KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mikael Phillips, is urging the Government to have dialogue with bus operators as a decision by the Transport Authority to relocate them from the Darling Street bus park to the Downtown Municipal Centre on Water Lane has caused upset and restlessness in the transport sector.

“The restlessness was very evident yesterday when hundreds of commuters were left stranded when the operators withdrew their service,” Phillips said in a PNP release last night.

The Opposition spokesman said congestion and the overcrowded bus park arose from the policy of opening up the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) and the issuing of hundreds of licenses, causing the Darling Street bus park to be overloaded with buses terminating in the KMTR.

“It was bad policy from the beginning because it invited the buses to terminate in KMTR, it issued additional licenses and no study was conducted to determine the impact that would result from such an unjustified decision.  The Government has now turned around and is using its might against the small operators, who were invited into the KMTR in the first place,” he said.

“The government invited the congestion when it opened up the sector and therefore it must find a better way to resolve the impasse without causing any further distress among operators and the commuting public,”  Phillips added.

He further urged that the issue of security for both the operators and the commuting public be taken into consideration. 

“The Transport Authority must tell the operators of the plans it has to improve the security at the Municipal Transport Centre.”