TODSS boss wants Gov’t to double bus, taxi fares

The head of one of the island’s largest transportation groups says his members are anticipating an increase close to 120 per cent, noting that anything under 60 per cent would be unacceptable.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz on Wednesday advised public commuters to brace for an increase.

The minister indicated that he has received a report from the Public Passenger Vehicles Steering Committee, which was asked to spearhead the proposal to fine-tune fare adjustments for the transport sector.

The report is expected to be reviewed and taken before the Cabinet shortly.

Bus and taxi fares were last increased in 2021. At that time, the Transport Authority announced a 15 per cent hike.

Since then, public-transport operators have been clamouring for another increase, arguing that their cost of operating has risen astronomically.

But president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), Egerton Newman, says that while various proposals have been put forward, the increase must be far better than 15 per cent.

“We sat down four months ago and asked for a 120 per cent increase, and a person said we could not get that, and we expect not to get a 120 per cent, but we expect something very, very close,” he said.

According to him, the amount proposed was based on the increases in the members’ operational costs.

FINAL DECISION

Newman, however, noted that while commuters will also have their own expectations, ultimately, it is the steering committee that will consider the different figures and arrive at a final rate.

“From a TODSS perspective, anything under 60 [per cent] would not be workable for us, but let’s see what is coming,” he said.

Newman has also welcomed the changes that will accompany the rate increase.

Noting that the last substantial increase was granted nine years ago, he said that going forward, the plan is to have the fare adjustment annually or bi-annually based on different factors.

While TODSS wants taxi fares to double, the All Voice Transportation Group believes that anything close to 100 per cent would be suicidal as taxi operators would be pricing themselves out of business.

“For my particular group, we have been asking for between 37.5 and 42. 5 per cent,” the group’s communication director, Lorraine Finnikin, said.

He explained that operators are hoping for the fares on the majority of the Corporate Area routes to move to $200, hence the reason for the two different proposals.

Finnikin said the lower proposal is there in the event that the increase is being considered on the current legal rate, which is $138, while the other is for consideration at the current market rate – $150.

“What we would have considered to be reasonable and a comfortable rate increase in the public-transport sector would be about 78 to 80 per cent,” he told The Gleaner.

“But we look at what could keep the investor above board and still make a small profit while still considering the commuters, which the commuting public that we have now are not persons that can easily manage charter service and are made up mostly of minimum-wage earners for whom the rate would not be realistic,” Finnikin added.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com