Communications and Marketing Officer for the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Mark A. Haynes.
Public service vehicle (PSV) operators have been commended for their added effort in following government’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols in recent weeks.
This comes from Communications and Marketing Officer for the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Mark A. Haynes, who stated he has seen a “tremendous improvement in terms of the operators complying with the COVID-19 Unit.”
His observation was also shared by Director of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman, who said he has “been getting very good compliance” by members of the PSV sector to the protocols as compared to the past.
Haynes stated, “Given the precarious nature of COVID-19 and more particularly, the spread of the disease and the numbers that we have had thus far over the past couple of weeks, this has driven home as it were the significance of the disease. Persons in the sector have taken it much more seriously and therefore they have moved with alacrity to try to safeguard not only themselves, but to safeguard the commuters, safeguard the general public, and they are making a concerted effort to be in conformity with the COVID-19 regulations and the laws. For this I commend all the workers who are making an effort.”
He added that he is very pleased to have seen “the commuters and the operators wearing all their masks, and that was really, really something about which I was glad and I hope this continues.”
Haynes expressed a hope that operators will continue to keep their guard up and will continue to play their part to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus locally.
“Right now, Barbados finds itself in a situation which is not of the best and we do not know how long this disease will be with us, but we suspect that it will be with us for a while; and therefore it is imperative that we follow all the protocols laid down by the government of Barbados. I urge all of the workers to be respectful to the COVID-19 Unit and do not be abusive or to be confrontational, but to be cooperative and to be collaborative because we are all in this together…and we cannot afford to let our guards down. I cannot re-emphasise this more.”
The Communications and Marketing Officer further urged operators to not only request and require of commuters to always wear their masks, but wherever practical hand sanitise and wherever practical to also wipe down all the surfaces within the vehicles…
“It is imperative that the workers in the sector submit their vehicle for sanitisation at the Ministry. This is something in place and some of them have lapsed. This is not the time for lapsing, this is the time for getting on board,” he stressed.