Bus drivers at the West and East Bus stations said they need an immediate fare increase, since they have not had one in more than 20 years.
Former Antigua and Barbuda Bus Association President Glenn Miller said a bus that cost about $80,000 in 2014 now costs roughly $190,000. He said the association wants the Transport Board to add 50 to 75 cents to every route.
Miller said that the association has been negotiating for at least two years with Transport Board Manager Hubert Jarvis and Tourism Minister Charles “Max” Fernandez, with no result. He operates the St. John’s to Jolly Harbour route, where fares range from $2.25 to $3.75 barely $42 for a full load, he says.
One driver on the English Harbour route, who has been driving buses for 27 years, said his fares have also stayed the same for two decades, even as the price of buses, insurance and spare parts has climbed. Drivers interviewed at the East Bus Station say they share the same frustration, describing more than 20 years without any change to their fares as well.
Drivers reported that a fuel subsidy that helped cover part of their daily gas costs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic was quietly stopped roughly a year ago, with no explanation given.
They also said that they’ve effectively been subsidising bus fares for two decades, since children between the ages of two and 12 pay 50 cents less than the full fare on every trip.
Drivers at the West Bus Station pay a $5 entrance fee each day just to operate from the terminal, a fee one driver says, should be funding the station’s upkeep, though he describes the station as dirty and poorly maintained. With close to 140 buses using the West Bus Station daily, Miller said that adds up to millions of dollars over the years.
Drivers also pointed to conditions at the station itself: shelters that don’t keep out the rain, a shed that offers little protection from the sun, ongoing problems with the bathroom, no proper area to wash down their buses, and nowhere for drivers to rest between trips. The East Bus Station, unlike its West counterpart, has no covered terminal building as all drivers there operate out of an open lot.
Miller said that only a government takeover of bus operations, or a private company willing to buy out longtime operators, could bring the kind of scheduled, frequent service seen in other countries but he said that would be a costly, complicated undertaking.
Efforts to reach Transport Board Manager Hubert Jarvis on his cellphone and at the Transport Board office were unsuccessful.
For now, drivers maintain that they’re just asking for the raise they said they’re owed.
