Taxi operators reject plans for transport hub in ‘belly’ of warring areas

WESTERN BUREAU:

Public transport operators in Westmoreland are opposing a proposal by the local municipality to relocate the park from uptown to downtown Savanna-la-Mar.

The operators say they welcome the need to streamline and regulate the flow of traffic in the parish by way of a new transportation centre on Great George Street, the Boardwalk property that is being contemplated, but it is too close to the belly of the warring gangs operating in the commercial district of Savanna-la-Mar.

“I heard about the plans to relocate the bus park to Boardwalk, downtown, but that is not good, as while they are trying to bring order to the traffic flow, many people could get robbed or even killed in the crossfire between the gangs operating down there,” a bus driver told The Gleaner.

“Relocating the park is not the best thing at this time, especially to where it is going.”

While the cost may be high for the parish council to continue to pay rent every month, the operators said it would be much better and safer to fix up the current park and get the police and the Transport Authority to compel everyone to use it.

“If you are here long enough, you will see some goats grazing through the grass that has grown through the asphalt surface,” shouted a commuter to The Gleaner news team.

“Everything in this park is bad. The bathroom lock off from 12 o’clock. We don’t have any security,” said a bus driver who operates on the Savanna-la-Mar to Mandeville route and who identifies himself only as Roy, as he chronicled the poor condition of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation’s (WMC)- operated transportation centre.

“The place is full of potholes, storing water that can breed mosquitoes. The gutters are the same, especially when they take a long time to clean them,” he said.

According to Danree Delancy, deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, the current transportation centre, located at Barracks Road, is being leased for a tidy sum by the corporation. He did not disclose the figure as, he said, he didn’t have the correct figure.

However, a Gleaner source close to the operations of the corporation indicated that it is paying close to $500,000 per month.

Coupled with that challenge, the deputy mayor said taxi and bus operators are not making the process any easier, as they have refused to utilise the park and have resorted to picking up and setting down passengers just about anywhere in the town.

“As it is right now, I don’t know how much longer the corporation can continue to keep operations going up by that bus park. If we were paying a mortgage on that property, we would have bought it already, but the owners are not selling,” Delancy said in a Gleaner interview on Tuesday, while responding to the public passenger vehicle operators’ concerns.

Both Delancy and the operators agree that those who use the park are mainly those on the longer routes – travelling to Kingston, Mandeville, Santa Cruz and Montego Bay.

“It’s only when the police give us that support and are out there on the streets, then you’ll find them (public transport operators) actually operating from the park,” the deputy mayor noted.

The Montego Bay route is considered to be the fastest in terms of how frequent people are travelling to the St James parish capital. Delancy noted that the drivers are also more aggressive in their approach and will park their buses at the front of the transport centre to block both entrance and exit points, therefore creating chaos in the traffic flow.

Responding to the concerns of the public passenger vehicle operators, Delancy agreed that remedial work is needed to enhance the surface of the facility. “I must admit that currently, there are some holes that need to be filled out inside there; and we have taken the decision to use concrete instead of asphalt to remedy the situation.”

He also said the corporation needs the support of both the transport operators and the commuting public, because “we can’t provide amenities inside there for free – they refuse to use it and it adds to the congestion on Great George Street, Beckford Street and Lewis Street.”

Relocation

In terms of the proposed development and relocation of a new transportation centre, Delancy, who is also the councillor for the Bethel Town Division of the WMC, said the aim is to unshackle itself from the high monthly rental fee and to provide the PPV operators with a suitable facility from which to operate their businesses.

He noted that the plan to purchase the Boardwalk property is on hold, as the corporation is not in a financial position at this time, coupled with the need to have an informed decision by way of traffic flow and other critical analysis.

The WMC had also called in the National Works Agency to provide assistance with a traffic survey and analysis, traffic impact and demand, as well as an enforcement and management plan to support any implementation systems at the facility, and the sustainability of the Boardwalk property as a transportation centre.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com