Why is the Ministry of Transport taking so long to address the public transportation concerns?
There are clearly a number of complex issues to be addressed and the stakeholders have made themselves available only to receive silence. A two-day summit is a great idea.
All industry stakeholders, around the table to create new regulations for all public transportation, traffic controls at high volume locations including the cruise terminal, airport, horseshoe Bay, etc. The digital ‘dispatching can be fully demonstrated and discussed including new fare management, Driver and passenger safety and late-night ‘designated driver’ programme pros and cons revealed.
Work life balance and how to attract more drivers to enter the profession discussed. There are so many pieces to the puzzle and the best way to work through the issues and have a majority agreement for a new era in public transportation is a summit.
If government refuses a summit, it risks appearing to have its own agenda and that there may be a desire to deprive the public transportation industry of solutions until taxi, minibus and limo owners are forced to surrender to the Burt administration’s new scheme which the Premier asserted “is in the pipeline.” Without real conversations, whatever is in the government’s pipeline may be great, but completely detached from what the daily realities of the industry actually are.
Taxis and minibuses are fast approaching the height of the tourist season with hundreds of thousands of cruise passengers and air visitors wanting to travel about the island. There are experiences and insights from public transport owners that must be listened to and considered if reasonable solutions are to be achieved.
A summit is long overdue. Regulations dating back to 1952 need updating and new regulations need to include newly introduced vehicle categories. Government has been controlling the industry for too long with public transportation receiving nothing in return. It is time to revitalize the industry and bring all the realities of the daily operations into the 21st century.
The One Bermuda Alliance recognizes an efficient transportation system as an essential aspect of Bermuda and the industry must be protected and supported. We also believe the government must introduce revenue generating opportunities through tourism revenue rather than further burden the local resident population. The government should also provide concessions to public transportation owners to reduce their overhead.
It’s time to create opportunities for owners to generate enough revenue to prosper. I believe this will open the industry and provide a new career opportunity for generations to come.
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