The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Jitney drivers yesterday slammed the Government’s proposed “relief package” for high gas prices as late, adding they would instead prefer adult fares be increased to $2 as the industry is “getting beat bad”.

Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister for housing and transport, told yesterday’s media briefing at the Prime Minister’s Office that the Government will have its assistance for jitney drivers ready by month’s end although no details were provided. And a fare increase has yet to be approved by Cabinet.

“We were discussing that for some time, (and) for a few months now, and because the task in that is to really have a balance in that approach - because we know generally the area of society that depends on the public bus transportation - and so where we are now is that Cabinet has agreed for a relief package to be presented by the Ministry of Finance,” Mrs Coleby-Davis said.

“And so, I have just sent the last few documents that were requested from the financial secretary and the Minister of Finance. They are reviewing and then they should be presenting me with the relief package which we could begin to provide now to get us through this period, and we will consider discussions related to the increase in fares [later].”

Harrison Moxey, the United Public Transportation Company’s (UPTC) president, told Tribune Business that the relief package was late as they had been pressing for it eight months ago. He added that jitney drivers are now seeking a 60 percent increase in adult fares, which will drive these from the present $1.25 to $2, and thus enable them to mitigate the impact from high gas prices.

“The fare increase gives longevity and that’s preferable, but I am sure that we will welcome anything that would better our situation in the interim. But we still would like to know where are we with the fare increase,” Mr Moxey said. “We’ve had enough talk and I’m getting a lot of backlash from the membership. We are very irate about the situation because it is not predicated on gasoline prices alone. We’ve been struggling from COVID-19; from 2019 up until now.”

“We are right here suffering. We are getting beat bad and we don’t know what the future holds or what direction they’re really going in. We’re prepared to take a stand because everybody feels like we’re being overlooked.” Fares for children and senior citizens will remain the same.

The United Public Transportation Company held talks with the Government two months ago but “they never made an offer to say we are for the relief package or against it because we don’t know what it is. They are putting this together and I don’t know if they fully understand what needs to be done and what would actually be a respectable offer of relief,” Mr Moxey queried.

He added that the jitney industry is on the “verge of collapse” because of today’s higher fuel prices which have worsened the impact from COVID-19 and related restrictions, which saw bus passenger capacities slashed to 50 percent. The sector has not enjoyed a fare increase for more than 15 years, when Hubert Ingraham was in office.

“I sat at the table with former prime minister Hubert Ingraham and we were trying to raise fares to $2 from then, but he gave us 25 cents and now we’re not hearing anything. Fuel prices over the summer go up and it’s going to get even higher,” Mr Moxey said.

“The financial assistance we were soliciting from the Government, we wanted that in the hard times during the COVID-19, and by now we should have received the increase when we would have already exhausted what that was supposed to be. But that never came, and now you’re going into where the increase was supposed to be for the summer to give us what we requested almost seven or eight months ago.”

“When is the increase going to happen? If we get the increase we don’t have to put pressure on the Government because if it isn’t going to be $2 then tell us what you’re going to give us?”