Barbados Government Empowers Transport Authority to Crack Down on Disorderly PSV Operators

The perennial complaint of public service vehicle (PSV) operators’ disorderly conduct on the roads of Barbados came up for discussion at Thursday night’s St Peter Speaks town hall meeting when a Government minister said that a change to the legislation will now place more power at the disposal of the Transport Authority to hold owners accountable.

According to acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, the change will give the kind of power to the authority to take action for which the public has been pleading.

Addressing the conduct of PSV operators and especially the recent social media videos highlighting off-route driving and perilous maneuvers, Abrahams said “We need to bring some order to our roads. The time of the lawlessness and anarchy must now be at an end and there must be law and order and discipline on our roads. Our lives, our children’s lives and the lives of pedestrians depend on it.”

One resident brought attention to the issue as she urged the Government ministers present, including the Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw who is also Minister of Transport, to take away the licences of the operators. The speaker claimed that the vehicles were owned by those “in high places” and hence they cannot be touched.

However, Minister Abrahams immediately rebuffed this claim stating that no one in the Mia Mottley administration had any ties to PSV licences. “I can assure you there is nobody in our Government protecting or encouraging or benefiting from this lawlessness. You have my word on that one. That’s the difference between us and them” referring to the previous Government.

Minister Bradshaw also weighed in on the matter acknowledging the reckless behaviour on the roads.

“The owners have to bear some culpability as well. A few months [ago] we made some amendments to the legislation which would have strengthed the powers of the Transport Authority, which has the oversight for the PSVs. Then we realized there would have needed to be a tightening of the responsibilities of the owners and that was omitted from the initial draft. We went back to Parliament a few weeks ago and it passed through the House and yesterday [Wednesday] the Senate also passed that.” Bradshaw added.

What remains is to have that law proclaimed, she said.