Dear Editor,
Since the renovation of the Linden/ Georgetown Bus Park in 2005, the touts have had their way. And their way is very disruptive to civil order, with negative financial and social impacts.
It is quite common upon passing the park, to hear very loud foul language and see shocking hooliganism; there is generally no respect for anyone, not public officials, police, women or children. I have been in the offices of the RDC when there was a din coming from the bus park; I could hear every syllable of foul language hurled among the touts. Why is this sort of behaviour accepted in the centre of Linden?
Police records will show that fights, stabbings, and verbal and physical assaults are common occurrences. People are abused and assaulted. Some groups of citizens, for example Amerindians from the interior, are pulled and dragged into buses against their will.
The touts defy every traffic law within the park and on the road. An interesting ‘cat and mouse game’ is played out between the touts and the police. One gets the impression that the Linden police condone this behaviour and do not appreciate the security concerns. But there are security concerns! Republic Bank and other financial institutions are located on this primary thoroughfare. There are also the Post Office, LEAP, the RDC and M&TC offices. And moreover, touting is against the law.
Touts exist to serve touts and the greedy drivers who insist on their three, possibly, four, trips per day. Their practices produce long delays in getting transportation. It is not unusual to have to wait 40 minutes for a bus to leave, when the passengers scattered among three or four buses are enough to fill one bus, which would expedite travel. What is the total annual loss of person-hours associated with this practice? Why doesn’t the town council and the police force cooperate to enforce queuing and the loading of buses? Is the purpose of the attendants at the bus park only to collect money?
The current fare between Linden and Georgetown is $900. Drivers pay as much as $2,000 to touts to get their buses loaded, an average of $150 per passenger going to the tout. It means the actual cost for the trip is really only $750 per passenger. Why should the average citizen in these hard economic times pay an extra $150 to travel, when it supports nothing but the touts and their disruptive practices?
In addition, speeding and touting go hand-in-hand and feed off each other. Touting is based on the premise that cooperative drivers can be loaded faster and ahead of the others, facilitating quicker round trips. Drivers of these buses must complete their trips in the shortest possible time (some of them routinely complete a trip in an hour or less) to meet the needed number of trips and compensate for the use of touts. This is an ugly vicious ‘dance’ with often disastrous consequences – death and maiming. Most of the accidents on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway are caused by speeding.
Some passengers are terrified and complain; one female passenger reported her knees buckling upon alighting from one such trip. Passengers avoid some known speeders like the plague. But they are also sought after by other passengers. Some drivers state that the number of buses must be limited/controlled if a queue system is to be successfully implemented. To their mind, the issue is that there is a limited number of passengers and therefore drivers think that in a queue system, without the help of touts, controlling the number of buses would ensure them an acceptable number of trips. The issue is really a matter of economics in the minds of drivers. But there must be other considerations: What is the speed for the optimum (economic) operation of the buses? What is the safest speed?
One driver conceded that with a queue system, he could operate more optimally, have a more economic operation, experience less physical fatigue and possibly be ahead financially. However, he said “that would never work here, not with these people.”
Officials from every public agency pass through and experience the impact of touting daily – IMC, RDC, LEAP, the Post Office, the education department, the police force – why then are these practices allowed to continue?
What is the solution? Each of the following leaders must publicly commit to bringing decorum and decency to the centre of Linden: the RDC must take the lead; the IMC, in concert with the Traffic Department, Division E&F of the Guyana Police Force, must immediately institute and enforce a queue-system for loading the buses; LEAP must assist the IMC by providing training to IMC park personnel as part of its capacity-building mandate.
We can no longer turn a blind eye to this ignoble practice of touting.
Yours faithfully,
Samuel Wright
