THERE is evidence that some Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operators appear to be exhibiting good behaviour these days.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Roy Raphael told the Barbados Advocate yesterday that members of the Alliance have launched an aggressive campaign to put a stop to operators engaging in negative and dangerous behaviour while behind the wheels.
He reported that the Barbados Transport Authority established a hotline for passengers to call and make their complaints about the behaviour of operators, and fewer have been coming through in recent months.
“From time to time people call so we could weigh our survey based on the calls that we would get from people. There have been fewer calls, but we recognise that there is still one or two routes that we need to work on, such as the Speightstown route.
“But generally across the board, we are seeing people obeying the law and we are quite happy about it. We just have to keep at it and keep encouraging the operators to be on their best behaviour,” he said.
The Chairman also reminded that model routes were identified where operators must wear uniforms. He said PSV owners were also encouraged to get on board each other’s vehicles to see for themselves what is happening on the road.
“But we find generally that we have been getting fewer complaints as it relates to the negative behaviour among PSV operators, including drinking and driving, using illegal substance and the loud playing of music,” he said.
Director of the Barbados Transport Authority Alex Linton, who reported that there have been signs of improvement in discipline among the operators, said during the summer “you would see a decrease in certain activities”.
He said the negative behaviour demonstrated by some operators is as a result of lack of training and understanding of the Road Traffic Act and how to use the road.
Nevertheless, Linton pointed out that majority of the operators try to follow the rules.
Meanwhile, Raphael said while loud playing of music is usually an issue that many often complain about, the Alliance will soon be launching a pilot project, geared at making passengers ride a little less noisy.
“We will be launching a new project called the Wi-Fi bus where persons will have an opportunity to actually use the Wi-Fi on buses so that those persons who are not interested in hearing the type of music on the buses, they can use the Wi-Fi and listen to what they want to.
“We are looking to first introduce this system on a minivan and a route taxi. We are hoping that it would curb the type of music that is being played on the vans,” he said. (AH)