Excursion bus owners will no longer have to pay a 15 thousand dollar fee to operate unless proper consultation takes place. This after a High Court Judge rules the fee to be unlawful.
00:00The court has ruled as unlawful the annual $15,000 fee imposed by the Public Transport Service Corporation on excursion bus owners.
00:10Nassim Mohamed, president of the Private Bus Owners and Operators Association, sought the court's intervention.
00:17Mohamed said the association's 50 members were subject to practice that in order to conduct transactions at the licensing authority, they were ordered to pay a PSV, license fee, to the PTSC.
00:33From 1997, that fee was $100 per year. In 2004, that was raised to $7,500.
00:41But in that very year, 2004, Mohamed says the licensing authority said the PTSC did not have the legal power to impose fees and that practice of having a license to conduct transactions ceased.
00:55Therefore, none was issued from 2004 to 2023.
01:00Fast forward to 2024, those owners were informed that the licensing authority reintroduced the policy and the PSV license fee was now $15,000 annually.
01:11Mohamed challenged this was unfair as maxi-taxi owners who ply their trade on the Priority Bus Route do not pay the PSV fee or any equivalent except for the annual $2,400 to use the Priority Bus Route.
01:27The PTSC told the court they were trying to regulate an unregulated and unsupervised sector and the fee was based on seating capacity.
01:35In his ruling, High Court Judge Frank C. Passard said PTSC does have the power to impose a license fee and therefore the imposition of the PSV license and the PSV fee in principle is therefore neither illegal nor ultra-virus.
01:52He chastised PTSC and the transport commissioner for failing to properly consult with the association before the reintroduction and re-imposition of the PSV license.
02:03He said the PSV fee breaches the fundamental principles of natural justice and as no fair hearing was afforded to them.
02:12Justice C. Passard also noted the absence of evidence that excursion buses actually use the PTSC facilities at South Quay in Port of Spain or anywhere else.
02:24And therefore, quote, in those circumstances, it is difficult to understand why they will be charged more fees per year than the Route 2 red band maxi taxi operators who actually utilize the PTSC's facilities at South Quay in Port of Spain and elsewhere, end quote.
02:43C. Passard said the fees appear to be unreasonable, excessive, unfair and entirely disproportionate.
02:49He said their rights to enjoyment of property under Section 4A of the Constitution was breached and the operator's right to protection of the law under Section 4B of the Constitution was breached.
03:02Mohamed was awarded $90,000 in damages and the association $80,000 in addition to the costs of their legal fees.
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