KINGSTON, Jamaica — Egerton Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), has condemned the killing of taxi operator, Richard Nembhard in August.

The killing brought the number of taxi operators killed since the start of the year to 30.

According to Newman, Nembhard’s death is another attack on one of the island’s most important service providers.

“It’s not surprising that we continue to have the ongoing spate of murder of our service providers, our first respondent in providing transportation for our people, this is the 30th taxi operator to be killed by hoodlums [since] the start of the year,” he said.

Newman offered his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and called on the country to do more to protect public transport operators.

The 56-year-old transport vehicle operator, who plied the Whitehall Avenue route, was shot multiple times near the intersection of Mannings Hill Road and Cassava Piece in Kingston. He was a father of three.

An official release from the Constabulary Communication Unit stated that the shooting occurred at 4:40 am and that Nembhard was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Onlookers near the scene said he was shot while driving and lost control of his car and crashed into another vehicle that was parked at Midway Mall Plaza before slamming into the entrance door of a fast-food premises.

Newman is now turning his attention towards the many challenges affecting the 40,000 privately-owned public transport operators as the country prepares for the beginning for the new academic year.

Newman pointed to the lack of adequate infrastructure both rural and urban, lack of financial and technical support to upgrade the ailing vehicles, and the poor road conditions that give rise to deadly crashes among other things.

“We are ready to provide the best travel experience to all commuters and especially our children. We continue to urge our drivers to not only provide safe travel but be courteous and disciplined to all commuters. We continue to urge the government to invest in the human resource of the public transportation sector, investment in training is investment in development. TODSS will continue its summer empowerment programme until the end of September with a major focus on values and attitude development among our operators,” Newman said.