The essential service of the nations' Public Transport System should not rest entirely on the private sector. The commuting public has not forgotten the Maxi Taxi strike on November 4, 2001 which resulted in the general public, mothers with babies in arms and school children being left stranded and unsupervised on the nation's roadways.

Time losses to business, lost job opportunities.

In essence it cost the country millions of dollars and untold suffering on the commuters.

The public has not forgotten how the then government did nothing to circumvent the impending public transportation strike, nor did they respond to the nation's cry for better service.

Now the commuting public continues to be faced with the poor quality, safety factors and exorbitant fares forced upon them by unscrupulous private owner/operators of the same public transportation system.

These operators ply the Priority Bus route.

On mornings they insist that the route is from Arima to Curepe only, and then demand a fee of five dollars ($5) for this short drop.

The commuter is now forced to stop another maxi taxi from Curepe to Port-of-Spain at an additional cost of four dollars ($4), a total of nine dollars ($9) one way. My God! And still, all this so soon after the fare was hiked to a cost of five dollars ($5) from Arima to Port-of-Spain.

A simple fact may be that there is simply not enough of a reliable government owned/operated public transportation system to even provide a minuscule alternative to this dilemma.

Has the Government lost the ability to provide this type of service to its
citizens?

The private owner/operators must not be left to exploit an essential national service, or continue to hold the community public to ransom.

There are no simple solutions to this situation.

However, a series of reformative measures can be instituted, such as:-

General improvement of government owner/operated transportation system.

Increase school buses.

A Flexi Time System when school community and general public hours are significantly different.

General improvements to roadways.

A Regulatory Board for both complaints and fare controls specifically for private owners/operators.

Maybe the new Works and Transport Ministry will have better luck in addressing this serious situation or the commuting public should call a strike of their own.

CAROLYN WILLIAMS