A foiled armed robbery attempt on a minibus has triggered intensified calls for swifter implementation of cashless fares on public transport. The incident, which occurred on Thursday evening, has also heightened concerns about the safety of both passengers and transport workers.
Operators of the Transport Augmentation Programme (TAP), the route-sharing partnership between public service vehicles and the Transport Board, on Friday, urged a faster rollout of the cashless payment system first trialled more than two years ago.
Vice-chairman of the TAP committee, Rodney Bellamy told Barbados TODAY that his organisation was worried that the increasing violence in society was putting the lives of workers in the public transport sector at great risk. He said the fear of being attacked or robbed placed immense pressure on operators and called on the relevant authorities to move with alacrity to fully implement the cashless system.
A gunman attempted to rob a PSV while it was carrying passengers around 6.30 p.m. on Thursday, chairman of the Association of Public Transport Operators Anwar Nana confirmed in another section of the media.
The armed man reportedly boarded a Bayfield-bound minibus in Lynch’s, St Philip, demanding money and threatening to kill all of the passengers onboard. The conductor, in a bid to secure the money bag, exited the bus and got into a passing vehicle, and the gunman got off the bus and fled.
While the incident did not involve a TAP operator, Bellamy said he was taken aback by the news and described the situation as “madness”.
“We do have serious concerns,” he said. “I have never heard of a gunslinging person attempting to rob a bus that was en route with passengers. What was even more of a concern was that he threatened to shoot everybody that was onboard. That is a serious thing, that is bordering on terrorism, though. That is not something casual and should not be taken lightly.
“These are buses that transport hardworking people to and from home and now you are causing them to be scared and also the operators of public transport vehicles to now be sceptical. These actions are putting pressure on the persons providing the service. This is madness. How is it that these persons can be so comfortable to do these things and confront multiple people in a bus? You hear these things about aeroplanes that are hijacked.”
Continued violence towards public transport operators could see workers withdrawing their services after a certain time, out of fear that they could be attacked or robbed, Bellamy added.
Over the years, PSV operators have fallen victim to robberies, stabbings and shootings, mainly at night. In 2021, minibus driver Victor Preacher Man Walton died after being shot twice in the head. In July 2023, two men attempted to rob Marlon Tempro after he had dropped off his last passenger.
Pointing out that robbers were targeting operators because they assumed they had a lot of money on them or in their money bags, Bellamy said the faster the public transport system was converted to a cashless system, the safer workers would be.
“This issue has caused a lot of safety concerns and would cause the cashless system to take priority because here it is that people work hard all day long and then a person comes along and wants to take the earnings of people for the day and threaten the lives of passengers. This is not acceptable and I think that we need to address these problems before they get out of hand,” he said.
“As you know, the Transport Board is implementing the cashless system. It is being rolled out and tested and I think that in the near future, TAP vehicles and Transport Board vehicles will have it. It has been rolled out for pensioners, then I believe it will go on to school children, then to cash-paying passengers eventually. We have to start somewhere and maybe the cashless system would deter people from robbing workers.”
Public testing of the automated cashless system got underway in October 2022. Passengers use smart cards or a QR code on their smart devices to travel on public transport.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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