Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Ian Gooding Edghill has warned private Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) against engaging in practices that are hindering traffic flow in the Warrens, St Michael area.
Gooding-Edghill said because PSV operators are to use the bus stop with lay-by directly next to the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic, he has ordered that a transport inspector be placed in the area to police them and ensure an improvement of traffic flow.
He appealed to PSV operators and owners to assist in the traffic management exercise by properly utilizing the lay-by and the bus stop to drop off, pick up passengers, and exit the area immediately.
At a press briefing in Warrens on Monday, the Minister of Transport said following complaints from members of the public, Ministry officials visited the area last week. They observed that the lay-by is not being used by PSVs in the way it was intended.
“It is proving to be difficult for motorist exiting from the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic where they have to take the left turn. And often time, when they exit, they cannot see, because there is a back up of vehicles in the area, Gooding-Edghill said.
“So I really want to use this opportunity to ask owners and operators of the PSVs to exercise good judgment and to utilize the facilities that we have put in place, the bus stop and the lay-by to drop off and to pick up passengers and to move on and continue.”
The authorities have also noticed that PSV operators travelling in the southerly direction are slowing down and causing huge bottlenecks, the transport minister said.
Said Gooding-Edghill: “I really want to use this occasion, again, to appeal to the operators and the owners of these PSVs to utilize the lay-by further south, just beyond Friendship, but before you make the right turn to exit on to Eden Lodge.
“Our observation too is that when this happens the traffic then backs up in the area of the Everton Weekes Roundabout and then it backs up on the Highway, and then it backs up in the other area going to the Jackson Roundabout.”
The Minister of Transport issued a reminder that there are rules against such practices in the Road Traffic Act that can be employed to facilitate the movement of PSVs.
But he said that before implementing the rules in the act, the ministry will meet with PSV owners and operators to encourage them to use the bus stops and lay-bys provided for good traffic flow.
Gooding-Edghill told reporters: “Within the Road Traffic Act, we have the authority to take certain actions, but like I said, we don’t want to get to that point. I really want to use this occasion to appeal to the PSVs to operate in a manner that would allow us to have a consistent flow of traffic in the Warrens area.
“We want to encourage the PSVs associations, the owners, and the operators, to cooperate with us because we cannot have the traffic backing up at critical junctions and we can’t have issues of health and safety being put at risk because of what we are experiencing.” (AH)
