No more free ferry ride for pensioners, some upset while others unfazed

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA and PE­TER CHRISTO­PHER

Now that pen­sion­ers have to pay to use the in­ter-is­land fast fer­ry, some are won­der­ing whether their free bus tick­ets will be tak­en away. But So­cial De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Don­na Cox said there was no need to wor­ry.

“That Bud­get an­nounce­ment did not speak about the re­moval of free bus tick­ets. There is no cause for wor­ry,” she said.

Guardian Me­dia took to the streets to find out how the el­der­ly were feel­ing now that they have to pay $25 one way and $50 re­turn if they use the fast fer­ry to To­ba­go. While some felt it was un­fair, oth­ers were un­fazed.

At Clax­ton Bay, Sa­heed Mo­hammed rode his bi­cy­cle through Mount Pleas­ant Road. He said he en­joyed the free fer­ry pre­vi­ous­ly and felt it was un­fair for the Gov­ern­ment to take away this priv­i­lege from pen­sion­ers.

“I don’t feel good about it. It is not sup­posed to be so. The way how every­thing is ex­pen­sive now, it is hard for pen­sion­ers,” he said.

He said pay­ing for trav­el was dif­fi­cult when you are liv­ing on a pen­sion.

“As a pen­sion­er, I have bills to pay and some­times my pen­sion doesn’t last for the month. Do­ing this to us is not the right thing,” Mo­hammed said. “They say they are giv­ing us an ex­tra $1,000, but I’m just get­ting the feel­ing that they may take away the free bus ride too.”

Dar­ryl Man­ga­roo, who works with the el­der­ly, al­so…