I THINK IT IS HIGH TIME something drastic is done about the poor service, driving and playing of loud music experienced on some public service vehicles (PSV).
I see they are pleading for a raise in bus fare, but they continue to disrespect us because they know they will get away with it.
Some of these drivers drink and drive. Some, even while conducting, are drinking. Some of them smell as though they have not bathed in days.
The reckless driving continues – but what is being done? Nothing. How can you have a driver with so many convictions still driving? That makes no sense, and the fines I believe are not high enough.
All of us at some point in time got it rough from a PSV. One time I was in a ZR and the music was blazing. I asked the driver to lower the music. He looked back at me in his rear view mirror and raised it up. I asked him again to lower it, and he looked at me and asked me when I was getting out. I had enough and asked him to let me out.
I got out to catch another van and he tried to attack me for not paying him. I said: “I am not paying you when I have not reached my destination and your music is blazing.” He went for a weapon to hit me but was deterred by the conductor. Just an example of what we have to go through.
The time has come for us to take a stand against this treatment and to set an example for the other countries in the Caribbean. Here are several solutions that I believe will help curb this reckless behaviour:
1. Owners of PSVs should be held accountable for their workers. They should also be fined if the driver and conductor are at fault.
2. Better screening of who they are hiring should be done – more than just a police certificate of character. There should be some way to find out if they have driving offences and how many, and a letter should he required from their previous employers regarding their work. The PSV association should be part of this process.
3. Cameras should be placed in all PSVs and monitored daily. This will help stop the drinking and driving and bad behaviour of conductors. This should be paid for by the owners, to make sure their property is not causing problems for the citizens of this country.
4. A law was passed mandating specific clothing, yet the workers wear whatever they feel like. Again, nothing is being done about this.
5. The playing of music should be a no-no. Citizens should be able to call the police about loud music on a van at any time and have that dealt with ASAP. We have so many officers; don’t tell me a few can’t be dispatched to help protect us on the vans. Make it work.
6. Citizens stopping the van at places other than bus stops should be fined if and when caught unless the rain is falling, or the person is really old or disabled. Again, the cameras will pick them up, cameras inside and outside of the PSV. We help the drivers break the law, so we should pay as well.
I am sure there are many other solutions. Some may not agree with what I wrote, but at least I am saying something about the treatment. Please protect us as this has been going on far too long.
– JASON BARNETT