Officials call for revival of rules for minibus, taxi drivers

– Transportation code of conduct forgotten says Minibus Union President

As complaints against minibus drivers mount – from fare hikes to unprofessional attire and reckless behaviour – transportation and law enforcement officials are calling for the revival of the Code of Conduct governing the country’s public transportation operators, which they say has been completely sidelined.
During his appearance on the Road Safety and You programme, Eon Andrews, President of the United Minibus Union (UMU) and Public Relations Officer of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC), lamented the discontinuation of a previously active programme designed to enforce professional standards within the minibus industry.

“It is sad to see that Miss Tinnis… when she was there, she ensured that these trainings [on the Code of Conduct]… we would have trained almost 300,” Andrews said. “But it had to be continuous. It just stopped as she came off. Nothing seemed to be happening after,” he lamented.
The Code of Conduct was developed through collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism, the Road Safety Council, and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and was intended to define the expectations for service providers and their relationship with passengers.
“There is a code of conduct that governs the relationship between the travelling public and our service providers, how they need to treat with each other,” Andrews stated. “To supplement that, there was training that was started for these providers… they would have had these seminars at the police headquarters,” he recalled. The document reportedly includes guidance on everything from fare structure, dress code, driving hours, and general deportment, and was distributed to operators countrywide. But without enforcement or follow-up training, much of its content has been ignored. Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, Earl Lambert, stated that drivers are now dressing “anyhow” when transporting passengers. “What I find happening is a free-for-all,” lamented Lambert. “Even the dress code; now people [are] dressing in singlet, three-quarter pants, and a slipper instead of driving a bus.”
Lambert recalled that years ago, drivers were required to wear proper attire and post their fare structure inside the bus – a now-neglected requirement that could help curb fare gouging.
“There was also this law that you had to have your fare structure posted up so that when passengers entered, they will determine whether they want to pay or they don’t want to pay, they can come out back,” he said. “Nowadays, what I find happening is a free-for-all.”
The breakdown in the enforcement of the code, officials say, has contributed to a culture of lawlessness in the transportation sector. Drivers raise fares arbitrarily, particularly in the afternoons, and sometimes do so while dressed inappropriately, while blasting loud music.
“This is a country, even though they might have fare structure, they still take advantage of persons,” Andrews explained. “Commuters would go to the Ministry of Tourism… there’s a Consumer Affairs Department… She [Tinnis] would collect them and then have a meeting with the police, Road Safety Council, the bus union… she even had her staff going into buses, travelling it to get an understanding of what is going on out there. It is no longer going on. I don’t know why,” he noted.
Inspector Kevin Budlal, from Region Three (Essequibo Island- West Demerara), confirmed that his team is still trying to uphold aspects of the code, particularly the dress code and fare enforcement. “On a daily basis… we target these buses… the same dress code that we’re talking about, dress code, the fare structure,” he said. “Many times, we get complaints about minibus drivers or the conductor charging extra fees in the afternoon.”
But the problem extends beyond just drivers, Andrews said, it also lies with some commuters who enable lawlessness.
“You’d be surprised to know commuters in there would attack the other commuter instead of trying to get together to get it right,” he said. “So, it’s a work in progress. I don’t know how we’re going to reach there.”
Officials now believe it is time for the Code of Conduct to be revived, made public, and actively enforced. “We have to put a system in place,” Lambert insisted. “We have got to make arrangements to talk to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce so that we can have a continuation of the system that Miss Tinnis would have put in place… to bring some semblance to it.”
As the push grows to restore discipline in the sector, transportation stakeholders say that regulation, education, and accountability are more urgent than ever.