By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL bus drivers are angered by the government’s decision to restrict four bus routes from stopping in the heart of Bay Street.

Those who rely on public transport may be left stranded next week if the bus drivers who fall under the Public Transportation Association of the Bahamas make good on their suggestion that they may take industrial action over the matter next Monday.

The bus drivers held a press conference yesterday to voice their displeasure over the Road Traffic Department’s decision.

The bus drivers claimed that Bay Street merchants are using issues surrounding the public transportation industry as a guise to rid downtown of Bahamians. They called on Prime Minister Perry Christie to overrule the decision.

The group, led by PTAB President Reuben Rahming, argued that the government gave no prior notice of the intended change despite holding “meeting after meeting” with the group.

Mr Rahming suggested that the group might take industrial action on Monday to protest the government’s new bus stop regulation. He added that it is “a shame” that national leaders would ignore the needs of their people in favour of the demands of Bay Street merchants.

The Road Traffic Department this week posted signs and circulated notices around the island informing drivers and passengers that as of February 2, stops for routes 1, 7, 16a and 21a would be relocated in front of the Government Publication Building on Bay Street.

“Systematically, we the Bahamian people have lost our right of access,” Mr Rahming said of the change. “We give hundreds of millions in concessions to rich hotels, then are made to pay to visit these same hotels and get fired for hanging around after a hard day’s work. Expats are afforded the best lands, beaches and even citizenship, while our vendors are systematically kicked off the beaches. We are being walled out from the right of access to even the high water line.”

Mr Rahming added: “For years some powerful expats, merchants and institutions have been displeased with any grouping of Bahamians on ‘their Bay Street’ - unless you are bringing them money don’t come downtown.

“The removal of yet another public bus stop without consultation exposes this fact. Now hundreds of mostly Bahamians will be forced to walk regardless of the weather up to a half of a mile, to stand in crowded, unprotected conditions. There is a constitutional and cultural right that is systematically and diabolically being snaked away from us all. Mainly the right of access, the freedom of movement and assembly,” he said.

Road Traffic Controller Ross Smith called the relocation of the downtown stop from its present site near Royal Bank of Canada to the Government Publication Building “the result of a long process”.

According to Mr Smith, his office had received a number of complaints about the placement of the Royal Bank stop and had toyed with the idea of relocating the stop to other locations.

He said: “The issue with that stop was its placement. It was near two banks and often became crowded. It was a security issue and we need to make a change.”

He added: “We considered moving the stop back over to Frederick Street but decided against that. We at Road Traffic decided that Frederick Street was too narrow and would pose a congestion issue. Our goal was to put it in an area that will benefit all parties involved and we thought this option achieved that.”

Mr Smith added that he feels the pain of the drivers and was willing to meet with the group to improve this situation. He did say, however, that the new regulated stop near the Government Publication Building would stand despite the demands of drivers.

He said: “I will meet with them, but moving that stop from where it is now, down to the new site is going to happen.”