Union calls on PTSC to acquire more buses

THE Transport and Industrial Workers’ Union (TIWU) is calling on the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to do something about the bus situation. “For years we have repeatedly called on the various administrations to adequately supply PTSC with buses to meet the needs of the travelling public,” said Darren Samuel, TIWU’s acting president at a press conference yesterday. “What we have seen to date is a deterioration of the bus fleet.”

Samuel said in discussions with the PTSC, it was learnt that the requisite number of buses is around 300. He said that of the limited number of buses the corporation currently has, most suffer from more than minor defects. “If that situation continues, very soon we will see the demise of the Public Transport Service in the country, and commuters will have to rely solely on maxi-taxis and conventional taxis. And that is not the way a country projecting a 2020 vision should go,” said Samuel. He noted that very soon TIWU would be calling on the public to join with the union to petition the government on the bus issue.

What is hurting, said Samuel, is earlier this year, Minister of Public Utilities, Franklin Khan boasted that the bus blues would soon be over  because the green light had been given for the purchase of buses including the articulated ones, two of which the corporation bought a few years ago. But it’s not only the TIWU troubled over the lack of public buses on the road. Within recent times, commuters, especially those on the East-West corridor, have been crying out for more buses. One commuter said waiting two hours for a bus between Arima and Tunapuna is more than one can take. Even persons with bus passes are fed up and in many instances, have to resort to taking maxi-taxis. “Thank God for the maxi-taxis.  They are truly helping out, especially on the Priority Bus Route,” said another commuter.