PSV operators halt night services amid rising crime concerns

Several privately owned public service vehicle (PSV) operators have suspended evening services due to safety fears, potentially leaving commuters stranded as the state-owned Transport Board said it could not increase capacity to meet the shortfall.

Chairman of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO) Anwar Nana confirmed that his members have decided to stop plying the various routes between 4.40 p.m. and 5 p.m. every day, citing the surge in criminal activity, particularly in light of Saturday night’s robbery of two motorists in separate incidents in St Philip and the theft of their vehicles.

“It is a natural instinct of the workers. Obviously, if there is a safety issue…for their safety, they are going to start doing that. So, there is no directive to pull the vans off the road. Even my workers, they made 4.30, five o’clock the latest, and then go off the road. So, when outside gets dark, they don’t want to be on the road; and my guys work in St Philip, and that is a hot spot at the moment,” Nana told Barbados TODAY.

“There is no directive for anyone to do it, it’s just natural for what is going to happen because of the crime situation. There will be a substantial number that told me they will be doing it. When outside starts to get dark, those fellows that used to work nine or ten o’clock, they are not going to really do that trip anymore.”

Asked how long the action will last Nana replied: “Until things change, until we see a difference in the behaviour…the crime wave. I don’t know what is the reason for this upsurge right now.”

The state-owned Transport Board said it would not be in a position to pick up the slack.

“The Transport Board presently supplies services up to midnight daily. That will continue. We will not be able to add any additional services, but we will transport commuters as we always do on our existing routes,” Chief Operations Officer Yvette Holder told Barbados TODAY.

Police are continuing their investigations into the two car robberies in which one of the vehicles was recovered.

The first case occurred at Marchfield, St Philip, where a man was robbed at gunpoint of his vehicle by an unknown attacker around 7.30 p.m.

The second incident reportedly happened at the Kirtons Service Station in St Philip, in which a couple was also robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant while in the car park of the business place.