PTSC at 52, has never made a profit

The PTSC executives appeared before the committee at the J. Hamilton Maurice Meeting Room of the Parliament Building, Tower D at the International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, to answer questions arising from a special audit of the corporation done by the Auditor General’s Department.

In response to questioning from committee members, PTSC Chairman Edwin Gooding said it would take some time before the corporation could produce a profit. He said the more immediate objective of the company is to slowly wean itself off the Government subventions on which it currently depends, get new buses and improve service on its routes.

In fact, Gooding said he does not see the PTSC making a profit in the near future although he said that by the end of 2017 it will be poised to begin its turnaround.

Gooding said some of the realities pointed out by the audit were reducing passenger loads and resulting falling revenues; increasing cost of operation; reducing number of buses; inadequate fleet availability and inability to service all its established routes. He said many of the corrective measures have already been put into effect and will be key elements in the PTSC’s 2017 to 2019 Strategic Plan.

He said he was heartened that the corporation’s financial statements up to and including 2015 had already been submitted to the Auditor General’s department for its review.

Assistant Auditor General, Jaiwantie Ramdass told the committee that a special audit was called for because government subventions totalling a quarter billion dollars a year went to the PTSC to cover recurrent expenditure; that in 2010, 12.5 million passengers travelled on PTSC buses indicating that the corporation had an impact on a lot of people although she said ridership declined to 7.6 million in 2014.