PPV operators to air grouses at special meeting

The Island Traffic Authority (ITA) has invited public transport operators to a meeting on Wednesday at the Transport Authority (TA) head office to voice their concerns about the traffic ticketing system.

Representatives from the ITA, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and the TA will address all questions and concerns regarding the system. President and Director of Communications for the All Voice Transportation Group, Lorraine Finnikin, told THE STAR that the meeting was spurred by the JCF's decision to resume the suspension of licences with accumulated demerit points on June 1.

"With that press release it put the sector on edge and a number of drivers have now become fearful of losing their licences. Quite a couple hundred of these drivers presently have their [matters] before the court and they would not like to know that their driver's licences are suspended before the matter was even concluded before the court," Finnikin explained.

He added that public transporters have voiced issues that urgently need to be addressed, the main one being the accumulation of unavoidable tickets.

"There are some offences, we have outlined 15 of them...once you operate a PPV (public passenger vehicle) it is highly unlikely not to rack up tickets to those offences. One of them is setting down and picking up the passengers where there is nowhere in the KMTR [Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region] for you to do that legally," Finnikin, said, adding even if taxi operators pick up and drop off passengers at a bus stop, they can receive $10,000 tickets because they are only allowed to stop 40 feet from the bus stop. He said that another major issue transport operators are having is the lack of proper parking or loading area in the KMTR.

"If you are acquainted with Kingston, you will find taxis loading in the vicinity of NCB in Half-Way Tree and Clock Tower Plaza. You will see them loading in the vicinity of the post office and Mother's in Cross Roads, you will see them loading at that plaza where the police station is in Papine, just to name a few," Finnikin said, adding that these are unauthorised areas that can result in transporters being ticketed.

"You can't work any time throughout the day in the KMTR and escape getting a ticket unless you are creative. Creative in the sense that yuh find some places, a plaza, a shop, on a gas station to quickly let off your passengers before the police comes," Finnikin added.

He also said that some operators are concerned about being unfairly ticketed for passengers who refuse to wear seatbelts. He noted that last week, a female taxi driver in St Thomas was physically assaulted after she insisted that the male passenger on her front seat use his seatbelt or exit her vehicle.