Another flare up in bus industry leaves commuters stranded

This morning, another flare up in the bus industry left commuters without a ride. For at least two hours a number of passengers were stranded along the Northern Highway after employees of the receivership Novelo’s Bus Company decided to go on strike. We understand that the group, made up of mostly drivers, refused to make their scheduled runs. Quick actions by the Transport Board got things back to normal by nine, but it is believed that the workers were protesting Wednesday’s decision by the Board which gave temporary permits to their now legal competitors, National Transport, to operate on the nation’s highways…a situation that is not likely to go away any time soon. According to the Ministry of Transport spokesperson Glen Tillett, details are still hard to come by but the number one priority tonight is to ensure that the commuting public is not left out in the cold.

Glen Tillett, Spokesperson, Ministry of Transport
?We have been working very hard to regularise the situation and we?ve made contingency plans so that if there is any prolonged cessation of service we would move in with emergency measures to ensure that nobody is stranded on the road, can?t get home or can?t get to work. That being said, we continue our discussions with the various operators and providers and we are hoping that by next week there will be an easing of the situation.?

?To be quite candid, we don?t know the specifics of the situation, we only know what has been told to us by the management… and that is that there was no strike. In their view there was really no cessation of service and I would say their innuendo to us is that we may have a problem with our workers, but that?s about it. They were not being specific.?

Tillett says they are optimistic that early in the New Year the system will be regularised, but that is probably the one gift even Santa can’t deliver.