They scored a major first victory against National Transport yesterday in court and this morning the Bus Owners Cooperatives' green buses were back on the road. As we've been reporting, National Transport "stronged" control of the Co-op two weeks ago after it couldn't pay for buses it leased from National. The hostile takeover was sanctioned by the Ministry of Transport and it was that department which the Chief Justice ruled against. He granted an injunction against transport commissioner Michael Godoy which Co-op Chairman Isabel Chan says was a green light for them.
Isabel Chan, Chairman - BBOCSL
"I contacted all the drivers so that we could immediately come to do our runs. We had some problems because all of the drivers were not here and we have some buses scattered around the many places so we did about 90 of our runs yesterday. But today we are filling all the schedules. We will try to work along with it and full all the schedule."
Keith Swift,
Do you see this as a victory?
Isabel Chan,
"Yes it is a victory. All the drivers that were there, they were glad that happened; the decision of the court."
Keith Swift,
Glad you hit the road again?
Isabel Chan,
"Well I am happy because we will start to see some money again because school will open soon and we need that money."
Keith Swift,
Can commuters rely on you to fulfill those runs?
Isabel Chan,
"Yes I can tell you a lot of people were complaining, especially on the north side because the National Transport was charging too much to the commuters because they were thinking they were going to monopolize the north, especially we have some people that were complaining. Now that we were in the road again, they are happy."
Fredrick Ayala, Member - BBOCSL
"We feel very happy because we are back on the road and now we're making our daily lives and our families, they are happy also and we thank Miss Lois Young and we also thank our supporters that supported us during these hard days that we were out of jobs."
The Co-op was represented by Lois Young who also was granted leave to seek judicial review. And while that's one bit of good news, the Co-op's troubles are far from over. The Co-op was today served with papers for close to ten thousand dollars in unpaid Social Security fees.
