Court: Excursion-bus owners can challenge $15k licence fee

PRESIDENT of the excursion bus owners association has been permitted to challenge a $15,000 fee for a special licence to operate.

Nazim Mohammed, president of the Private Bus Owners/Operators Association, wants the court to declare that the $15,000 fee for a public service vehicle (PSV) licence, issued by the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), is illegal.

He also wants a declaration that the policy requirement of the Licensing Authority that excursion bus operators must have the licence as a precondition to have their vehicles inspected is also illegal.

Mohammed wants the court to quash the decision to impose the fee. He was permitted to file his claim by Justice Frank Seepersad on August 1. The judge has deemed it fit for urgent hearing on August 12.

Mohammed, who is represented by a team of attorneys from Freedom Law, led by Anand Ramlogan, SC, says he owns two omnibuses, also known as excursion buses.

“For my adult life, I have provided charter services via motor omnibuses to various destinations across the country.

“This is how I have been able to put food on my table and send my three children to school. My buses have been hired by families, groups of friends, schools or organisations for trips to beaches, nature parks, and rivers, to transport groups to weddings, for prayer services and even baptisms.

“ I have seen a lot of Trinidad because of these charters.”

Mohammed said his buses were off the road like maxi-taxis as he operated on charters.

“The charter is for persons who are known to the party. A maxi-taxi, however, functions differently.”

Mohammed said from 1997 to 2014, the licence fee increased from $100 to $7,500. Owners and operators paid to maintain their businesses but in 2004, he said he was told the PTSC did not have the authority to impose the fee and the practice stopped.

During this time, they were able to have their buses inspected. However, Mohammed said in 2023, while trying to get his bus inspected, he was told he needed a PSV licence from PTSC.

“The Licensing Authority was not allowing the buses to be inspected unless a PSV licence was presented.

“Without a valid inspection certificate, the buses were not deemed authorised to be driven on the roadways and myself and the other owners were at the peril of being charged and prosecuted if caught driving our buses without inspection.”

Mohammed said he was told in June, the PTSC had the discretion to authorise anyone to operate public service vehicles upon payment of any prescribed fee. The fee for the PSV licence is now $15,000.

“It is currently the school holiday season (during August-September). It is one of the busiest periods for me as my buses are normally booked by families for excursions and outings. I have been contacted for trips but have had to decline…because I have been unable to pay the PSV fee to get the licence for inspection.”

Mohammed’s lawyers contend neither the Public Service Transport Act nor the Motor Vehicle Road Traffic Act provided a legal basis for the imposition of the fee.