Treating people like cattle

The saga over the inter-island ferry reached a new low on Tuesday.

Without adequate advance notice, the schedule of daily trips was drastically curtailed to allow one vessel to be placed offline. While some effort was made by the Inter- Island Ferry Service to inform people that this was the case, many turned up unaware of the changes.

Several things went wrong. Aside from the question of inadequate notice, it seems offline activities were not taken into account when tickets were offered for sale in the first place.

How robust is the planning by the ferry company in this regard? Also, when it became apparent that there were people who were labouring under the impression that they would be able to board a ship and catch a vessel, there seems to have been little effort to correct customers.

They should have been told, on site if not in advance, that there would only be two sailings and that there had been an overbooking.

Efforts should have further been made to ensure the situation did not degenerate by the offering of full refunds as well as the holding out of alternative means of getting passengers across to Tobago. In the case of United Airlines, when it removes passengers from overbooked flights it must offer a 400 per cent refund and another flight.

What was offered to those unable to sail on Tuesday? In the end, costly mistakes were made. The damage to the company’s goodwill is not to be underestimated.

We lament the chaos that ensued as a result of poor planning and miscommunication.

The deeper issue is the lack of a lasting solution to the problem of the air and sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago. Should we seriously consider privatisation of the current arrangements? Should they be opened up to multiple vendors who would be forced to compete for customers and, thereby, treat customers like people and not like cattle – to borrow the phrase used by the chairman of the Inter-Island Committee, Donna Hadad.

Privatisation could put the management of these things in the hands of skilled, competent people. At the same time, to do so might place a vital national service in the hands of unpredictable market forces.

All of this is a bad omen for a ferry service which has been in the news lately given uncertainty over how a reduced fleet will service the needs of the nation come April 22 and beyond.

The task of finding a replacement for the MV Galicia to service cargo transport needs will fall to the newly-appointed board of the Port Authority, according to Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan. Yet, it is disturbing that an interim plan is not already in place.

The State must do better. It must start servicing the needs of its citizens seriously.