The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE government is "quite a long way along the road" to taming the country's chaotic jitney service with the creation of a unified public transportation system, according to State Minister for Transport and Aviation Hope Strachan.

Speaking yesterday at a press conference on road safety, the Sea Breeze MP said the unified system involves creating an "umbrella company" where shares are offered to present stakeholders as well as to the general public.

She also noted the plan was considered by the former FNM administration.

"The government has planned for the public transportation system, what we call the unification of the public transport system," Ms Strachan said. "This has been a matter which has been sort of on the table for quite some time with successive governments. We want to actually bring a focus to it and we want to actually implement it. We are quite a long way along the road with having it done - we are at a stage where we believe that we are seeing the feasibility of it in the short term."

However, there is still a lot of "consultation" that needs to be done in order to reach an agreement with current stakeholders, she added.

Explaining the current situation, Ms Strachan said: "As you may or may not know, we have over 500 franchise holders or owners of licenses within the public transport system.

"So you're talking about on a day-to-day basis, a large portion or percentage of those owners and operators actually being on the streets and each one of them is competing in order for them to be able to earn as much as they can.

"The bottom line for them is what they earn from the franchise and so this is why we see. . . I think most of us really would regard it as a sort of chaotic system."

She continued: "It grew up without being properly regulated and unfortunately this is the results of it.

"I believe that this is the time in our dispensation that we as a nation determine that this is no longer acceptable because not only has it resulted in deaths over the course of many years - many tragic deaths - but it also is a cause for congestion during high traffic hours."

She said there are "a myriad of complaints about the system" including loud music, poorly dressed drivers, terms of fare collection, and locations drivers stop to let passengers on and off.

"So we believe the unification of the bus system is in fact the correct way to go at this particular point in time, in our history and most of the persons who are stakeholders have actually bought into the fact that we need to have a unified system," Ms Strachan said.

"There are one or two quirks in moving forward with that which really need to be resolved to the satisfaction of most of the owners of the buses. So we are very, very confident and hopeful that we will be able to actually see that system implemented in the not too distant future."