And, just in, the BBA has gotten its price increase request and upon speaking with the President Phillip Jones a short while ago on the phone, he said that they are pleased with the decision made by Cabinet:
Voice of: Phillip Jones, President - BBA
"I'm very pleased and I'm very happy for the commuters and the bus operator at large due to the fact that this is a lifeline for the bus operator. And I would like to take the time out to thank the Prime Minister, thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet for their wisdom in granting the bus operator for this lifeline with the price alignment."
Reporter
"How do you feel your commuters will naturally react to a price increase?"
Voice of: Phillip Jones, President - BBA
"Well, to be honest with you, this is basically a price alignment. We don't see it as an increase, but some will take it as an increase because it's a little bit more than what they are usually paying."
"But due to the fact that we understand the industry is primarily focused on the commuters that needs to travel and use the service on a daily basis a costly one. So we have tried our best to minimize the impact on them in terms of raising fare."
"So what we are basically do is ask the minister is to align what is there with the NBC so we can be fair because then we can provide a better service and it will give us a lifeline. So this is just 14 cents to the miling adjustment."
Reporter
"One would say that being that you are finally getting your "price alignment," that you would need to better the service that you offer to customers, especially with the condition of the equipment that you offer. How would you respond to that?"
Voice of: Phillip Jones, President - BBA
"I can honestly say that for the past year and a half that the members of the BBA and private operators have done tremendous upgrade over the past year and a half. And you can see the company out there that is under the BBA."
"We are an example for excellence and service and reliability. I would like to share, you can see for yourself, we have many operators that have outstanding bus. We have upper tier, we have high tiers, we have regular, and we have the premier coach that there was a little price adjustment on."
"And we have a wide variety of buses and coaches that we can provide and match any Caribbean country with at this present time."
