Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Roy Raphael, is urging Government to pump the brakes on its traffic relief pilot, warning that the initiative – set to begin tomorrow – could create confusion without proper consultation and adjustments for the industry.
“Please don’t implement this; this will cause chaos,” said Raphael, who learned about the two-lane traffic flow system the same way most Barbadians did – by listening to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s announcement at the Barbados Labour Party’s Annual Conference last Saturday.
“We have not had any direct consultation,” Raphael shared, revealing that efforts to reach the Chief Technical Officer to understand how the system would work were unsuccessful.
“We are in the dark,” he added.
The Weekend Nation was also unsuccessful in attempting to reaching Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, the Minister of Transport and Works, as well as Senior Minister Dr William Duguid for clarity on the proposed changes.
Tackle congestion
Meanwhile, the public transport sector welcomed efforts to tackle congestion but leaders said the rollout lacked crucial stakeholder input.
Anwar Nana, chairman of the Association of Public Transport Owners (APTO), confirmed his association also had no discussions about the plan with Government. “In everything, all the stakeholders should come together. Everybody has their own experiences and ideas, so in these situations you need everyone on board,” he said.
Despite the lack of consultation, Nana was cautiously optimistic about the rollout of the pilot project.
“If these adjustments do assist in the traffic situation, then great, but I guess we’ll have to wait to see how things go,” he said. “If it’s done in the correct manner then I think it should work. I welcome anything to assist with the backlog of traffic that we have.”
Flexibility key
He emphasised flexibility if the pilot doesn’t deliver results.
“We would like that the change will work. If not, there’s no problem with reverting to the old way.”
Raphael’s concerns, however, go beyond consultation to specific operational challenges he believed had not been addressed. One of his primary worries centred on how public service vehicle operators would navigate the new system without running afoul of existing traffic regulations.
“Right now, as it stands, there’s no adjustment to the PSV route,” he explained. If a PSV operator finds himself caught in the wrong lane or needing
to take an alternate route because of the one-way system, current rules don’t accommodate those adjustments.
“I suspect that once you have the two lanes going down, it will be easier for the ZRs to go down. I don’t expect any back up or any congestion,” Raphael said.
“Coming back up now [in the morning] means that we will find ourselves breaking the law by going off-route and it is likely you’ll be reported by police for going off-route.
“The only person that can amend the route is Transport Authority or the police.”
He noted that up to the time he was contacted by the Weekend Nation
around 3:30 p.m. yesterday, no notice of amended routes had been given.
Raphael also raised concerns about roads that were previously closed during peak hours, restrictions he believed now needed to be reconsidered. He cited areas like Dover, Christ Church, and Bank Hall, St Michael, where closed roads limited options for drivers trying to navigate around congestion.
“You will need to reopen those roads to allow persons to go through to have access,” he said. “If you don’t open up those roads, people are going to still go through there anyway.”
He also advocated for greater use of police officers to direct traffic at peak times, more strategic deployment of traffic lights, and the introduction of initiatives the industry had long proposed – including park-and-ride systems, water taxis between areas like Speightstown, St Peter, and The City, and restricting private vehicles from entering Bridgetown during certain hours while providing shuttle services.
Raphael’s strongest appeal was for meaningful consultation before tomorrow’s launch.
“I believe Government needs to sit down with stakeholders and discuss this plan,” he said.
“This is not an initiative that we want to dismiss. It’s something that we believe can work once everybody put their heads together.” (DDS)
