PRIVATE transport operators are calling on the authorities to impose strict monitoring of the sector as operators are facing resistance from unruly passengers who are neglecting COVID-19 safety protocols.

The call comes following revelations from the health and wellness ministry on Thursday that taxi operators and passengers are three times more at risk for contracting COVID-19.

One of the two patients who died recently from the virus was a taxi operator.

According to head of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, Edgeton Newman, the situation is particularly challenging as even vehicles carrying the lawful number of passengers are already crowded. “Three at the back is a crowd; you’re touching each other and if you’re not wearing your mask or if the vehicle isn’t properly sanitised everybody is in a problem,” he said.

Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators President Louis Barton lamented that the sector has been clamouring for attention for some time now.

He said the Transport Authority’s regulatory mandate could be temporarily adjusted in the face of this crisis to provide oversight and assistance with getting drivers and passengers to be compliant.

“Despite our calls there is no ongoing effort to deal with the situation facing the transport operators,” Barton said, pointing out that the daily ridership for operators is close to one million.

“For the 40,000 legal operators in the island there are another 40,000 illegal, and it just seems crazy to me that the Government has sidelined transport operators. We should be considered part of the front line people,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Speaking at the Ministry of Health and Wellness press briefing, national epidemiologist Dr Karen Webster Kerr said people who travel in conveyance with someone who has COVID-19 are three times more likely to become infected than from someone in their own household.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Jaquiline Bisasor McKenzie pointed to the risky behaviours that are still being perpetuated.

“These persons have to understand the risk that they face as well as the persons who are travelling in these vehicles, and to make sure that they adhere to the precautions that are put out there, that they must not go into an overcrowded vehicle, they must make sure that they have on their mask, they must make sure that they travel with the windows open,” she emphasised.

Newman said he is alarmed, but not surprised at the level of risk.

“Hearing this information tells us that we are in a very precarious situation as transport operators. The fact is, we have not been given much attention in this COVID situation, we are left on our own. To realise that we are three times likely to be infected it’s very serious and it is sending a very serious message to the sector,” he stated.

He said the danger is inherent not only for private operators and their passengers, but Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses as well.

Pointing to the current increase in COVID-19 cases, Newman said, “With the second phase of COVID-19, we are calling on the authorities to do something to get passengers to observe the protocol.”

He said while some commuters have been shifting gear in areas where the virus has been identified, he is of the view that 80 per cent of passengers, outside of those who travel on JUTC buses, are not wearing masks.

He pointed out that passengers still have the option of taking illegally operated units, some of which allow them to ignore the protocols.

“If I as a taxi operator say to a passenger, ‘You have to put on your mask before you come into my taxi,’ I make no money for the day because everybody is going to leave my taxi and go into a taxi where they can sit without their mask, so we are at a serious disadvantage as transport operators,” he explained.

Newman said the operators are therefore issuing a strong call to the authorities to have law enforcement intervene to ensure that passengers obey the orders.

“We need the Government to step in and insist that not only should drivers wear their masks, but also passengers,” he said, pointing out that observation of all the protocols comes at great cost to the operators and that passengers should also be made to follow the rules.

Meanwhile, Barton said the human resources in the sector can be utilised to convey safety messages to the public. “We have a captive audience all day, we can pass on the information,” he said.

He stressed that the sector needs stringent on-the-ground enforcement as in some instances drivers feel threatened.

“You have some unruly passengers and they dictate to the driver and some of them are violent, so the driver sometimes go with the requests,” he said.