80 long standing employees opted to voluntarily cut their ties with the state owned company and another five workers opted for early retirement (29^th March).
It was a bittersweet day as workers exchanged hugs, and others shed tears.

This was a Kareem Smith item from Barbados Today, at the start of April, there are some who would say they too shed tears, tears of joy, in the hopes better service emerges for commuters in the light of increased Bus Fares?

The commuter in question has had prior issues with said same Transport Board which were not settled in his view even after the video of him and the driver disputing the driver’s method of enforcing his duties garnered over 2,000 shares and hundreds of comments via Facebook.

Another commuter has an issue, and this time, management were directly alerted and this was March 20th and still nothing has happened? Not any more…

I came here to report a situation that happened yesterday the . Nothing may come of it as this is Barbados and we Barbadians always have to take crap from the place we call home.

(At) the Transport Board FAIRCHILD STREET bus terminal, the Bathsheba bus left the terminal (I was told) around ten to/quarter to six. I may not be accurate, but when I arrived at 6:07 PM the line only had two persons, one of whom wasn’t lined up.

After that, the next Bathsheba bus came at MINUTES PAST 10 PM. Throughout that time, Sam Lord’s Castle had 4 buses, Martin’s Bay two. What was even more upsetting was they sent a small bus to the Sugar Hill line, but at least they got a bus, unlike us who stood there waiting for that excessive time.

Now this is where the situation moved from bad to WUS (worse). 7 of us got on the bus (including that of a child about 6). The 6th person said and I quote “finally we got one“. The 7th person chimed in with “4 hours yeah“. And that was all.

The driver for the TEN PM BATHSHEBA BUS on the 19TH MARCH 2019 started up after that. After statements that were not directed at him, this man began to unveil. He ain’t standing for no long talk tonight, he don’t have to drive no bus nowhere, and the man went on. All because of those two statements.

Now obviously us customers who stood for 4 hours vex and told him there is no need to get on so. I will admit one woman taunted him in that I didn’t like her approach of mumbling gibberish as if to fret him, but she was not his target; that young man was. He ignored her and pointed to the young man who said “4 hours yeah” and said further more he aint driving he, that he gotta get off the blasted bus”. Apparently the two of them have history. History or not, it is PUBLIC transport for paying citizens. Your JOB is to drive your worst enemy to his or her destination. You can’t pick and choose. But apparently at TRANSPORT BOARD FAIRCHILD STREET the bus-drivers can pick and choose, and have more say than us citizens.

The young man refused and we 5 (take the child out of the equation) supported him. So the driver for the TEN PM BATHSHEBA BUS on the 19TH MARCH 2019 decides he is NO LONGER driving the bus and went and reported sick. I was told his name is Prince, but oddly his colleagues don’t seem to know his name (I asked).

When he got off, a slim security guard came putting on red gloves, seemingly getting ready to physically manhandle the young man and take him off the bus; no questions asked. He then proceeds to tell the said man WHILE USING VULGARITY how he has to get off. It was hell after that because I could not take it anymore.

The 6 of us (excluding the child) stood up for our rights and argued profusely. I never got on so bad in my life. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but how do you expect us to react. How do you expect us to be calm, cool and collected after waiting FOUR HOURS for a bus then to have to deal with two UNPROFESSIONAL fools? How is it that this Prince, who was in no way charming, can get up tomorrow morning and still have a job at the BARBADOS TRANSPORT BOARD FAIRCHILD STREET (OR ANY OTHER TERMINAL for that matter)? Why now in 2019, when we post this, call BTB and lay complaints etc. will we only hear we are investigating?

I know Bathsheba is not the easiest people to get along with, but you make things worse for yourself as an organization when you make us stand for FOUR hours while you bless other lines with transport (sometimes constant). The supervisor for that shift did not even bother to come over and address us, despite us pleading for her to JUST HAVE SOME COMMUNICATION. We were not going to fight her. We were upset, and had all rights to be. Your job is to try to calm the situation and at least hear us out. Nothing will be done to Prince….why, cause this is BARBADOS.

They had to get someone from in the bus distribution to drive the Bathsheba bus and I got home at 11:15 PM. I thanked that driver and apologized if we were disgruntled, but it was not our faults. He told me thank you and he understands.

Nowhere in the world would this man Prince wake up tomorrow and have employment. He would be jobless and he would deserve it. You walk off the job to still receive a full day’s pay yet you didn’t complete the day because a young man said “FOUR HOURS YUH“. In this country, we apparently have the right to shut up, while people like Prince continue to manipulate the system. A system built for them.

I AM BEYOND FED UP.