The government of Guyana is contemplating reintroducing State-own bus transportation back into Guyana. This might be a welcome move by the government, however upon closer inspection this may also have a substantial impact on the thousands of minibus operators in Guyana.

When the licence concessions were made available, many people took the opportunity in acquiring and imported thousands of these vehicles in the country as private operators.

I vividly remember when the minibus operation was introduced in Guyana, hire car drivers were almost completely out of work. As these minibuses had dominated the streets, same can be said for the proposed long range passenger buses.

The minibus operation over the last few decades had dominated the landscape of Guyana and with the proposed State-own vehicles back on the roads, it will be interesting to see how well this is going to play out with the minibus association.

While on the one hand having State-own buses will bring a balance in the transportation sector and fare hike will less likely hit commuters on the other hand, with qualified and experienced bus drivers, chances are that there may be less road fatalities.

It’s about time the government took back public transportation and provide a proper service to the citizens of this country.
AYUBE KHAN
Toronto Canada