BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Thursday 10th June 2021)- Members of the bus association fraternity in St.Kitts have yet to be contacted to give input on the way forward concerning the government’s recently implemented 50% capacity measure for the public transportation system.
President of the West Line Bus Association Nicholson ‘Rambo’ Webster speaking on Freedom FM’s ‘Issues’ programme aired on Wednesday 9th June 2021 gave an update, sharing that the capacity confusion- which lasted “over a week” before being cleared up- could have been avoided if representative(s) of the bus associations were part of the transportation board.
We have a situation and I have been keeping quiet on it since January where they formed a new transportation board last year. The bus associations was never invited to nominate its members. That is what was supposed to happen; the bus associations nominate two people to represent them on the board. That was not done.”
Webster continued: “As a result of that if this was done, we would of have proper representation by the board and there was not going to be any confusion because there was confusion over how many people is half capacity. Now, some bus have 14 passengers, some bus have 15 passengers so when you say half of capacity, there is confusion between 7 and 7.5. Now if we had sit down now and come up with the nest formula which would have been two per row and one in the front. It’s only after I heard that people were calling them (the board) after the fact they come out and change and everyday was some change; some people saying 8 [passengers], some people saying 9 and then the task force telling you one thing and the police telling you a next, and nobody knew what was going on for over a week.”
As understood from Webster, to date the confusion has been cleared up. He said 9 passengers are allowed for a 15- seater bus.
He has expressed that the right thing should have been to involve the bus drivers initially.
“We have not been invited to sit and come up with the measures for a collective response as it relates to community spread. It is a very, very important point, and one of the reasons why it is important is because when you listen to the rhetoric on the road, you would get the impression that the bus men and bus drivers are unreasonable but if you’re going to have an industry that is going to be impacted but you who is telling people out there do the right thing are not doing the right thing to consult with the folks.”
Webster revealed during the live interview session that “Up to now to this date, I have not received any calls from anybody to sit down and discuss a way forward.”
The West Line Bus Association President is of the view that having not consulted the bus associations to put together “a proper plan to mitigate what is happening as it relates to community spread then that speaks volume of you [those in authority].”
On Friday 28th May 2021, bus drivers of the West Line Bus Association and Sugar City Bus Association gathered for a meeting in response to the capacity announcement made by Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris on Tuesday 25th May.