National

Union Chief Details Successes In PM Meeting

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Bus drivers finally got their wish, a meeting with the prime minister, and are revealing the results of the meeting.

Published

2 years ago

August 4, 2022

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Weeks after staging a peaceful demonstration and demanding a meeting with the prime minister, bus drivers got their wish, and are revealing the results of the meeting.

Two weeks ago, The Bahamas Unified Bus Driver’s Union made a peaceful demonstration, requesting a meeting with the PM himself. While they got that meeting, they didn’t quite get everything they asked for.

We caught up with Bahamas Unified Bus Drivers Union President, Rudolf Taylor, for an update on how talks with the prime minister unfolded.

Taylor says they successfully got approval on new uniforms for members of the BUBDU, as well as fuel vouchers. But, he says the timeline for the vouchers was unclear.

Moments before this interview, the Minister of Transport and Housing, Jobeth Coleby-Davis was giving an update on that meeting with bus drivers, Prime Minister Philip Davis and Minister of Economic Affairs, Michael Halkitis.

Here, Coleby-Davis offers a loose timeline.

Taylor says he was told that new plates would not be made available for bus drivers the same way they were made available for taxi drivers.

He says the request to increase bus fares was also denied, at least for the time being.

But, Taylor says he hopes that it will be revisited soon.

The BUBDU president sharing the prime minister’s reason for denying the increase, as well as his counterpoint.

In light of the denial of both plates and a hike in bus fares as well as a lack of bus rest stops and the need for more bus stops. Taylor says BUBDU members are far from happy.