The Transport Board is moving ahead with its cashless integration on buses, but operators in the Transport Augmentation Programme (TAP) have some reservations about the system and want a few questions answered.
Chief among them is whether the statutory corporation will assume liability for any damage to their vehicles after the system is installed.
President of the United Transport Co-operative, Hudeen Hinds, said at least two buses caught afire after the changes were made.
Liability
“So we want the Transport Board to agree that if they install anything in our buses, that [they] will be liable for them because you can’t just have your investment and then somebody come and put something in it and then your investment gone up in smoke or wherever the case. That’s really not on,” he said.
Hinds said it was the bigger coaches – not the route taxis – that experienced electrical problems.
“We had one that it can’t start after this thing was installed; it can’t start from a key. We had one that the lights went off . . . but we have been having some problems and stuff.”
Another bus, he added, caught afire from behind the dashboard after the installation.
“So it’s not that we don’t want to be part of that programme, but we want somebody to take liability if something happens.”
Hinds said the issue of late payment was another concern as the board did not always meet the deadline as stated in the agreement.
“We want to know how we can get paid when this cashless system is fully
operational. We want to know if monies are going to be transferred directly to our accounts. We want a paper trail,” he said, adding this was needed for tax purposes as well.
Operators received their November payment by direct deposit on December 20 and 21, while those without bank details collected cheques last Monday.
Pay options
The co-operative president said when they signed on to TAP, they were given the option of cheques or direct deposit and while he believed there was a minority opting for cheques, it did not negate the fact that payment was late at Christmas time.
Hinds said there was a chat for TAP drivers and management of the Transport Board and while those queries were raised there, they were yet to be addressed.
He said it had been more than two years since they held a face-toface meeting and while the board sometimes sent notice of Zoom meetings, they were often cancelled with no reason. Additionally, they were held around 6 p.m. on weekdays instead of Sundays when more operators would be available.
“We have Zoom meetings and people will mute you and all sorts of things. So then Zoom meetings [are not] very productive,” Hinds said.
Transport Board chief executive officer Lynda Holder did not respond to an email sent last Friday after she said she would address all of the concerns raised by the TAP drivers. ( SAT)
