The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister is urging Bahamians who are being charged $1.50 by jitney drivers to report such incidents to the Road Traffic Department for investigation as the practice is illegal.

Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister of transport and housing, said jitney drivers should not be charging increased fares as this has not yet been approved by Cabinet.

She said: “That should not be the case and, if that is happening, then they should report it to the Road Traffic Department so we can put it before the tribunal."

Earlier this month, the Bahamas Unified Bus Drivers Union (BUDU) released a statement advising its franchise holders, bus owners and drivers that jitney fares will be increasing by 25 cents for adults and junior and high school students with effect from August 14, moving bus fare from $1.25 to $1.50.

The Ministry of Transport and Housing responded by advising that the Davis administration “has not concluded its deliberations for an effective date for the implementation of an increase in fares for the jitney industry”. Some passengers, including an adult female, complained that a jitney she rode in the Carmichael area required her to pay $1.50 fare as opposed to $1.25.

Mrs Coleby-Davis maintained her ministry’s stance in its previous statement, adding that it is planning to hold a series of Town Hall meetings before Cabinet grants approval for an increase. She said the meetings will be conducted this year.

"I think we already provided clarity through a press statement where the effective date of that bus increase has not been set by Cabinet as yet," the minister said. “And we've actually requested opportunity to have a public dialogue, so we will be organising a few public Town Hall meetings, I think about two or three of them, before the end of the year, so that we can get an approved effective date for the fare increase to come into effect.”

Mrs Coleby-Davis said that the new code of conduct for taxi drivers should be in force next month. She explained that the code is currently being reviewed by stakeholders and the approved document will be provided to the public in September.

She said: “The code of conduct is going through a process of review by the taxi union, by the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association and the Road Traffic board. They are together collectively trying to come to a complete approved document for us to review and then provide publicly.

“And that process, I think they plan to end that and for it to come into full force in the month of September. So hopefully they should be settling that process within the next few days or in the next week or two.”

Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s (BTCU) chief, told Tribune Business the roll-out of the new code of conduct for drivers will help curb conflicts involving the sector and visitors. He conceded that the taxi industry’s current code of conduct lacks the “teeth” to be effective and levy proper disciplinary measures against drivers who have “spiralled out of control”.

He said: ”We need the ministry to agree on it and have it gazetted, basically as law, so it can give the authorities more teeth in order to have efficient and good governance in the taxi industry. Because of a lack of administrators and the lack of disciplinary measures levied against taxi drivers, they seem to basically spiral out of control.”