The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission will now fix and declare the fares and charges for the use of public service vehicles.
The Land Transport Amendment Bill 2019 was passed in Parliament today.
While speaking on the bill, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says establishing a fare structure for public service vehicles is a complex exercise and takes into account various factors including the ever fluctuating price of fuel and inflation.
He says to conduct a fair, comprehensive and regular fare review process requires expertise of variety of fields including economics, market regulation, financial systems and auditing of accounts.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the LTA does not have the capacity or expertise to comprehensively undertake this exercise and the LTA is more focused on Land Transport regulations.
Furthermore, Sayed-Khaiyum says procedures in relation to temporary road permits will now be set out in the regulation by the Minister for Transport.
He says this action will significantly reduce the current high risk of bus service disruption and safeguard essential transport services particularly for students and working commuters.
While contributing to the bill, National Federation Party’s Lenora Qereqeretabua says the Land Transport Amendment Bill 2019 has the real potential to destroy the iconic bus industry as the granting of temporary road permits through regulatory means is determined by a single person who happens to be a politician.
In response, Sayed-Khaiyum says no bus company wants a road permit for three months as they want certainty and want permit for one or two years especially on rural roads where a few passengers travel in buses at certain times of the day.
He says they have been in constant consultation with the Fiji Bus Operators Association and other bus operators in relation to these issues and the Opposition is not aware of this.
