Buses in Nadi were not seen commuting passengers to town last week, says Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Dr Ram Raju.
“Although most business houses opened their doors for business from this Monday (last week), buses were yet to be seen transporting people to the town,” he said.
Dr Raju said buses played an important role and they all could institute COVID-19 restrictions on seating arrangements in order to allow passengers to travel to the town back and forth.
“I wish to call upon the bus operators to try to help during this difficult time and I am told that most buses, if not all are operating in Lautoka since the restrictions were uplifted.”
In response, the Fiji Bus Operators Association (FBOA) president Nisar Ali Shah said one or two bus companies had brought buses to the Nadi Town for people to commute last Monday, however, people were not boarding the bus.
“In Nadi, they (bus operators) tried on Monday (last week) but there was not any loading, only two to three people inside the bus doesn’t make any money and even where buses are running, it is running on 50 per cent capacity and 50 per cent means, we don’t make money and how long will be doing a loss business,” he said.
Mr Shah added that Nadi was still a bit of a red zone in terms of COVID-19, and drivers were also concerned about their wellbeing.
“The FBOA doesn’t get involved in telling individual bus operators on how to run their company and they have to decide it themselves whether they want to run on 50 per cent capacity or not.”
He said people in Nadi were also aware of the implications of moving unnecessarily with the rise in positive cases in Nadi.
He said things could change this week.
