Call to PTSC: Fix Eldamo bus service

A concerned citizen is calling on the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to have the Elderly and Differently Abled Mobile Service (Eldamo) buses fixed to accommodate the most vulnerable in society.

The Eldamo service picks up special -needs children to take them to and from school and also provides transport for the elderly.

On Monday, in a letter to the editor of Newsday, Oba Wright said although the Eldamo buses have never been consistent, for working parents/ guardians with special-needs children, the service was quite helpful.

Wright said for the first week of the new school term the buses have not been working.

“Contact with Eldamo has led to us being informed that they only have one working bus (despite having two months to repair and maintain the buses) and as such only the group of children closest to Port of Spain are picked up, the others being left to ‘hang,’” Wright said.

PTSC general manager Bashir Mohammed said from his reports, there are two Eldamo buses assigned to Port of Spain and 13 other buses to provide the service throughout other parts of the country.

"When I checked with our customer services, the buses have been active for the month and there were no complaints," he said. "As you know the Eldamo service is not the way it is supposed to be, because the number of buses we have to service the differently-abled is insufficient.

"We are working closely with the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services to do what we can do to improve the service."