Amendments to the Transport Authority Regulations, aimed at reducing sexual misconduct on public passenger buses, could be gazetted within the next two weeks, according to Joan Fletcher, managing director of the Transport Authority.

While efforts are being made - during the current licensing period which began on April 1 - to weed out bus operators who engage in inappropriate sexual behaviour on these buses, the new regulations will ban music, DVD players and tinted windows from public passenger vehicles.

"We have made recommendations for the law to be amended and I suspect that it will be completed and gazetted within the next two weeks. Anything like musical equipment, DVD players, we want to ban them completely from public transportation, because once you give them an inch they take a yard and it is very difficult to monitor," Fletcher told the Observer.

The regulations, as currently worded, stipulate that musical equipment should not be played on the buses, but it is unclear whether the equipment can be there.

"If it says you shouldn't play it, then it shouldn't be there," Fletcher said. "We are taking it a step further to say: not only should you not play it, but the equipment should not be on board. If it is, it will be removed."

The ban will be the latest measure instituted by the Authority in an ongoing effort to "clean up" public transportation, and music will only be allowed on contract carriage vehicles such as those operated by the Jamaica Union of Travellers Association (JUTA), Fletcher explained.

Only last week the Transport Authority, the police and the Island Traffic Authority combined to remove dark tint from 17 buses sub-licensed by the Jamaica Urban Transportation Corporation (JUTC) to operate from Waterhouse to Cross Roads. Speaker boxes were also removed from 11 vehicles and the operators prosecuted, Fletcher said.

According to the TA official, the majority of complaints received about alleged sexual misconduct related to some of the operators of the 55 minibuses on this route. Sixty-three minibuses are licensed to operate on the route, but only 55 were licensed in 2003.

At a meeting at the Medallion Hotel last August, the operators were given an ultimatum to remove the musical equipment from the buses or not operate. They complied, but only temporarily. The TA intends to use the current licensing period to weed out those who refuse to obey the rules.

"Those that were involved in questionable behaviour will not be getting any licenses from us and we are reviewing that right now," Fletcher said.

Meanwhile, the Transport Authority has also enlisted the help of school principals and Fletcher said she recently wrote to the principals of 34 Corporate Area schools, outlining the Authority's concerns and asking them to "partner with us to provide information and to allow us to come in and speak to the students".

"We went to one school yesterday and addressed the assembly of students," Fletcher said Tuesday. "We have been getting positive responses from the teachers and principals. I believe that everybody must participate. The parents and the public have to become involved."

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World