And while Castro was not willing to go into a conversation about the culture revealed in those audits, he was a lot more forthcoming when we asked him about his involvement in trying to regularize bus fares for the public transportation all around the country.
As viewers will remember, the Western bus owners hiked the price up for 2 days, and when he as the Minister of Transportation found out about it, he intervened to make sure that the price went back to what it was.
Today, he told us that he continues to meet with the bus owners, and that the public should expect that there will be an increase in fares in some parts of the country.
He said not to worry though, the Government will balance your interest along side that of the owners to make sure that they make a fair return, while you aren't price gouged:
Hon. Edmond Castro, Minister of Transport
"At two o'clock today I'll be meeting with the southern region and then also with the northern region to deal with the situation as it relates to increase of fares or the balancing of fares. And also we are impressing on the bus operators because commuters want them to do more in terms of the safety of their buses, the standees, the overcrowding of buses. So if the commuters will in some areas, not all areas, if they will be asked to pay more they are asking for a better service from the providers."
Isani Cayetano, CH5
"It would seem as though, for instance, James Bus Line is one of the better companies, in terms of the fleet of buses that it has running out of the south, is there any specific complaint about any of the other bus lines in terms of the quality of service or the conditions of their vehicles, if they are roadworthy, et cetera?"
Hon. Edmond Castro, Minister of Transport
"I think James Bus Line is one of the companies that maintains their buses and have a better standard, or the standard that other bus operators should look towards. Also, you have to understand that in some cases, even with James Bus Line, there are some leg on the journey that is way out of the twelve to fourteen percent balance that we are trying to strike. We have to try and see how we could balance it. We don't want to squeeze the bus operator to the brink that they cannot upkeep and maintain their buses because dat noh good fi none ah we. Noh di commuting public nor the bus operators, so we have to try strike wahn balance. But yes in some areas we might see a slight increase and in some areas there will be a decrease, because we are trying to stay within the 12 -14 cents per mile."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Sir is there any sort of criminal sanctions or any sort of sanctions whatsoever that can be brought against these bus companies who hike the price without the government's permission?"
Hon. Edmond Castro, Minister of Transport
"They completely was out of order and we were able to discuss with them. They had no right to hike the bus fare. They are not the ones that set fares. So we ask them to back off of that and I believe they did. I haven't received any calls that they continue with that terrible increase that they had and also we had not had a change in the SI since 1992. Over the past year or so we try to balance it around the 10 cents per mile situation. But we have to try and see how we could balance the situation."
After that interview, he told us that he was heading directly to that meeting with the Southern and Northern Bus Owners.
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