“We are having a challenge with all of our services.”
This was part of an announcement by a female voice over the public address system at the Princess Alice Bus Terminal yesterday morning. It was about 7:50 a.m.
Two buses – one bound for St James Secondary School and the other for Pie Corner, St Lucy – were pulling out of the terminal.
They were followed shortly by a bus packed with Lester Vaughan Secondary students.
Earlier this month the NATION highlighted the crisis at the Transport Board that has forced management of the state-owned entity to juggle schedules to provide a service for the public with a large percentage of its fleet in the repair shop.
When a MIDWEEK?NATION team visited the two bus terminals in The City yesterday morning, it was obvious nothing much had changed.
Scores of early morning commuters, including schoolchildren, were seen at both locations as they waited restlessly for their bus rides.
At the Princess Alice Terminal, students were waiting to travel to as far as the Alleyne School in St Andrew. That school starts at 9 a.m. and it takes about an hour to get there from that location.
Some of the students said they were at the terminal from as early as 7:15 a.m. They said the buses were mostly late since the start of the month.
One man who said he was waiting for “a Jackson or Warrens bus” told the MIDWEEK NATION: “I was here since 6:20 a.m. and I am still waiting. They said they had bus problems.”
It was about 8:15 a.m. when some Alleyne students opted to pay the $1.50 fare and board a yellow minivan to take them to St Andrew.
General manager of the state-owned company, Sandra Forde, confirmed that the board continued to have problems with its aging fleet but management was doing what it could to service all its routes.
She said the department had made a few changes, including an extension of some routes to service others.
“Our mandate is to provide a service to the Barbadian public. Even though we have an aging fleet, we do the best that we can and we are very cautious of the changes that we make on particular services,” Forde said.
She also apologized to commuters, saying children were their priority.
It was about 8:20 a.m. when the?NATION?team left the Princess Alice Terminal. Only one bus had arrived there since 8 a.m. – the City Circle bus.
Over at the Fairchild Street Terminal, the situation was similar. However, there were larger crowds.
At about 8:37 a.m. students were waiting for buses to take them to Springer Memorial Secondary, St George Secondary, Grantley Adams Memorial and Princess Margaret Secondary.
One woman, who gave her name as Myrna Smith, described the bus service was “really bad”. She said she was waiting “about two hours” for the Yorkshire, Christ Church bus.
