Dear Editor,

Allow me to comment on the above topic.

With much reading and thinking here are some thoughts on the new bus fare rates that has been agreed upon yesterday in the meeting initiated by the City Clerk.

With an increase of bus fare to SBD$4.00 for adult and SBD$2.00 for students sounds reasonable. I think the rates agreed upon can surely be of support to the struggling bus operators and also help the crying public.

From a functionalist perspective we the public would totally disagree on any form of increase we think and believe that things should be the same as it has been functioning before. With the increasing fuel prices globally things are not the same now for the bus owners and operators. The bus owners and operators, from a conflict perspective, will eagerly need this increase to maintain it's services and support the business with a profit to support their families.

With the above points, I suggest that people should also look from the conflict perspective to have a meaningful understanding of the current situation and not only from the functionalist view.

Furthermore, if the salary and wage earners are still finding it hard to cope with this increase, then I think the present Government should think of increasing salaries. Thus the real challenge is how our Government solve this problems through relevant policies.

Therefore, the increase to SBD$4.00 for adults and SBD$2.00 for student should be the best solution to the on-going debate.

God Bless Our Solomon Islands.