MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS) Egeton Newman is hoping for a 120 per cent increase in fares before the end of this year.

“I am very positive. As a matter of fact, let me tell you, last year the minister [Audley Shaw] said we will get a fare increase. We did not apply for the fare increase at that time but now, we have applied… and we were assured by this present minister [Daryl Vaz] that we will be getting a fare increase,” stated Newman.

“My proposal to the Government is for 120 per cent. Now I’m a businessman, therefore we can sit at the table and look at it but right now, the true fare travel for the sector is a 120 cent fare increase,” he added.

During a recent discussion on a current affairs show on Nationwide News Network, Vaz said it would be likely that he would keep Shaw’s promise of an increase but stressed that the size of the hike would have to be hammered out.

Now Newman has revealed his starting point when they get to the bargaining table. He is hoping commuters who rely on the services of his members will not fight the hike.

“If the passengers want better from the sector, if the passengers want a clean sector [or] a safe sector, they have to pay the true cost for travel. That’s all I can say. You are demanding a certain standard of the sector, this sector is demanding also certain things from the Government — and that is a proper fare increase,” he argued.

Newman was speaking with the Jamaica Observer after the fourth in a series of islandwide expos focused on the health, wellness and safety of TODSS members.

The $1.2-million event was staged at the Montego Bay Transportation Centre in St James on Thursday. TODSS will pump $27 million into staging of sessions across Jamaica.

The St James leg included participation from the Road Safety Unit, the National Council on Drug Abuse, as well as representatives from the fields of medicine, dental care and insurance.

In the meantime, Newman has warned bus and taxi operators that any fare increase granted has to be accompanied by discipline within the sector.

“Everybody talking about fare increase. That is a must. That is coming. But along with fare increase there must be discipline within the sector. We are not going to dash out 50 per cent, 100 per cent, or 120 per cent on the commuting public and the lewd music is still playing, the dirty dressing is still going on, the dirty vehicles, no. With fare increase, which is a must, and we want it this year, must come cleanliness within the sector,” Newman warned.

Bemoaning the indiscipline that abounds amongst transport operators, Newman noted that lewd music remains a major concern within the sector.

“Operators must desist with the lewd music, and we warn them. We are urging the Transport Authority to take serious steps against those operators who are using their vehicles as party vehicles; that must stop. Because when you have lewd music you have youngsters gyrating and when you have that it becomes a party in the bus. And, therefore, we are saying none of that!” he declared.

Managing director of the Transport Authority Ralston Smith disclosed that an ongoing initiative to penalise transport operators for breaches committed within the Corporate Area will be rolled out across the rest of the country next week.

“We are targeting operators playing any kind of loud and lewd music on PPVs [public passenger vehicle]. The operation will also target delinquent operators, those who have not yet complied with the licensing requirements. So it is going to be an all-encompassing operation,” Smith revealed when contacted for a comment.