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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