Dear Editor,

The recent disclosure that as one of the pre-conditions for an IMF agreement, the government intends to hike bus fares by a whopping 40 per cent, effective April 1, should be of grave concern to every well-thinking Jamaican.

Based on government’s announcements, a significant portion of the International Monetary Fund loan of approximately US$1.2 billion will be used to pay for oil imports. A major slice of this commodity is used to fuel private motor vehicles. To borrow for this purpose is clearly not sustainable. This is simply a case where the country is living above its means. The money received should be invested in areas that will either earn or save us foreign exchange.

To correct this problem, the government needs to take the necessary steps to expand and improve the public transport system. A public transport system used by the populace – inclusive of railway service – will greatly reduce the nation’s consumption of petrol. This will reduce the demand for foreign exchange for this purpose.

Given the country’s financial dilemma, the government should be encouraging the use of public transport and discouraging the non-essential use of private motor vehicles. To achieve this, instead of increasing fares to augment the bus company’s revenue so as to make it less reliant on government’s subsidy to finance its operation, government should instead increase the road licence fees on private motor vehicles. The increased revenue from this source should be used to subsidise public transport.

The above measure would certainly see a shift from the ownership of private vehicles to the use of public transport, which is what the present economy would be more able to afford at this time. This increased tax on private motor vehicles will also assist in removing many of the illegal taxi operators from JUTC-franchised routes, because they would be less able to compete due to their increased operational cost. This will result in increased revenue for the bus company.

The present users of public transport are often hard-pressed to find the current fares. As such, any increase at this time will be unbearable to many. This could result in serious conflicts between passengers and bus crews over the payment of bus fares. There could also be other social fallout such as the negative impact on school attendance and all the other consequential social ills that that will trigger.

Increasing bus fares at this time is a wrong move. Instead, we should be encouraging the use of public transport, and can only do so by making it more affordable to all. Any increase in fares at this time will only result in a deepening of our economic and social woes. What we need are solutions, not a worsening of our problems.

Lasana Halsall

khalihalsall@yahoo.com