PSVs want urgent talks with Gov’t on road repairs

The Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) is calling for emergency talks with Government over the poor state of the island’s roads which Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) use daily.

AOPT chairman Roy Raphael made the call on Friday as members of his organisation toured the plant at the L&N Company to oversee the final steps to prepare for a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transition project that will see some PSVs using natural gas rather than diesel.

Just over a week ago at a St Michael Speaks town hall meeting at Springer Memorial Secondary School, Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw said steps were being taken by the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources and other entities to correct the poor state of some roadways.

However, Raphael urged the Government to mark the situation as critical, given that PSV operators have to pay high vehicle maintenance fees because of the bad roads.

“There are some routes in Barbados that we definitely would not like to go on. One of the routes is Martin’s Bay, for example. [As] recently as two nights ago, one vehicle – lucky for him he had no passengers – coming from Sturges basically dropped into a pothole and caused the back tyre to blow out, and he hit and wrote off the vehicle,” the AOPT chairman said.

He added that though PSV operators are currently responsible for a bulk of the public’s transportation needs, owners are often stuck with the high costs associated with maintaining vehicles.

“I believe some effort should be made to assist us because there are commuters that are complaining daily that they cannot get a bus. We as PSV operators move 80 per cent of the travelling public, while the Transport Board moves the other percentage. What we are saying to the Government is to meet with us, we need to have a discussion as it relates to those potholes,” he said.
(SB)