Will Bus Fares Go Up, Or Will Fuel Taxes Be Subsidized?

Last week, bus operators threatened the government that they would go on strike if their demands for either a reduction in fuel prices or permission to raise bus fares on commuters were not forthcoming. The representatives of the bus operators met with the Ministry of Transport to discuss their concerns, and today Minister Rodwell Ferguson told the media that frequent increases in fuel prices over the past few weeks have been the result of the war between Russia and Ukraine. While Ferguson said he could not arbitrarily give the permission to raise bus fares without a Cabinet meeting, bus operators pressed over the weekend and into Monday to keep the discussion going.

Rodwell Ferguson

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport

“The C.E.O., over the weekend, drafted several tables so we can go forward and after we showed them the tables they agreed that yes, we have to just maybe wait until Cabinet is ready for us but we are telling them – we’ve put the papers together and taken them to Cabinet and see what is Cabinet’s position on the raise on the price of fuel. What we are saying then is if the price of fuel fluctuates and it goes back down, then we do a tiered approach, so if it’s at fourteen dollars we will say okay, the increase is that (amount), if it goes back to twelve dollars, we go back to twelve dollars because of the price went down, so we’ll come up with the best scenario. I think they are very happy and they went back and they said okay, let’s wait until Cabinet on Monday of next week, because Cabinet will be on Monday. Commuters are saying they want better buses on the highway, and we don’t mind pay the price if we get better transportation service across this country. So I believe that the commuter might erupt because they’ll say you di increase the price fi me and then the buses are still old and inadequate. So we hope we could balance the act as we go along and figure out how quick we can resolve it.”