18 minibus operators heading for court
Kaieteur News
January 7, 2007
Eighteen more minibus operators who ply the East Coast Demerara route will face the courts tomorrow for various offences, including having amplified music systems in their vehicles.
This follows another campaign by traffic ranks who are bent on eliminating the noise nuisance in public transportation.
On Friday, traffic ranks from the Cove and John Police Station pulled in a number of buses which they examined yesterday.
Several high-powered amplifiers and speaker boxes were removed from vehicles and the operators face charges for breaching the conditions of their road service licences.
According to an inspecting rank, the operators took care to use ingenuous ways to conceal the equipment.
“Some of the amplifiers are fitted between the bus panels and we have to trace the wires to locate them,” a traffic rank explained.
In one case, a minibus operator concealed a huge speaker box in a salt bag to make it look like a passenger's luggage.
And as usual some operators expressed the view that the campaign appears to be discriminatory.
One operator said that while he is not against the campaign, he would expect the police to pull in some buses which he described as untouchables.
A senior traffic officer on the East Coast of Demerara told this newspaper that similar exercises will be carried out on a regular basis until operators of public transportation adhere to the regulations of the road service licence.
“We will ensure that these minibus owners do not put back the equipment into their vehicles because we will not let up on this exercise,” the officer said.