Authorities Work Together So Company Can Resume Bus Services

Land Transport Author­ity (LTA) and Fiji Roads Au­thority (FRA) are working together so that Taveuni Buses (PTE) Limited can resume its ser­vices to the southern part of Tave­uni Island.

The only bus company on the island suspended its services on Thursday claiming that FRA failed to carry out the maintenance of the Government roads and LTA kept issuing them traffic infringement notices (TINs) whenever there were bus breakdowns and this was un­fair to them.

In a statement LTA said it was ar­ranging with holders of the Rural Service Licence (RSL) to provide transport to students so that they could attend school.

LTA confirmed that it is aware of this problem and is trying to work with FRA to resolve it.

Meanwhile, when contacted FRA also confirmed that it is aware the company had suspended services.

“On the South Coastal Road the repair of Soqulu four crossing on Thursday night should enable the bus to operate from Friday (yester­day) for which the public advisory had been sent out on Wednesday,” FRA mentioned in the statement.

“For the North Coastal Road the bus service should continue on this section of the road because the con­tractor is attending to the bad sec­tion of the road as well.”

Taveuni Buses (PTE) Limited manager Prakash Sami said he was sorry for the inconvenience caused to the public but he had to think about the condition of the buses which were badly damaged by bad roads over so many months.

“Deep potholes along our roads are never filled by the FRA con­tractors on the island,” Mr Sami claimed.

“Poor drainage has caused roads to be flooded during rainy season.

“Many complaints with photos have been sent to FRA, LTA and to the road contractors last month.”

Edited by Percy Kean

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