Bus owners and Gov’t reach compromise on fares
They’ve been banging heads for the better part of a week, but tonight bus owners and the government have reached a compromise on the issue of new fares. News 5’s Stewart Krohn is just off the phone with Minister of Transport Henry Canton. Here’s a tape of that conversation.
Stewart Krohn
“Minister could you fill us in, what are the details of what we understand is the compromise in the bus dispute?”
Henry Canton, Min. of Transport
“What we’ve ended up at is that the bus owners have agreed along with the ministry that we will respect the maximum permitted fares that were written on the road permits. And those that they are unhappy with, that they’ll go through the proper process in regards to try and see how they can raise them. I’m not sure if the public really understands how we regulate it, but when we issue a road permit for any one route, we give a maximum fare. But that operator can operate lower than that fare if he so wishes, but cannot operate above. In most of our cases, our operators were, because of competition, operating below their fares. Legally, the department cannot stop them from making adjustments as long as they stay within the permitted fares that has been issued on the road permit.”
Stewart Krohn
“So if there are presently say two operators licensed on the same route and one happens to be licensed at a higher rate than the other, the other one can now raise his rate even if his road permit gave a lower rate? The fact that his competitor has a higher rate he can now raise his fare?”
Henry Canton
“We spent a lot of time on that issue and the bus operators were very adamant that yes, we had to regulate at one rate. And yes, it has turned out that we are using that higher rate. But the higher rate falls within maybe a twenty-five cents to fifty cents range most of the case. They have been question on why the differences in rates, but I think the department’s position had always been that when an operator came in to apply, although we knew what ceiling was, if that operator chose to operate at a lower level then they would write that rate in. But we’re trying to regularise it so that we could move on to bigger and better things and let the commuters…we could publish what the rates are from any one village to any one town to any one district, and all commuters should know what the fares are.”
Stewart Krohn
“Speaking of what commuters should know, when people go to take the bus tomorrow morning, how will they know what the proper rate is supposed to be?”
Henry Canton
“It’s late this evening for us to publish them, it’s a long list, but we’re hoping that by tomorrow we’ll be able to get a release out stating what the rates should be in most instances. But, what we will have to do is establish what the maximum rates are, because as I said bus operators can operate at a lesser rate if they so want to in order to compete.”
Stewart Krohn
“Bottom line, tomorrow morning people are going to be more or less happy with the rates, or do you think there’s still some problem areas?”
Henry Canton
“I think that from information that I have, I think that there’s going to be some problem areas, and I suspect that the problem areas may be in regards to regular commuters and students. In speaking to the bus operators, the rise in rates for students has been very negligent. The way the law reads is that a student is able to get fifty percent reduction of the maximum rate, but that student has to be below the age of twelve, which would not cover a lot of our commuting students. So what has happened over the past, is that the operators had given students a special rate. In cases like from Douglas to Orange Walk, students would pay a dollar and twenty-five, and from Spanish Lookout to Cayo a dollar. And in some instances it has gone up by about twenty-five cents, but in no instance has it gone up beyond fifty cents and in a couple instances not at all.”
Stewart Krohn
“What’s your message to commuters tomorrow?”
Henry Canton
“Message to commuters…I would like to see them remain calm. We’re working to try to make sure that there is not an advantage taken of them, and not to get too emotional about it. I think the operators are doing it in good faith, they are facing economic problems, they are still willing to compete against each other, which is good for the students. But at this point in time they’re united and they’re trying to get the best shot. But the department will stand to make sure that the commuter is not taken advantage of.”
Stewart Krohn
“One final question, the report of the commission of inquiry into the Orange Walk Tower Hill riots very strongly criticised your Commissioner of Transport Mr. Glen Arthurs, and said he is not qualified to hold his post. What’s your reaction to that report?”
Henry Canton
“Having worked with Glen without going to the report as yet, we worked with Glen Arthurs as my commissioner, I have the highest respect for him. I will say that in Belize, to a large extent, sometimes we don’t have the specific training for the job that we put you in sometimes. And Glen may have, in some instances, not done what John Public would want him to do, but for me to rate him on the job that he has done; I have highest respect for Glen. In regards to the commission, in certain instances from what I have read and I’m looking at it and trying to speak to some of my legal friends for them to give me a little better purview on it, is that to a certain extent they’ve walked outside of their terms of reference. But it is a commission and it is a report and I will have to react to it. But as I’ve said earlier, I have a healthy respect for Glen, we all have our faults, but I have a healthy respect for him as the Commissioner of Transport.”
New regulations should be instituted shortly that will streamline the process of determining bus fares and hopefully avoid these problems in the future.
