Protests, lawlessness and the Code.. minibus ramblings

Screenshot from HGPTV

Protest
"You might a see me, I was in de protest. De police lashing you now .. 26 disc, den 14 disc from de camera, saying is obstruction of traffic.. not jumping traffic light. Since September, thing, now they brining in January.   I picking up passenger. on de route, i got a road service license which say i can pick up passenger on the route.. traffic flowing side of me.. magistrate giving 25,000 for each disc, he don't like minibus driver because a minibus kill he brother..."


Quiet Sunday morning on Regent Street. White minibus pulls up. Driver alone in front seat. About 50 years old or so. No Conductor, Soft reggae music playing. "You going Kitty" he ask.

Everyone on social media had mocked the protests outside the court. 'Dem lawless'. Dem tink is PPP time. , dem wutless.." 

 Unlike say, transgender sex workers protesting cross dressing laws, the minibus drivers it seemed want to break laws, but pay reasonable fines. The fines it seems were a kind of cost associated with doing business. The disc is the footage from the CCTV cameras.

The man though, was  polite. even if he was t frustrated. Bus was comfortable.  Moving at the speed limit unlike the others which have killed and maimed people.

Minibus drivers have protested over the years. Protested against rising fuel prices (which led to an increase in fares but not a reduction in fuel prices).

Protested against the police crackdown on 'colourful wraps' and the police stopped the crackdown.

There were protests over the bus parks and the spaces allocated to the buses , there are problems at the orderly UG/Industry bus park as it seems there just is not enough space as empty buses come in more quickly than full buses can leave.




I had asked the driver  about the absence of a conductor.

"Yeah ,Conductor is prablem.., but like dem gun want dat you must get conductor now ".

 He was referring to the code

I asked him if he had seen the new Code. He said no.



The code, and the Road Service License

The Department of Consumer Affairs in the Ministry of Business has published ' A code of Conduct for Minibus Operators and Other Personnel."




This video summarises some of the points in the code.




It seems a strange thing to have a voluntary code for minibus drivers to adhere to, which talks about things like not drinking while driving. There are no penalties described for violating the code.
 
 The Road Service License it seems is the contract which the bus drivers undertake, and for which they are penalties if there is violation of the terms.


In 2013, the then Ministry of Home Affairs had shared some of the terms in the road service license.

• The holder of a Road Service Licence and the driver or conductor of a minibus shall not have affixed or carried therein or thereon any stereo set, juke box, wireless loud speaker, amplifier, gramophone, television set, video cassette recorder (VCR) or similar instrument of music, unless approved by the prescribed authority.
• No more persons than the registered seating capacity shall be carried on the vehicle.
  
  No goods other than passengers’ personal luggage shall be carried on the vehicle.
  
  At all times when the vehicle is in service, the destination shall clearly be shown on the route indicator.
  
  The vehicle shall be maintained in a fit and serviceable condition at all times, and the
  driver and conductor shall be clean and properly dressed, and conduct themselves in a fit and proper manner.
  
  After departing the terminus, the driver of the vehicle shall proceed to the point or place mentioned in the route, and shall not delay the vehicle on its journey.
  
  The driver shall not return to the place of departure after leaving, except on the return journey.
  Only licensed drivers approved by the prescribed authority shall drive the vehicle, and only persons duly licensed shall act as conductors.
  
  The vehicle shall not leave its route except for the purpose of going to a repair shop, filling station, or the owner’s or driver’s home; and in so doing, the shortest possible route should be used.
  
  Only the driver and conductor shall be allowed to be on the vehicle when leaving the route.
  
  The vehicle shall not be used for the carriage of passengers, except when it is on its authorised route, and not before the time the vehicle is scheduled to leave its terminus.
  
  Buses are required to stop at designated bus stops.
  
  No writings, markings, drawings, or other material shall be placed on a motor vehicle, except those approved by the prescribed authority. 

Shouldn't the road service license for the minibus operators be amended then to include the additional items from the code? Wouldn't it make enforcement clearer and leave the implementation to the Guyana Police Force?


Another bus, another day - "Country man, I aint gun lie, I don't do stupidness, like overload and hot plate and dem ting.  I don't need to see no code".   He was cheerful. "Dis bus wuk, is stressful. But I mek me money.. I can't wait to go back to the interior". As with the driver who was in the protest against the fines, he did not have use of a conductor. 'Nah.. dem conductor teking 20, 100 pun every trip.. I aint able watch dem"

This driver was not full time. 


The solution?

In 2016, Francis Bailey had covered the minibus terminal in Paramaribo Suriname.  Buses are comfortable, quiet. The bus park is orderly. Buses are privately owned.

The Georgetown City Council is responsible for the areas where the buses park. Most of the buses and taxis in Guyana actually park on roads and streets which were not designed to be bus terminals.

The one bus terminal historically might have been around Stabroek Market. Buses moved on schedule.

"You can't have 300 bus on one route, and only able to handle 30 in de park. Time to ease up on registration of new buses" - the bus driver who protested the fines told me.


He explained  "You gah fuh understand, some people want pit bull wid loud music, some want quiet bus, people want choice:"


So it don't make sense to have turn system at the bus terminals  in the free market of choice, well.. nobody will go anywhere until the different choices are sorted out. So we can have six half empty buses as each passenger decides on which colour, which type of music, which seat, etc etc.

And some people wait for the bus of their choice. Just as how I reject the buses with loud music when I have time, others reject the 'quiet' buses.


And some of us don't want to wait while the bus fulls so we like to jump in the buses at the lights opposite Parliament where the buses were charged for obstructing traffic - "Come quick before the light change.. "

The city planners in Guyana have lost the battle to sort out the congestion and the solution to the bus terminals. The PNC and the PPP dare not sort out the minibus chaos - minibus drivers and operators are owners. Manifestoes say nothing about efficient public transportation.

There is a problem as Kaieteur News noted, when there are 'vested interests' in maintaining the madness.

Would it really harm consumers to have a quiet and boring bus ride, as in all places which deal with 'public' transportation.. the experience is uniform, and people have their headphones if they want to hear loud music.?  If sections of the travelling population need a thrill from a fast bus ride, shouldn't there be some treatment available at the health centres so they can get the rush?



What role do the consumers pay in the struggle among City Council, Police and the Minibus operators?

Should there be incentives for bus operators who adhere to the road service license and the code of conduct?

The study and analysis of mass transportation is a field by itself.

There is no sense in Guyana that we are trying to be systematic about dealing with the problems associated with the "critical sector of the economy".