EGERTON Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), is shifting gears. He says, going forward, his organisation will refrain from withdrawing its service to the general public as a means of protest, but will go the route of dialogue with stakeholders.

“We promise Jamaica and the travelling public that we will not go back to any such withdrawal of service. What we will do is continued dialogue with the Government to give us a payment plan, so we can make our payment on outstanding tickets,” he told Jamaica Observer‘s Auto magazine on Thursday evening.

On November 14, several Corporate Area bus and taxi operators pulled their services in an attempt to force the Government to accede to their demands for a traffic ticket amnesty. Several sections of Clarendon and St James were also affected. At the time, the TODSS president said operators had been trying for three months, without success, to persuade the Government to grant them “an amnesty” on outstanding traffic tickets, and therefore protest action was their only option.

The Government, in response, said it would not bow to the pressure.

The protest, which was initially intended to last three days, fizzled after the first.

The Ministry of Education reported that school administrators across the island recorded little or no disruptions to classes amidst the withdrawal of service.

According to the ministry, its regional offices indicate that while some students were late and some teachers were absent, most classes were conducted in the face-to face-modality.

“I think we are on top of it. We are not going to allow that [strike] to cause the schools to close down because we have children who are preparing for examinations. We have all sorts of things going on; we don’t want our children to miss too much. So we are doing everything to make sure that even in the midst of this, even as they try to resolve this, that our children are not left out,” permanent secretary in the ministry Maureen Dwyer told the Observer at the time.

Newman, however, feels the operators got their point across.

“It was not a win-or-lose situation. We believe we made our voice heard and take it from there. We believe we succeeded because the Government met with us; we prepared a proposal as they asked us to do, and we sent it to them, and Cabinet, as we speak, is reviewing that proposal, and in short order, we’ll get a response,” he said.

“The withdrawal of service last Monday did not intend to disrupt no institution whatsoever. The withdrawal of service was the point where transport operators understood the magnitude of outstanding tickets they had and were afraid to move freely on our streets because the police would take away their vehicles and take away their licences, because if you have outstanding tickets to a certain amount, you lose points and your licences can be taken away right now. So, they took a decision to stop working for a day or two to encourage the Government to look at their plight and to grant them a payment plan,” he added.