Several commuters and students in west rural St Andrew were left stranded Monday morning after bus operators withdrew their services. There have been reports that some roads have been blocked with debris and burning tyres, and commuters who live in areas such as Stony Hill and Lawrence Tavern are unable to get to work or school.

According to Egeton Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, the protest action is a direct result of building frustration on the part of bus operators with the draconian activities of the police force and the Transport Authority.

“I had a marathon meeting with them last (Sunday) night and begged them not to take strike action. Scores of bus operators voiced their concerns, and I told them I would be communicating with the minister (of Transport), but the operators took the action this morning,” Newman told OBSERVER ONLINE.

“We’re begging them, don’t block the roads, and don’t burn tyres and they’re doing just that in sections of west rural St Andrew.”

Thousands of commuters have been affected in the area who have to travel between Lawrence Tavern and Kingston, as the roads have been blocked at intervals along the main thoroughfare. There are reports of demonstrations in Manor Park as well.

“The bus operators are very angry at the level of harassment from the police force,” Newman said.

Newman pointed to the bus operators’ belief that there was an open collusion between police officers and wrecker companies based on shared profits for impounding the buses of bus operators.

“The police have been taking away buses from operators because they have a 40 grade tint. Instead of taking the buses away, the police should order the bus operator to take the tint off the bus, it would cost nothing. If he doesn’t remove the tint, and they take away his plates, it would cost him $7,000 to get it back. But when you take away his bus on a wrecker, he has to pay 25,000 for a wrecker fee, a pound fee, and it can cost as much as 40,000 to get back the bus, plus loss of income….people must be frustrated,” he said.

“There are police officers who benefit from the practice of wrecking buses,” Newman said.

Newman also disclosed that indiscriminate ticketing by cops of traffic offences is a problem. He said the policy of ticketing bus operators for not stopping at proper bus stops “may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

“The tint is the main problem, but bus operators are also complaining that the cops are targeting them by handing out tickets for traffic offences that make life harder for them. Case in point, there was a time when there were 11 bus stops on Constant Spring, between Manor Park and HWT, now there are now 4 only bus stops. A cop can stay at Mary Brown’s Corner, and see that the bus driver made four wrong stops, and just hands out four tickets one time. Passengers are used to certain stops for 20 years because the new stops are inconvenient to them because there are no businesses close by to them, but no one is listening to them,” Newman argued.