Street boys help to fill up PMV buses

STREET youths helping bus boss crews in Mt Hagen city, Western Highlands, earn more in a fortnight than senior public servants.
Many people think it a dirty and shameful job to call passengers into buses but for some youths it is their gold mine.
One of the nine youths commonly known as, “one-day boss crew” based at the main bus stop of Chimbu, Goroka, Lae and Madang bus stop said last Saturday that he made between K70 and K90 a day.
Philip Joseph, from Gena tribe in the Chimbu’s Kerowagi district but now living near Manda plantation in the South Waghi district, Western Highlands, said on busy days like government pay week, he made between K100 and K120 for a day’s work.
Joseph said his job was to call the passengers into the bus and when all the seats were occupied, he charged the boss crew of the bus K5 for a 15-seater bus and K10 on a 25-seater bus.
He said he and his colleagues jumped from bus to bus calling for passengers.
He said in a day he could jump into six to seven buses but in busy periods he could hop onto nine to 11 buses.
He said he made good money.
Joseph said as a street boy, who spent most of his time at the bus stop, he could to tell where passengers were coming from and where they would be travelling to.
He said it was easy for him to call them in and fill the bus seats quickly.
He said the boss crews did not know how to convince passengers and took much longer to fill up a bus.