Is PTSC a public transport operator, or an employment provider?

Public transport, public transit, mass transit, or mass transportation means the same thing. Effective public transit is central to development, and for the vast majority of people, public transit is the only practical means to access employment, education, and public services. Paratransit is the term applied to public transport vehicles smaller than large buses, and which operate informally. Therefore, transit includes paratransit, and in TT, the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) is a publicly-owned public transport operator, while maxi-taxis, taxis, and even illegal PH taxis are privately-owned public transport operators.

The primary purpose of transit is to provide integrated, reasonably priced public service aimed at maximisation of ridership. Its secondary purpose is commercial enterprise aimed at increased economic and organisational efficiency. At present, transit not only has to compete with auto drivers for passengers and road space, but has to fight among its own operators (PTSC/maxi-taxi/taxi/ PH).

A national transit authority has long been required to arrange all transit services in an appropriate manner.

These services will involve sequencing desired levels of PTSC operations together with the contracting of paratransit services with appropriate regulations.

This will include consideration of safety, franchise, and contractual arrangements. Safety regulation involves vehicle design and performance, including structural strength, braking capabilities, fire resistance, etc; frequency and scope of vehicle maintenance; operational practices, such as driver hours and duties, and vehicle control.

There is desperate need for public transportation development and management. Questions that should be answered include organisational structure of the transit authority; regional components; what types of franchises; service coverage and routes; what types of contractual arrangements; where to locate transit hubs, and what should they contain; what types of fares and ticketing arrangement; how should performance monitoring be done? I suppose questions might include what happens now that rapid rail is no longer on the cards; Priority Bus Route (PBR) use by high occupancy vehicles (HOV); suggested PH taxi regularisation, and; PTSC maintenance and inspection of buses.

Who is responsible for identifying current transit user demands, such as why they are travelling, where they are coming from, where they are going, their numbers, their safety and security when waiting and travelling, their transfer needs from one mode to another, etc? The PTSC is simply a Government-owned bus company that has never accepted the need to organise and manage national public transportation.

A maxi-taxi is closer in size to a bus than a taxi, so why was it perceived as such? Perhaps that is why the maxi-taxis terminals are all on the streets, with the exception of a few.

The authorities must be confused having to manage the storage of these large vehicles on already-congested roadways.

My information is that the intention of the introduction of the 12-seater maxi-taxis in 1979, to be followed by 25-seaters later on, was not primarily to facilitate higher capacity passenger vehicles, in order to maximise the movement of persons per unit segment of roadway. It was to create jobs for the employees of some of the powerful unions who were to be laid off, such the PTSC and the stevedores of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. That would explain the original regulation of the Maxi-Taxi Act that the vehicle was to be ownerdriven.

The Public Transport Service Act, which created the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) in 1965, does not give them responsibility for regulating taxis, or maxi-taxis. Also, The Transport Division of the Ministry of Transport is responsible only for the licensing and inspection of taxis, and maxi-taxis. So nobody manages the maxi-taxis and taxis! Most people believe that the term “public transport” refers only to the PTSC, but the PTSC is just one form of public transport. The PTSC is a publicly-owned (Government-owned), public transport or transit provider.

Taxis and maxi-taxis are privatelyowned, public transport providers.

PH taxis (cars and minibuses) are also privately-owned public transport, except that they are illegal. So I will favour the term “transit.” Despite the less than attractive transit service and facilities, at peak hours most vehicles and facilities are crowded with passengers. So, there is a significant captive transit demand (or demand for transit by those who have no choice), which would obviously grow if made comfortable and convenient.

Currently, the public agency (PTSC, and recently the Water Taxi Service) competes with uncontrolled, privately-owned maxi-taxis and taxis, and these private operators concentrate on the most lucrative routes and during peak periods, while they leave less lucrative services to the PTSC and PH taxis. Also the fares are charged for each service, so that every leg of the journey that requires a transfer to another vehicle demands a new fare. There is also varying quantity and quality of service by the transit players, including frequency, reliability, comfort, ventilation and air conditioning, vehicle cleanliness, etc. Encouragement of unregulated services results in lower public expenditures for public transport, but also in lowering the quality and image of paratransit (maxi-taxi and taxi).

According to Prof Vukan Vuchic, the combination of one regulated operator (usually public owned) competing with unregulated ones (privately owned) usually results in provision of two types of services with different qualities or classes and low reliability and unstable conditions for all operators.

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