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APTO hotline soon to be launched
8/1/2010
BARBADIANS will soon have another outlet to voice their concerns or to commend Public Service Vehicles operating on the island.
So says President of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO), Morris Lee, who revealed that the association will shortly be launching its hotline 228-APTO (2786), specifically for this reason.
He made the announcement during the recent launch of the Pledge to Drive Safely Programme, an initiative of the Barbados Road Safety Association.
The introduction of the hotline comes on the heels of the launch of the Seal of Excellence Programme, an initiative geared at encouraging operators within the public transport to create higher levels of professionalism as it relates to road safety in Barbados.
The purpose of the PSV hotline is to create an additional initiative to increase the standard of the quality of service that is offered in Barbados. “Members of the travelling public will have an opportunity to dial 228-APTO either to compliment or list their concerns as it relates to road safety,” he stated.
Lee added that the Pledge to Drive Safely Programme has the full backing of APTO, recognising the importance of road safety to every individual in Barbados.
“As significant an association of 500 Public Service Vehicles owned by about 400 entrepreneurs, we represent less than one per cent of vehicles on the road but the statistics show that we transport 75 per cent of commuters across this island. Therefore, road safety must be given the priority that it deserves.”
The APTO president said that his association also fully supports the introduction of breathalyser testing legislation on the island.
“We recognise that for several years that this initiative has been heralded but apparently this momentum has been diluted and we are using this forum to call for that initiative to be enacted into the regulations.”
He alluded to statistics highlighted by Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin on the number of traffic offences committed by PSV operators in the year 2004. He made a call for more up-to-date figures to be generated with the view of developing additional initiatives to keep the roads of Barbados safe. (JH)
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