There are three candidates to become the new President of the Dutch St. Maarten United Bus Drivers Association and the rest of the board is changing too (see related story). It obviously regards an important part of the of the
public transportation sector especially for local residents, although an increasing number of mostly repeat visitors make use of the services to get around the island too.
The first thing to keep in mind is that it involves independent entrepreneurs who must make their own living and cannot count on any subsidy or public funding. The only way for them to survive is by transporting enough passengers at the rates for the various routes set by Government to cover their cost.
While more islands have these small privately-owned buses, they often are competing with government-owned bus companies that generally utilise larger vehicles. That’s not the case here, so that much of the population depends on these 300 licence-holders and the assistant drivers they often employ.
But one hardly can claim the service on the main roads from morning through evening on weekdays is infrequent. To the contrary, a bus usually passes by practically every five minutes. Some say too many permits actually were given out in the past for political reasons, leading to a moratorium that is lifted sporadically to fill vacancies or for other, pressing reasons.
In fact, ensuring as best possible the freeze remains in place both before and after the September elections should be a priority of the incoming board. The last thing the current members need is to share the same pie among even more mouths.
However, the association also must look in the mirror. For example, it’s completely understandable that certain uncovered routes and times seem unprofitable and therefore not worthwhile to operate on an individual basis, but to enhance the general service to the consumer surely something can be arranged with a limited rotating schedule to accommodate whatever demand there may be.
The ongoing efforts for clearly visible tariff flyers that also say “pay as you enter” to prevent problems at the end of the ride are certainly sensible and ought to continue. A uniform, regulation-size route sign in a universal spot also would be helpful.
The lack of control and Government failing to meet its promises were some of the issues the outgoing president mentioned as impediments to getting things done. Yet he also spoke of lack of unity among bus drivers and that’s probably the best place to start.
