By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Jitney industry players yesterday expressed major reservations over plans to unify Nassau’s public bus system, one saying he could not support a proposed initial public offering (IPO) and granting a 20 per cent equity stake to the Government.

Nicholas Jacques, who headed the Bahamas Omnibus Owners Association, told Tribune Business that while he supported a unified New Providence jitney network, the current proposal needed “tweaking”.

And Reuben Rahming, head of the Public Transport Association Bahamas (PTAB), said he was unable to comment on the Government’s plans because he had not attended the inaugural meeting at the Ministry of Transport.

Hope Strachan, minister of state for transport and aviation, confirmed earlier this week that the Government was set to ‘dust off’ plans for a unified bus system that were initially drawn up under the first Christie administration.

Mr Jacques, who was among the jitney drivers and franchise owners who met with Mrs Strachan, minister of transport Glenys Hanna-Martin, and their officials more than a week ago, said the initial 2005 plan needed significant updating.

“I’ve always been an advocate for unified public transport,” Mr Jacques told Tribune Business. “But at the moment I’m not prepared to accept in its present form.

“There needs to be a lot of tweaking, and until those tweaks are made, I can’t accept it.”

Outlining his main objections, Mr Rahming said: “First, I want to make sure there’s no public offering of shares. That’s one of the things they want to do.

“The danger in offering the public shares is that wealthy people will buy a controlling interest. Once wealthy people buy controlling shares, the bus drivers will be working for them, and that’s not what we’re trying to achieve.”

The 2005 unification plan, which the Government still appears to largely be following, calls for the creation of a single bus company, in which franchise holders and owner/operators will be given shares.

Mr Jacques’ comments imply that many in the industry see the unification, and issuance of shares, as a way to give Bahamian participants ownership in their own industry - rather than as a means to create wealth for retail and institutional investors.

However, the 2005 plan did talk about raising equity to capitalise the unified company through an IPO, and also recommended that the Government be given a 20-30 per cent equity stake “at no cost” to it and the taxpayer.

“That’s one of the things I’m against, and which they are trying to offer,” Mr Jacques said of the Ministry of Transport meeting.

“The Government wants 20 per cent equity once we form the company. But all we want the Government to do is provide regulations and laws.

“Let us set up our Board. We don’t need them to do that. We’re the experts. We’re the ones that take the risk, mortgaging our houses to buy the buses. The Government has no risk involved.

“We need to choose from among the owners and operators who will be the chairman of the Board, the secretary, the treasurer, etc. We don’t want the Government to get involved at that level.”

Mr Jacques added that the industry did not know the proposed business plan or terms of reference.

He called for the reformation of the Steering Committee, which had existed in 2005, and included industry players, to help craft the unification strategy. The Government had promised to do this at the recent meeting, in a bid to foster greater transparency.

Mr Rahming, meanwhile, said he and the PTAB were unable to comment on the Government’s proposals, as they had not attended the original meeting.

“How can I comment in principal on something I have not seen?” Mr Rahming told Tribune Business. “We found out after the fact that there was a meeting; the word did not get out as it should. From what I understand, it was not well attended.”

This newspaper, though, confirmed that Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) has been hired to value the collective worth of all jitney franchises on New Providence. The 790 franchises issued in 2005 were then valued at a total $12.3 million.

Mr Jacques, though, described the 2005 report as “antiquated” and in serious need of updating.

He acknowledged, though, that a unified New Providence bus system would eliminate many of the safety issues currently plaguing the industry and the island’s streets.

“It is desperately needed,” he told Tribune Business. “It will eliminate all the ills that we see on the street today, the racing up and down the street and endangering passengers’ lives.

“With a unified system, you pay the driver an hourly salary, so whether he picks up one passenger or 100 passengers, his salary remains the same. So there is no need to race up and down the street to pick up.”

Mr Jacques said such an industry structure would also lead to “taking money out of the driver’s hands”, leading to passengers paying through the purchase of tickets at locations such as gas stations, hotels, restaurants or food stores.

Tickets could also be purchased via vending machines on board jitneys, and Mr Jacques added: “If we still put money in the driver’s hands, he still has an opportunity to put it in his pocket.

“These things all have to be put in place to eliminate problems on the street. That is the key.”

Mr Jacques added that “good headway” had been made on unification prior to 2007, but the election of the then-Ingraham administration seemed to bring the effort to a halt as it had other priorities.

Had it picked up where the Christie government left off, Mr Jacques said the project might now be close to completion.