Dear Editor,
I just got my hand on today's Daily Herald (21-6-16) and saw the headline Bus Association insists on use of taxi terminal. And my question is: Or what? From experience, I know that, just like there is always bacchanal in Carnival, this is the kind of rhetoric that always rises its head in an election year, and always close up to the elections. So my question is, who is behind it this time? I would start by inquiring how the vetting process went for many of those bus drivers to get a permit.
The fact that only ten drivers from about 300 are qualified to go on the French side, already tells me that administratively something is wrong. I know for a fact that the last set of them did not appear before any committee. I have mentioned this several times. "Public transportation should be in the hands of the public (government) to ensure that the whole community is served". Today, they are demanding a terminal, tomorrow a strike to jack up fares, already they are determining which route they are going to service.
When are those that we put there going to do what they are supposed to do? There should not be any bus association. There should be a "Sint Maarten Bus company" with people working for the bus company and when they are not pleased with the way things are run then they can strike when justified. This is another reason we have to determine who is a Sint Maartener, so that jobs like these could be reserved for the Sint Maartener, just like is done on all the surrounding islands.
Should bus-driver Claude Omeus really be the one to tell taxi-driver Richardson, "Move your taxi so that I can park my bus?
Russell A. Simmons
