The organisation representing owners of privately-run public service vehicles (PSVs) is warning that the Cheapside Bus Terminal on the northern end of The City is a disaster waiting to happen.
And president of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael is this afternoon appealing to the Mia Mottley Administration to take urgent action for the safety of operators and commuters who use the facility that also accommodates state-owned buses.
“Down there is a disaster waiting to happen. It has no shelter from the elements; there is no form of security and] there is no lighting at night,” Raphael told Barbados TODAY.
While admitting that the AOPT met several months ago with the Transport Authority (TA) on the matter, the association’s head expressed concern about the length of time it is taking for something to be done.
“We have had a meeting with the Transport Authority. We are waiting on them. It was in November we would have done the walk-through and this is now February and we have not heard anything about it. The organisation doesn’t take this thing lightly, because as far as I am concerned, you are dealing with people’s lives and safety,” Raphael declared.
“We have a situation where people don’t want to come in the terminal at night because of the safety issues that we have had and what is happening now in this country. So I am making an appeal to the Government to do something about Cheapside. Cheapside is one of our major concerns and it continues to be,” he added.
The AOPT president told Barbados TODAY his association will therefore be summoning a meeting of all PSV operators shortly to determine the next move.
“We would like to encourage more people to work late at night, [but] at the end of the day, it is about the safety of the operators driving after 6 o’clock,” he said.
Asked how much time his organisation would be willing to give the Government to act, Raphael replied: “We had a good discussion between us and the other association APTO [Association of Public Transport Operators]. The associations should be meeting on Thursday afternoon as a joint committee and that would be one of the major issues on our agenda.”
When contacted this afternoon, Chairman of the Transport Authority Ian Estwick seemed surprised that the Alliance Owners of Public Transport would be urging the Government to take action on the conditions at the Cheapside Bus Terminal.
In fact, Estwick told Barbados TODAY that all the parties including the AOPT are well aware of what is being done to address the issue.
“It is receiving our attention. We met with the executive from the AOPT and APTO and we worked out some temporary arrangements which will be implemented shortly,” Estwick stated.
President of APTO Kenneth Kenny Best has promised to comment later.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
