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CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
Private bus drivers are crying victimisation, after the Licensing Division cracked down on drivers, denying them inspection. The bus drivers say this has been going on for more than a year, and many of them are now unable to ply their trade. However Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke explains, that a majority of these buses are not legally classified to operate for hire carrying passengers, a process the drivers must follow through with PTSC. Rynessa Cutting reports.
Transcript
00:00 They've been transporting bus loads of passengers for years, but private bus
00:05 drivers say for well over a year now, the licensing division has been refusing to
00:11 inspect their vehicles.
00:13 They deny us inspection because they're saying that we don't have approval for the passengers,
00:19 but these buses are only going to run 30, 40 years. Some members here have buses for
00:23 about 40 years, which they licensed for 50 passengers and now they don't want to give
00:27 us inspection. They say we don't have approval for passengers, which they're saying that
00:31 they won't return the bus each. And the process of returning the bus each is like two years,
00:35 two and a half years, and they don't give us inspection until the bus is in. So we can't
00:39 back up these things or we might refurbish them.
00:41 Drivers say they are being ticketed and fined without reprieve, and they find the situation
00:46 to be very unfair. They add, people needing transportation for school trips, tourist tours,
00:53 pilgrimages and the like are also being deprived.
00:57 Six points are thousands, right? When you get two months, you can't get a driver,
01:01 we can't get a driver again, how are we going to live? How are we going to pay bills?
01:05 We need the money to go to Mali, that's where we live in. Everybody here, independent drivers
01:08 are better off, because this is what we do all. And it is the same buses, right? They're
01:14 used when they have elections, camping, and we have no problem, police escort, we go all
01:19 over, they are charging me, and election, ticket again, we carry on, that's the problem,
01:24 that's that. So it's a bias.
01:26 But some bus drivers believe the issue is about money, as a few drivers were certified
01:32 through PTSD and pay royalties to the corporation.
01:36 Fifteen thousand a year for PTSD to keep the H right on the vehicle, so you're reclassifying
01:44 from P to H, but you have to pay fifteen thousand a year, plus they could change the royalty
01:52 fee at any time. They notify you three weeks in advance and they change the royalty fee.
01:57 So after that they could tell you eighteen thousand, next two years they could tell you
02:01 twenty thousand, you sign for that.
02:03 TV6 News spoke with Transport Commissioner Clive Clark, who explained that the issue
02:09 is in fact that many of the buses are not classified under the Motor Vehicle and Road
02:14 Traffic Act to carry the number of passengers that they do in the manner that they are currently
02:20 operating.
02:21 They all have to go across the H in order to operate the party.
02:25 They all have to go across to be classified as a motor omnibus, so it's not just H, because
02:32 H could be a taxi, it could be a maxi taxi, etc.
02:37 They have to be classified as a motor omnibus, which will then give, they have to get approval
02:42 as a motor omnibus, which will then give them the legibility to carry H.
02:47 Because a motor omnibus is basically a public service vehicle, right, that allows you to
02:54 carry passengers.
02:56 This is what we simply say, go to PTSD, get your approval, so we can now put the ownership
03:01 over the authority to operate that bus.
03:03 The Transport Commissioner confirms that this requirement was always low, but he explains
03:09 that due to changes in the operations of the licensing division, certain practices which
03:15 would have escaped their attention have now been placed in the spotlight.
03:19 TV6 News has contacted PTSD and we are awaiting a response to the driver's claims.
03:25 Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
03:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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