Latest update February 8th, 2025 6:23 PM
Jul 09, 2008 News
The new minibus fare structure, which was implemented and endorsed by the Guyana Public Transportation Association (GPTA) on Monday, has caught many members of the public off guard.
Throughout yesterday, commuters travelling on various minibus routes were complaining, while others flatly refused to pay when minibus operators requested the new fare.
According to some of the passengers, they were not given any notice of the new fares while others refused to believe that there had been a fare increase until they had seen the new fare structure themselves.
Most passengers said that they were ignorant of any new tariffs. Despite this, they paid the new fare, but did so grudgingly.
Minibus operators are peeved at the public response. One minibus driver said that the increasing prices are hard on everyone but passengers need to understand that minibus operators are also part of the public and they too feel the squeeze with prices everywhere increasing.
Nicholas Nnami, President of the GPTA, explained that the new fare structure was still strange and with anything new, time needs to be given to let the public become accustomed to it.
He noted that the GPTA was distributing copies of the new fare structure to minibus operators along the various routes so that the new fare structures could be posted in the minibuses. According to him, by 17:00 hours yesterday the new fare structure should have been distributed to minibus operators.
While Nnami said that the GPTA would continue working along with minibus operators to sensitize the public to the new fare structure, he acknowledged that there were a few reports of passengers reacting hostilely to the new fare structure. He said that he expected this to pass within a few days.
Most of the minibus fares have increased by $20, but some of the destinations that are further away have seen increases of up to $60. The last official increase in minibus fare was in May 2005.
The new fares come in conjunction with the skyrocketing prices of fuel and higher costs for what the GPTA calls essential spare parts.
Feb 08, 2025
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