Dear Editor,
I gather from recent reports that the government is contemplating the reintroduction of government owned buses for passenger transport in Guyana. Guyanese who by chance had cause to pass by the old graveyard of hundreds of derelict and scavenged Leyland, Tata, Swedish and Brazilian buses on the outskirts of Georgetown some years ago, should be forgiven for having visions of a similar occurrence a few years hence. One cannot help but wonder if government owned buses is the viable long-term solution to the passenger transportation problem of the country. The care and handling of government owned vehicles over the years must certainly be a cause for concern.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Demerara, the most populated county in Guyana, had a good passenger bus transportation system. It is likely that the situation was the same in the other areas, however, I can write of Demerara based on personal knowledge and experience. These buses were privately owned and operated and although the roads were generally in awful condition, they ran daily and on time. As well, fares were only hiked ‘once in a blue moon.’ The simple reason for the efficiency and effectiveness of the service was the care and maintenance of the equipment by the owners, and the buses lasted and lasted.
The economy benefited tremendously from these buses. They were built in Guyana on chassis imported from the United Kingdom. As such, a host of skilled trades-people found employment, with carpenters doing the woodwork, riveters doing the metal work and upholsterers doing the seat cushions. These skills have now been lost, thereby contributing to the unemployment situation. An interesting feature of these buses was a structure called the ‘tray’ which was built on top of the buses and used to carry produce and fish to market, bicycles for long distance travellers, etc.
Many old-timers from the lower East Coast villages of Ann’s Grove, Belfield, Golden Grove and Buxton will recall buses with names such as Princess Anne, Golden Boy, Caribbean Express and Buxton Pride, which transported people, fish, fruit and ground provisions. As well, many postmen and policemen who resided in Georgetown but worked in the villages had their bicycles transported by these buses. And school children mingled with mango vendors as they headed to their respective destinations to or from Georgetown.
Not to be outdone, those on the longer routes between Georgetown and Rosignol had names such as British Commander, Queen Elizabeth, Duke of Edinburgh, Hamlet, Luxury Liner and Princess Yasmin. These brought the ‘country’ folks to the city and ensured that garden vegetables such as ochro, bora, squash, etc, and live chickens reached the city dwellers of Georgetown. In those days there were no sellers of plucked chicken in the city, and the citizens of Georgetown depended on the ‘fowl’ sellers from the countryside for their chicken.
An interesting fact about these buses was that they were all ‘Indian’ owned. The owners worked hard (some were rice farmers) and prospered. Unfortunately, when government owned buses came on the scene, the private owners lost their licences and many of them were left to rot with no compensation to the owners who had performed a valuable service for decades. Needless to say, the government owned system of the later years never equalled, much less surpassed, the service of the private owners. And the cost to taxpayers, both financially and in terms of quality of service, of the government owned buses? Incalculable.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
Mr. Hergash, thank you for penning this letter, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. My only problem is that it was too short…it was a tease. Hearing stories about the way things were in Guyana is always a pleasure. I hope you will continue to write more letters of this sort so the younger generation will get a little information about the way of life of the older generation.
The Govt.’s proposed bus company can do so much for many Guyanese. In your letter you mentioned the building of the buses in Guyana. That doesn’t have to change. Why can’t the parts be imported and put together right in Guyana? Let Guyanese build the buses, drive the buses, and run the system. This company could be a source of employment for many Guyanese, and could prove to be a stepping stone.
…… what used to be Sprostons,, then became thru the perceived ” midas touch ”
by burnham GUYNEC,, may still have some crafts men around that can build and even modify the chassis of any given motor driven vehicle ,, for these purposes the govt: technical inst : should play a very significant role in producing qualified
craftsmen/women………
The Minister of Transportation of whomever purvue this responsility falls under, needs to sit down identify and map out the various problem routes, then they must draft up some strict guidelines for the owners, say seating accomodation must not be less than, say 50(the point being that the vehicles must transport as many as possible at one given time and cut down on the amount of traffic on the streets), and put other guidelines in place, like driver training, proper maintenance, time-scheduled routes etc etc, then they should invite various investors to ply each route. (Say the Green Bus line goes up the East Bank/Georgtown route, and the Brown line, East Coast Georgetown Route. Yellow Bus line Berbice/GT route, another for Ruimveld, Cambellville, Kitty and specially fitted buses to transport produce and other large amounts of cargo to GT etc etc, )
Sure there would not be as many mini-bus drivers opportunites but many of them, with proper training could drive more carefully behind the wheels of these bigger buses and restore order to the system. The new industry will employ mechanics, other maintenance staff, cleaners, loaders, perhaps conductors and cashiers for point of origin ticketing, and other front office personel so yes it could employ hundreds of Guyanese.
What the govt should now do is try to provide passengers drop off and pick-up points(Stops) and space for a main terminal in GT and at the other various points of origin for these buses, what the govt should not do, is try to do this by themselves. It would be a disaster.
These busses should be brought in and sold to private owners.The government should only collect taxes or a percentage,thats the only way these busses would be properly maintained.
It would be great, if on top of the buses, that somehow the train system could be reintroduced. Many nations were built on the railway.
Canada was built on the railways.
From coast to coast to coast. BTW, Canada is larger than the US, althought the population is smaller. :D
Le Canada a été construit sur les chemins de fer!
In Georgetown in the 1950s and 1960s there were the yellow buses of the Motor Transport Ltd. owned by a Mr. Mohamed. Its terminal was located in front the Stabroek Market. The drivers wore uniforms and so did the inspectors who monitored the routes at various points in the city. There were bus stops and regular schedules. The adult fare in the 1960s was ten cents.
IT is best for those who are poor to have access to cheap transportation then let the minibuses raise their fares to whatever they want according to FREE MARKET ECONOMY.
Afinam – dem ting gonna get subsidise by taxpayer money, so nah – no FREE MARKET ECONOMY deh. – Moh taxes fuh dem Guyanese bai fuh pay!!
SSDD
IT is best to increase people’s mobilty by having a partially subsidized transportation system. This means people who live in Buxton can go and find work in Georgetown as the fares would be cheaper.
With enough coverage the number of people who are in work will be increased.
It is unwise to let the transporation system rely on minibuses as they can strike whenever they want to raise fares that would cripple Guyana economy.
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People are willing to let the electricity company be subsidized by taxpayers but are not willing to let transportation be subsidize.
I say take monies from the GPL subsidy and create a univrsal transporation system instead.
Afinam, you pretend but you are just another roaring liberal, willing to give the small man a chance by these subsidies thingese and so on and so forth and others have so misunderstood you, you far left liberal you…..
I admit, I have also not given you, your views, the time it deserves. Promise, from now on, you get your respect when you put yourself out on the line like this, for your nation, Guyanese man! Agree or disagree, I respect that!
Now don’t expect that when we meet again, this Guyanese woman would not be kicking dirt in your face, depending on what you’re doing and saying then, but right now, you’re my favorite person on this blog!
Yeah Yeah Yeah, I know Canada is bigger, I lived there in 1970 and then again in 1990. I believe that Canada is a great country and only getting better.