Transport Suspends J & J Bus Runs over Highway Confrontation Caught on Tape

Tonight, the Department of Transport has come down on a bus company operating out of the west, following the release of a video exposing dirty tactics by a driver on the George Price Highway. J and J Bus Company’s two runs have been suspended for a month and its driver could face criminal charges. The video was taken earlier this week and appears to show racing between a J and J Bus and a bus from another Benque-based company. At one point, the J and J Bus deliberately impedes the progress of its rival, while allowing a Coca-Cola truck to pass it. Later, the bus parks haphazardly across the highway to prevent its rival from picking up passengers, forcing it off the road. Chief Transport Officer Tirso Galvez says a mistake could have resulted in injury for passengers. But what about enforcement? News Five’s Aaron Humes goes inside the story.

Aaron Humes, Reporting

Chief Transport Officer Tirso Galvez announced today that the Transport Board has sanctioned J and J Bus Company, following a meeting this morning in which the bus line was found to be employing cheap tactics in the service of competition.

Tirso Galvez

Tirso Galvez, Chief Transport Officer

“The Board has decided that the suspension will be for a month, and that the suspension for that company and the two runs that that company has, and the Board will be providing other bus service to provide that service that that particular bus line was doing, so the commuters will be assured that buses will be available to provide that service for them. As far as the driver is concerned, the Department is looking at possible charges to be levied against this driver and one of the main charges that we are looking at is reckless driving, which carries a serious penalty under the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act. Other offenses we are looking at is driving in contravention of the road service permit also in respect to timing and so forth.”

Comments have flown fast and furious on social media regarding the actions of the driver, with viewers of the video saying it epitomizes the necessity of having the Transport Department on hand in the early morning to enforce the law. But why don’t more users complain about it? Regular commuter Sean Gordon says he thinks neither they nor the Transport Department is motivated enough to intervene.

Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon, Commuter

“I think the main reason why people don’t complain every minute is because whenever they complain it goes void, because if you report to the authorities and they don’t do anything, only you look simple at the end of the day. I’m sure that the authorities have gotten reports before, just that no movement has been made to changing what is happening on the road.”

Whether culture or money, Gordon agrees with the Transport Department that one life lost would be too many – so it is up to the government and the police to enforce the traffic and road safety laws.

Sean Gordon

“At the end of the day, you have to think about your passengers’ lives because their lives are at stake; you can’t put money over somebody’s life. We could see every day that buses still come overcrowded, regardless of how the Transport Department locks down on it. I still believe they don’t have enough highway patrol on both highways – the Northern and the Western – for them to crack down on this; on the Western we have two or three highway patrol vehicles but there are none on the Northern. And if you stand up on the road side on the morning time you can see the buses are racing, but they don’t have no patrol there to stop them or give them a ticket for overloading and speeding and stuff like that.”

Aaron Humes reporting for News Five.

The Department encourages commuters who see similar problems to make their reports directly to the Department in Belmopan.