by WADE GIBBONS

TOUR COACH OPERATORS have accused Government of introducing a new tariff without consulting them, which is to the disadvantage of their businesses.

Secretary of the Sunset Crest Transport Co-operative and Society Limited, Tyrone Best, told the DAILY NATION that the Ministry of Public Works had legislated new fares for "BT buses", which members were only made aware of in September.

The new Road Traffic (Tour Coach Fares) Regulations, 2006, which appeared in the Official Gazette on July 13, stipulates coach fares, discount on fares and penalties for non-compliance with the legislation.

"These coach fares affect our livelihood and there was never a meeting with us to discuss them. The new system as it is, makes no sense. It is depriving us of income and we did not even have a say in it as people in other fields get the opportunity to meet with Government and do," he said.

Best explained that previously, coaches operated on the premise that every four people in a bus would be considered on a car rate.

"So that if you had 36 people in the bus, it would be nine taxis. Then the company would charge 25 per cent for air-condition. So whatever fee or whatever rate on distance you go would be calculated under the taxi tariff per car . . . . If you were taking passengers from the airport to the seaport it costs $337. 50; now the tariff makes it $280, which is a major reduction," he said.

He added that previously, the company for which an operator did a job, provided a vehicle for luggage but now Government is stipulating that the operators relinquish 20 per cent in discount when they did not transport luggage, and another vehicle was required to do so.

He said the new stipulations "across the board" did not take into account that some tour coaches were 36-38 seaters, while others held 26.

Best charged that Government's new fares were seemingly designed to accommodate those moving from the airport to the seaport and in reverse, since they were among the cheapest rates. He described as inexplicable the fact that two different rates were now being charged for travel from the airport to the seaport, and the reverse trip.

"It is $280 from the airport to the seaport, but $285 from the seaport to the airport. Yet a trip from Paradise, which is just a short distance from the port, to Oistins, is $400. Compare this to the fact that from Spring Garden cross-country to Bathsheba is $188. We are the people in this business and these fares make no sense," he said.

More than 14 tour coach companies are members of the Sunset Crest Transport Co-operative and Society Limited.

When informed Tuesday of the concerns of the tour operators, Minister of Public Works and Transport Gline Clarke said he would investigate their concerns and communicate with the tour coach operators.

l wadegibbons@nationnews.com