Hundreds of Public Transport Service Corporation Service (PTSC) commuters from San Fernando, Point Fortin, Siparia, Fyzabad, and Chaguanas remained stranded yesterday as drivers refused to operate a fleet of uninspected and defective buses.
The issue was raised by Kelvin Rampersad, Transport and Industrial Workers Union San Fernando branch president, who called on PTSC to get its act together after drivers of its south terminal withheld their services on the routes.
This move led to passengers, mostly senior citizens and people heading to work, waiting for hours for public transport.
Last July, Government offered a five-month moratorium on the inspection of vehicles to permit motorists enough time to ensure their vehicles are inspected
The deadline for the moratorium was December 31.
A missing inspection sticker and valid certificate carry a fine of $5,000.
"According to the law, you can be charged from today $5,000 for driving an uninspected vehicle. This morning the drivers in south realised there were no inspection stickers on the buses which we queried. As a result, they had to stop operating the buses."
Rampersad said around 10 am PTSC issued photocopies of one-year inspection certificates dated August 13, 2018, for 20 of 50 buses.
But the buses which passed inspection, Rampersad said, had 75 defect issues which the union raised with PTSC.
"For these buses to have defects the inspections were not done properly. You can't tell me you inspect these buses and they have cracked widescreens, damaged mirrors, lose fire extinguisher, no bins, no side panel, loose engine boards. This is something that we facing on an everyday basis. It is a set of derelict vehicles."
Rampersad called on PTSC to ensure that the buses are roadworthy and inspected.
"If that is done the drivers have no problem to operate the buses."
Sinanan: The issue sorted out
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan confirmed that the service was disrupted for a while but assured that the matter had since been sorted out. Questioned how the buses could have passed inspection with a string of defects, Sinanan said he had no information on that, advising that we call PTSC's chairman Edwin Gooding to get a response. Gooding, however, did not respond to calls from Guardian Media.
PTSC apologises
PTSC in a press release issued yesterday apologised to its commuters who were affected by the unavailability of its south bus service, which resumed from 8.30 am.
"It is unfortunate that union officials advised drivers not to operate buses without inspection certificates being displayed on the bus, as not all southern buses had copies of the certificates displayed and this has since been addressed," the release stated.
PTSC has ensured that all its buses have been inspected and its inspection certificates remain in its care for insurance purposes.