Wednesday’s story regarding a possible bus tariffs hike sparked quite a discussion on this newspaper’s Facebook page. United Bus Drivers Association learned of a planned minimum wage increase hike per January 1 and wants the fares to follow suit as of that same date.
They expressed this desire earlier in talks with the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) and believe the time is now right. It’s hard to argue the contrary, considering that practically everything, including vehicle maintenance, has become more expensive.
One must also keep in mind that although relief was provided to motorists by reducing taxes on gasoline, that option did not exist for the diesel fuel used by most bus service operators, because no such levy is charged on gasoil. Under the circumstances, a modest upward adjustment seems reasonable.
The association did not reveal any desired amount, but one reader mentioned US $4.50. That would be more than doubling the maximum distance rate of $2.00 (NAf. 3.60) according to the Public Bus Tariff National Decree of February 21, 2013. While one can understand that nine years have passed since, any drastic increase is best avoided. Double-digit percentage hikes are generally advised against because they tend to accelerate already existing rises in the cost of living and of doing business to potentially turn them into hyperinflation, let alone hikes of more than 100%.
The same can be said for the minimum wage. It is going up by 11.2% in Curaçao, 18.2% in Bonaire, 14.3% in St. Eustatius and 15.0% in Saba. For St. Maarten the smallest legal hourly pay is reportedly going from NAf. 8.84 to NAf. 9.62 and will then be indexed to NAf. 9.95, which would seem about in line with the other islands.
That’s still less than 10 guilders or 6 dollars, a salary difficult at best to get by on in St. Maarten, but social ills of the past can only be addressed responsibly if done gradually without negative economic effects that could prove counterproductive and hurt especially these lowest income earners. Otherwise, the cure might be worse than the ailment.
