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A representative of the Fiji Bus Operators Association has expressed concern over the lack of appropriate insurance cover for bus travelers in Fiji, saying it was unfair that in the event of an accident, bus travelers may only claim a miniscule amount of up to $4000 per person.
Speaking to FijiLive following the launch in Suva of an awareness campaign by the Consumer Council of Fiji on Compulsory Third Party Policy Insurance, managing director of Tacirua Transport Co. Ltd Ajit Singh, said bus operators in the country have made repeated calls to the insurance industry and the Commissioner of Insurance at the Reserve Bank of Fiji for changes to be made in the interest of bus travelers, but to no avail.
“Well our concern is that the risks on the roads are greater now while the legislations came out in the 1940s and hasn’t been updated. In it, the insurance cover for those traveling in a bus is $4000 per person or $40,000 per bus, that’s the limit. If anyone gets injured while they’re traveling in a bus, they can claim for up to $4000 individually while a person who gets hurt outside the bus can claim for an unlimited amount. So for example if a bus carries 60 passengers and all 60 gets hurt, then only 10 gets covered. They get 10,000 each. The rest will have to be taken care of by the bus company. From our perspective, we would like to see that everybody inside the bus is covered, even if we have to pay a higher premium,” Singh told FijiLive.
He said there was no specific insurance policy that bus operators could take out in order to provide cover for all their passengers and he urged authorities to look into the matter.
Insurance Council representative Lolesh Sharma said bus passengers were, in the strictest sense, not a third party, for example the victims of the Raiwaqa bus fire in Sigatoka last year.
“What the insurance companies do offer is a $40,000 limitation over PSV vehicles, and that is extra and over a third party policy. Rightly, a ‘third party’ is somebody on the street or somebody in another vehicle. A bus passenger should strictly be covered under the Bus Company Passenger risk,” Sharma said.
Bus operator’s representative Singh said bus operators would continue to lobby for the risks relating to bus passengers to be carried by insurance companies.
