Hundreds of commuters were left stranded yesterday at several of the Public Transport Services Corporation’s (PTSC) terminals following protest action by bus drivers. The terminals at Port-of-Spain, San Fernando and Tobago were adversely affected. Bus drivers claimed they had no buses to drive as all buses were shut down pending mechanical repairs because of the lack of parts.
They also claimed that about $3.5 million worth in bus parts were still at the Port in Port-of-Spain for the past four months, waiting to be cleared. The workers added that the reason allegedly given was that PTSC had no money to clear the goods. In an interview yesterday, president of the Transport and Industrial Workers’ Union, Roland Sutherland sought to describe the severity of the situation.
“Between a fleet of 250 buses, most of it does not work. When the drivers come on the ready line, half of the buses cannot move and the ones that do after about two hours they shut down because of defects.” He added that the workers ought to be commended on their efforts to still report for duty but blamed the corporation of their lack of responsibility to make available the proper parts for the buses.
Sutherland said most of the buses are more than 15 years old, considering that its lifeline amounts to just ten years. “What happens is that they now taking parts from one bus to fix another bus, which is very ridiculous.” Most of the parts for the buses are imported from China and Brazil. PTSC mechanic Nigel Alexander said he and other mechanics are under pressure: “They quick to blame the mechanics and engineers but we does real struggle to make the buses run, to make ends meet.”
PTSC responds
However, contrary to Sutherland’s statements and the bus drivers’ concerns, PTSC’s general manager marketing and communications, Carl Ramdeo, said there are repairs being done on a consistent basis. He added that initially there were complaints of asbestos at the workplace at Port-of-Spain and added that as a result the workshop was relocated to Vemcott’s compound in Morvant.
Ramdeo also revealed that there will be an addition of 35 new CNG-powered buses on November 9 but its official launch, he said, will take place on December 3. As he said so there was a confrontation between Ramdeo and some of the disgruntled bus drivers and mechanics. However, Ramdeo stood quietly and allowed them to vent their frustrations. “We are making every effort to enhance the fleet, including the upgrading of other buses.”
He insisted that there were no defected buses in the existing fleet, but admitted that some of them were about 20 years old. “We intend to increase the fleet to 500 or 600 buses.” Ramdeo explained that the process of acquiring buses is not that simple as their are special requirements and specifications to be met.