noting that it was about 13 years since the fare was set at $100.
He said for a long time they had been asking Edghill for an increase in the fare but they continue to be told “not now.”
According to him, they have to pay a landing fee of $1,440 per day. He added that throughout the pandemic the boat operators continued to charge $100 even though the gasoline prices were high. He also noted that they accommodated extra passengers when the Demerara Harbour Bridge was rendered inoperable recently, also at the same fare.
Babulal noted that the rising cost of living is high, including gasoline, food, maintenance costs and fees they pay for landing, security and badges.
At the same time he said their pleas have not been answered by the government as all he has heard is that the government can’t facilitate them presently. He also claimed that some boat workers were leaving the job because their incomes were not enough to sustain them.
The strike saw Edghill, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar and Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn all on the ground, intervening to help commuters.
Edghill told Stabroek News that the government will have boats to move people across the Vreed-en-Hoop to Georgetown route if strike continues.
According to him, while the government has not increased prices for any transportation structure across the country, it was making all the necessary interventions in terms of subsidies, including keeping fuel prices down.
Edghill said that the government had removed the excise tax from gasoline and boats owners are directly benefiting from that intervention. He reiterated that the same subsidies that everyone is enjoying, like those on electricity and water, the speed boat owners are also enjoying. He argued that it won’t be fair that the government has subsidies that benefits everyone and one group, in this case speedboat operators, benefit extra by raising their prices. He reiterated that while the government is taking the hardship off of the entire population, it cannot allow one group to have benefit of prices that the others, are not having.
Edghill further noted that the government had restricted the amount of boats plying the Vreed-en-hoop to Georgetown route and as a result operators are making a wash of money.
While Babulal said that the passengers don’t have a problem paying the hire fare, not all of those who spoke with this newspaper agreed with that assessment.
Shonden Khan said that not everyone can afford a $120 fare. On some days persons would have it while others day they wouldn’t, Khan said, while noting that the cost of living is high.
Esther Tamasar, who was among those who benefitted from free travel yesterday, said the government should grant the increase to the boat operators since cost of living is indeed high and they have been asking for a hike for a long time. She noted that she won’t have a problem with the increase and added that the boats are important for her as she uses them every day.
Orelle Levans, a retired teacher, welcomed the free transportation from Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop and said it was one of the best things the government had done to alleviate the oppressions faced by taxpayers. She argued that the boat operators shouldn’t be oppressing the working class because they are not getting anything much when they work.
Levans added that it was foolish of the boat operators to strike for $20 as she posited that they would end up losing passengers and income at the end of the day.
