The number of issues this country is confronting requires that citizens and policymakers think outside the box. Traditional thought and long-tested policies that represent the safe route to addressing the myriad economic and social issues which our leaders are required to resolve, will at times, have to give way to new thinking.
When free education was introduced in Barbados, allowing everyone from primary school through to the University of the West Indies became part of the entitlement of each citizen of Barbados. It was thought of by some as too ambitious; the country could not afford it.
The excuse for removing such a public good could easily be the fact that in some of the world’s leading economies, a college education is not free.
Certainly, no average child of working-class parents in the USA has an expectation of reading for a four-year degree and graduating without a crippling college debt that is unlikely to be paid off for another 15 years.
Unless one is a gifted athlete, sports star, or academic scholarship winner, the likelihood of a costly bill for higher education could become your Achilles heel in future financial planning.
In fact, when United States President Joe Biden sought to introduce an initiative to relieve mostly working-class Americans of billions of dollars in student debt, a lobby group challenged the matter up to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the President’s plan was struck down.
Implications for various social groups from the current policy are significant. When only those who have the means to pay have access to higher education, it widens the social and economic cleft in society. The majority of the poor are doomed to remain at the bottom with opportunities to elevate their economic position stunted.
We present this scenario to Barbadians in the face of an interesting proposal offered by realtor and independent senator Andrew Mallalieu, during the 2024-2025 Estimates Debate in the Senate.
Faced with increasingly horrendous traffic congestion on almost every roadway in Barbados leading to the main commercial districts such as Bridgetown, Warrens, Wildey and the South Coast, Senator Mallalieu offered that we should make public transportation free to everyone.
Currently, school children and retirees can travel free of cost during specific periods. However, Senator Mallalieu contends that Barbados has to adopt a radical approach to traffic management as it was negatively impacting productivity in the country and was an undesirable feature of life here.
“My solution for transportation is to make it free. I think it should be free for everyone, no matter who. If you are in Barbados, you can travel on the bus for free. We need to find some way of getting people to change their culture of driving everywhere and we need to find a reliable, clean, safe, public transportation that we can all use,” he told the Upper House on Tuesday.
In making his case, the leading realtor called on the administration to take a completely different approach to the issue, as others were not bearing fruit.
“We suffer with congestion, and it will only get worse from what I can see . . . . The economy is doing well, and it will continue to do well . . .
“I know it will have an impact. I just want us to rethink transportation, recognising the problem we have with congestion, unless it is our intention to spend millions and millions of dollars in road infrastructure in what is effectively a very small city with a lot of competing land usage. Perhaps a colloquium on that subject would be useful,” he said.
Expectedly, there was immediate pushback from those who operate privately-owned public transport services. Questions were also raised about the impact of such a move on the operators of taxis.
Most important was the question of how such a move would be financed, especially in an environment where Barbadians are expressing deep concerns about the high level of taxes they already pay.
As it stands, the congestion is linked to the fact that we do not have a reliable and orderly public transportation system which is leading to more and more people purchasing cars, thus compounding the situation on our streets. The congestion is leading to more accidents and harmful emissions.
