Not all smooth sailing for PSVs in the north

Public service vehicle operators in the Speightstown area are already complaining of revenue losses from a new system that requires them to conduct their business from the main bus terminal.

However, less than a week after the changes were implemented, passengers are lauding the “safer” and “more orderly” system.

The two bus stops outside the terminal, where minibuses and route taxis would allow passengers to disembark or attempt to solicit customers before moving off, have been decommissioned and are now removed. Drivers and conductors are forbidden from soliciting there and frequent police patrols ensure the new rules are enforced.

Instead, PSVs now stop at the entrance to the main terminal, which was previously reserved for Transport Board buses, allowing passengers to get out. The vehicles then proceed to the back of the terminal to be sanisited, before joining a short queue based on the route that they service.

Buses and vans are destined for Boscobelle, Indian Ground and Connell Town to as far away as Bridgetown, Oistins, and the Crane.

When contacted on Tuesday Director of the Transport Authority Ruth Holder said for the most part the system is working well. She said after making a few minor changes to gate positioning, all of the buses are being accommodated and compliance has been “excellent”.

But operators told Barbados TODAY that the additional journey from the main areas in Speightstown to the back of the terminal means that potential passengers are less likely to use their services.

Some said their ability to make profits is based on an unwritten set of customs understood by the ‘van men’. And while they support a more orderly system, the businessmen say they did not have adequate consultation with other senior transport officials.

“The passengers have dropped a lot, that is the truth,” said Kevin Belgrave, a driver on the Boscobelle route for over 16 years.

“I only heard a couple days before that we were going into the terminal… It is a bit of an inconvenience for the passengers with the extra walk,” he added.

Ruel Boyce, who also services Boscobelle and Indian Ground, believes the two bus stops outside could at least have been used for disembarking passengers.

He noted that it has only been a week and the system would need more time to work.

“No one really has a problem with order. If this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do. But I believe they moved the bus stops because of the vans. They aren’t really thinking about the travelling public who have to traverse from one point to another. It is a lot of walking and people are complaining already,” said Boyce.

A mature driver, who unlike many of his colleagues owns his own van, said he was resigned to the fact that he had little say in the decisions affecting the sector, though he was certain that PSV workers would always get “the bad end of the stick”.

However, the Transport Authority head revealed that multiple meetings dating back to October 2020 had been held on the changes which are all intended for the improvement of the sector.

“Before they were on the road doing as they pleased. We put them in a sheltered environment where the commuters don’t get wet, where they are safe and protected from the elements, where there’s less likelihood of an accident happening and they choose to complain because they are on the other side of the terminal. Passengers are in the terminal, which means that passengers can find them where they are and passengers are finding them where they are,” Holder said.

In an interview on Monday, Communications, Information and Marketing Officer of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Mark Haynes reaffirmed the organisation’s “full support” for efforts to ease congestion and create a safe environment.

He however admitted that the owners are yet to hear the concerns of the workers.

“Those issues are still outstanding and we would have to hear what the workers are complaining about so that if there are legitimate concerns, we can collate the information and we are prepared to meet with the Transport Authority or the ministry to ensure that all of those matters are dealt with to the satisfaction of PSV workers,” Haynes told Barbados TODAY.

“In terms of supporting it one way or the other, the Alliance Owners of Public Transport has given its blessing in terms of moving the men to a designated area for their own safety, for the safety of the commuters and thus averting congestion on the roads and in Speightstown,” he added.

Pauline King who was waiting in a route taxi bound for Indian Ground said she supported the changes.

“I think it is good that they are in here lining up and I think everybody will get through instead of having everybody trying to run behind one another and cutting out each other. That doesn’t make sense,” said King.

One woman, who preferred not to use her name added: “I prefer this new system over the previous systems, but the operators are creatures of habit, so it may be difficult for them.”

On the other hand, a male passenger complained that the system was too slow.

“I had to sit down for another 45 minutes last week,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“If the young people would learn to behave themselves, it would be better and the authorities wouldn’t have to use these measures to keep them in check.” kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb