The National Council on Public Transportation (NCOPT) has announced that the campaign against ‘rogue’ minibus operators will intensify in the new year.
Discipline among minibus operators was one of several issues the Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Secretaries of all minibus associations, both affiliates and non-affiliates of the NCOPT, discussed at a meeting this week with Transport Ministry officials.
“We have one or two rouge operators and the message is come January, we will be dealing with those issues,” NCOPT Vice President Kentry Frederick disclosed.
“The biggest issue of discipline is that we have persons, maybe it is the way they approach the passengers or members of the public is not the best,” Frederick told St Lucia Times.
He said minibus operators get route permits under certain conditions they must meet.
But he also noted that members of the public act inappropriately towards bus operators.
In this regard, the NCOPT Vice President observed that the law would deal with such individuals as provided by the Criminal Code.
“Whereas the NCOPT will maintain that the operators must do their job professionally, the members of the public must conduct themselves appropriately,” Frederick asserted.
He noted that this way, the public transport sector would be ‘stable.’
Frederick said there would be customer service workshops to teach the operators how to conduct themselves and what to do if passenger infringements occur.
According to Frederick, in the case of an errant operator, the NCOPT and the route association invoke suspension.
He revealed that should the behavior not change, the matter would go before the Ministry of Transport, where there could be a recommendation for a permit revocation or a driver license de-endorsement.
“It is clear that you cannot continue because you get permission to do public transportation, therefore it can be withdrawn – the permit can be suspended or revoked from the owner,” the NCOPT Vice President told St Lucia Times.
He also observed that, regrettably, some attorneys misguide operators into believing that no action against them is possible.
“That’s not the case because there are conditions under which a route permit was granted to you. There are conditions for operating a public service vehicle,” Frederick told St Lucia Times.
Headline photo: Passengers board a minibus in Castries (Stock image).
Bravo !!! Bravo !! – the rules are clear for 2023. This is how you run an organization. Make the rules and let it be known to all members.
Pierre our PM should take a page from this organization. Set the rules so it is clear to all the criminals and the police. If you breach any of the rules, the consequences will take effect. Stop these none sense with patrols all over by the police. This is very short term and connote be sustained. We want some long term strategies which will uphold now and forever. The criminals are not high school drop outs anymore. They are smart and they can strategize the move and hence the reason the police cannot catch they. They are much smarter than the police. The reason being, the police are using some tired tactics which were used in the 70s. This no longer can be used to catch these smart and hard core criminals.
While you are at it ensure that those buses are in proper working condition especially the seats on the interior. Thank you for starting some where because for too long we have let the standards of service fall way below par in St Lucia.
not only should these bus drivers conduct themselves properly but they should LEARN TO DRIVE!!!!!!! properly too. i was driving on the road and i noticed a bus which was stopped putting some passengers down on a slight incline. There was a vehicle in front of me going up the incline, since the road is so small the bus could not fully get of the road and the driver in front of me had to go onto the oncoming lane to overtake the bus ,you know the bus when moving off just indicated and move off he never gave the driver in front of him chance to pass and at the same time a vehicle was coming from the other direction when the bus saw what he was about to cause now alone he wanted to send his bus off the road.
“We have one or two rouge operators, and the message is come January, we will be dealing with those issues,” NCOPT Vice President Kentry Frederick disclosed. I think he meant a lot.
Why next year?.Action should have been taken against those indiscipline bus drivers a long time. We know that this is just political language and nothing will be done to weed out those rogue criminal bus drivers who continue to cause mayhem and deaths on our roads for a few dollars more.
It is not just here. Bus drivers in all these islands are reckless.
Yes they have some ignorant bus driver to,who don’t have no respect for the passengers, especially the young ones,, you’ll have to look into that, disrespectful, action should taken against those indiscipline bus drivers.
We are mostly worried about those over here Boy-ce !
Do they plan to do anything about their driving? Well over half the vehicle accidents are caused by mini bus drivers and because they have passengers the injury and fatality numbers are higher. This is a big problem!!! So many drive recklessly stopping in the middle of the road, going on the shoulder to overtake, and speeding in neighborhoods where they should be watchful. It’s ridiculous how reckless some of them are.
let the “rogue” taxis live, because they make up for the deficiencies of the official services. in Martinique where they no longer exist, when the official transport service, which is frequent because of numerous strikes, the entire population, especially the poorest, is immobilized
Replace them with government transport services like dominica is doing because its obvious that you are not taking action against these kinds of drivers. I have witnessed and been the victim of terrible bus driver behaviour and was even forced to get off because one of them was blasting music like a ghetto teenager and refuse to bring it down only to force me to pay the full fee despite HIM being in the wrong. I cannot take this bullying anymore.
Replace them with government transport services like dominica is doing because its obvious that you are not taking action against these kinds of drivers. I have witnessed and been the victim of terrible bus driver behaviour and was even forced to get off because one of them was blasting music like a ghetto teenager and refuse to bring it down only to force me to pay the full fee despite HIM being in the wrong. I cannot take this bullying anymore.