By MyVue News.com Staff Reporter
Basseterre, 15th March, 2021 (MyVue News.com)-The President of the East Line Bus Association in St Kitts, say that he and his members are fed up and frustrated about certain issues that have been affecting their operations for some time now, and for which no solution has been found, despite their complaints.
Hopefully that could change after discussions planned for late Monday.
President, Jeff Pemberton, explained that they took action to temporarily suspend their operations on Monday morning, (15th March, 2021), because they are not happy with what is happening.
“The bus terminal is not working for us. We are in prison, according to some of the bus operators from the Bay Road. We have been talking to the government, time and time again now, for three (3) years,” stated president Pemberton.
The core of the problem, explained the president, is that passengers who are walking towards the terminal to catch their bus, are being picked up on the way, by buses coming from the other bus terminal located on the Bay Road in downtown Basseterre.
While that is happening, the drivers in the East Line terminal on Wellington Road, continue to wait in vain, as their buses remain empty because of the breach in the protocols that were established when the facility was opened a few years ago.
Those rules require all passengers to only take their buses from the terminal and not those outside of the facility.
The Bus Association leader added that government has “promised to come and fix things, but up to this present moment, we have been ignored. And we just cannot take it anymore,” said the President.
“They say that pressure burst pipe and before the pipe is to burst, we are protesting to let the government know that they have to do something to assist us,” cautioned the president.
He said his association has written to, and met with the relevant officials, “and it seems as though, we are getting the impression that all of them ‘is’ against us, who are trying to do things correctly by the law and those who are breaking the law …it seems as though, they in favour of them.”
Pemberton said that the extent of their demonstrations will be dependent on the results that they see, and from the actions of the relevant authorities.
The president said that his association was scheduled to have discussions on Monday afternoon with Cabinet, and their course of action would be guided by the outcome of that meeting.
Photos: Scenes from Monday’s bus drivers protest.
All Photos courtesy MyVue News.com
