The organisers of Barbados’s leg of the upcoming T20 World Cup and the Crop Over Festival have been reprimanded by the public service vehicle industry’s chief spokesman for what he perceives as weak public transport planning behind the large spectacles.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael suggested in a Barbados TODAY interview that little has changed since his complaint that the local organising committee for the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 Men’s World Cup has failed to reach out to PSV and taxi fraternity to iron out transport plans given the high numbers of patrons expected to make their way in and around Kensington Oval in June.
Raphael revealed that after voicing concerns about the lack of communication or notification on a meeting to discuss a concrete public transport plan for the tournament, a representative from the ICC reached out but no formal meeting has yet to materialise.
He added that concerns around the Grand Kadooment jump-up have also been raised by operators. Raphael said that despite the change in route, neither the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) nor any of the other stakeholders behind the change have consulted with AOPT or its members in any way in order to strategically plan how public transport will function on the day.
“They should have met with us . . . not only ICC but the organising committee of Crop Over, they should have asked us how we feel about the new route. With the new route being established, it will have some interruption on some of our operators,” he said.
“Transportation is very important to any event . . . even with the Crop Over Festival that the changes in the [Kadooment] route were given, nobody consulted with us as an association. If we want to think world-class and so on, we have to give opportunities to people when opportunities arise.”
The new Kadooment route will start at the Bridgetown Helipad, proceed past Pelican Village, through President Kennedy Drive, onto Black Rock, and along the Mighty Grynner Highway, finishing near Kensington Oval.
The AOPT head argued that despite the large number of operators who service much of the island on a regular schedule, particularly those coming from Bridgetown, being left out of the conversation for such significant events was an insult.
“I express disappointment in those persons who continue to not only disrespect us but leave us out of important meetings. I want to say to them that the guys out there [who] got on short pants and rebelling, [do] not reflect the industry. We have high-profile people in the association that would argue on our behalf.
“I will continue to watch this situation very carefully, because when they do this, they always find themselves having to come back to us, and the next time they do that we are going to shut the door on them because we cannot allow persons to continue to disrespect us.”
Raphael also noted that disruptions to public transportation on that day will also affect the elderly and members of the disabled community who are far too often left out of discussions when it comes to major transport disruptions.
“We tend to leave them out,” he said. “There are people out there, older people and persons with disabilities, that also need to come to a taxi or a ZR in order to get up Broad Street. There should be shuttle buses [organised] to take the people to and from, even from one terminal to the next. We could also use Warrens as a hub for those persons who want to get from Warrens directly into the Helipad and onto Kensington.”
