PARAMARIBO – Bus owners who operate on various bouse routes recently expressed their fury in response to the hefty fines that were recently handed out to bus...
drivers who do not stop at the official bus stops to let passengers get on or off the bus. They made it clear that the measures are unrealistic because many locations do not have any bus stops. Many bus owners claimed that the new way things are done makes it impossible for them to work.
“Passengers want to get out at random and demand that we stop even when there are no bus stops. We can’t always stick to the rules,” said several bus owners who explained that some sections of the road are in a very bad shape and that this increases the risk of their tires being damaged. The fact that the sidewalk is too high at some places also forces bus drivers to drop their passengers off at other locations. One of the bus drivers complained that he was given a traffic twice in one day because he had not let his passengers exit his bus at a bus stop.
“Where am I supposed to stop if there are no bus stops.” Some bus drivers complained that the fines for each violation can amount to SRD 2,000. Bus owners pointed out that they get the impression that they are supposed to drop their passengers off at the final stop so that they must walk many miles to their destination.
Some of the bus owners acknowledged that “not everybody sticks to the traffic rules and regulations and that this can cause dangerous situations but they deem it unfair that the public transportation sector is being tackled firmly especially given the fact that there is a lack of bus stops and other things. The bus owners called on the minister of Justice and Police and the minister of Transportation Communications and Tourism (TCT) to collaborate. Although there are bus stops along certain bus routes, passengers steer clear from them because there is no roof to protect them against the sun and the rain. Many homeless people also occupy the existing bus houses. The bus owners hope that the police will take all of these circumstances and that the government will invest in infrastructure. They made it clear that they expect the chairman of the Private Bus Owners’ Association (PLO) to discuss all of the problems with the minister of TCT.
