Jackson: Transportation Summit Is Long Overdue
The Government should hold a two-day summit with “all industry stakeholders around the table to create new regulations for all public transportation,” Shadow Transport Minister Susan Jackson said, adding that “regulations dating back to 1952 need updating” and it “is time to revitalize the industry and bring all the realities of the daily operations into the 21st century.”
Ms Jackson said, “Why is the Ministry of Transport taking so long to address the public transportation concerns? There are clearly a number of complex issues to be addressed and the stakeholders have made themselves available only to receive silence.
“A two-day summit is a great idea. All industry stakeholders, around the table to create new regulations for all public transportation, traffic controls at high volume locations including the cruise terminal, airport, Horseshoe Bay etc.
“The digital ‘dispatching can be fully demonstrated and discussed including new fare management, driver and passenger safety and late-night ‘designated driver’ programme pros and cons revealed. Work life balance and how to attract more drivers to enter the profession discussed. There are so many pieces to the puzzle and the best way to work through the issues and have a majority agreement for a new era in public transportation is a summit.
“If government refuses a summit, it risks appearing to have its own agenda and that there may be a desire to deprive the public transportation industry of solutions until taxi, minibus and limo owners are forced to surrender to the Burt administration’s new scheme which the Premier asserted “is in the pipeline.” Without real conversations, whatever is in the government’s pipeline may be great, but completely detached from what the daily realities of the industry actually are.
“Taxis and minibuses are fast approaching the height of the tourist season with hundreds of thousands of cruise passengers and air visitors wanting to travel about the island. There are experiences and insights from public transport owners that must be listened to and considered if reasonable solutions are to be achieved.
“A summit is long overdue. Regulations dating back to 1952 need updating and new regulations need to include newly introduced vehicle categories. Government has been controlling the industry for too long with public transportation receiving nothing in return. It is time to revitalize the industry and bring all the realities of the daily operations into the 21st century.
“The One Bermuda Alliance recognizes an efficient transportation system as an essential aspect of Bermuda and the industry must be protected and supported. We also believe the government must introduce revenue generating opportunities through tourism revenue rather than further burden the local resident population. The government should also provide concessions to public transportation owners to reduce their overhead.
“It’s time to create opportunities for owners to generate enough revenue to prosper. I believe this will open the industry and provide a new career opportunity for generations to come.”
The PLP has been in power since 1952 and are therefore responsible for no changes since then!! NOT. One aspect of a solution is for the various transportation providers to unite under a single umbrella. We can start with the BTOA.
How many of the 600 taxi licence owners are represented by the BTOA?
A similar question can be asked about Limousines and Mini busses.
Perhaps Ms. Jackson can be more of a help than an hindrance with these manufactured OpEds.
Oh yes, at the height of the ever shortening tourist season let’s take a few days off, sit around, & have a little chat about the fine mess transport is in.
Planning for the tourist season should be done right after the previous season, like November, not right when you are getting busy in the next one.
Talk, talk, talk. Years & years of talk. Minister after useless Minister gets flushed through. Meanwhile public transport gets worse & worse.
This government let’s foreigners in and partners with foreign entities rather than support Bermudians and spend our taxpayer dollars locally. They rather give our money to a foreign company and keep profits out of Bermuda rather than keep the money circulating here. They don’t care about the tourist, taxi operators or mini buses. They just want their cut of the pie and then some!
Well, at least they’re taking care of the roads Who ever is in charge of making sure we have safe road and the maintenance of our roads, deserves A+ for appalling!