Pellau Magazine

PH drivers express concern: Traffic plan looks permanent Published:  Thursday, July 19, 2012 Traffic moves along Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, on Monday at the start of the new traffic plan for west Port-of-Spain. PHOTO: MARCUS GONZALES Some PH taxi drivers fear the Woodbrook pilot traffic plan will become permanent despite concerns from passengers and drivers alike about added distance, increased costs, detours and other inconveniences. Several drivers noted new traffic signs were being erected and painted along the new routes.   The male driver of a PBH white Corolla, plying the Ariapita Avenue route into the city, said yesterday morning: “You think after spending all that money and overtime on them signs, they going to change it after three months?  This here to stay. “As usual they make their decisions and people have to suffer for it. Same story in T&T. Nothing change. When I count my intake on the first day of this plan, I was $100 short.”   The plan revolves around one-way free-flowing traffic into Port-of-Spain, via Ariapita Avenue; or into Newtown and Woodbrook and parts of St James, via Tragarete Road and Western Main Road. Under the plan, people using public transport—taxis or buses—to get into or head west out of Port-of-Spain have to trek additional distance to reach Ariapita Avenue or Tragarete Road, respectively, to get transport into the city or further west.   The plan favours those who have their own transport who can drive straight along the Avenue to get into the city or along Tragarete Road and Western Main Road to Newtown, Woodbrook and St James. But those who live in Newtown, eastern Woodbrook and nearby areas, who use public transport into the city, must now walk several blocks to the Avenue to get taxis or buses, instead of getting a taxi on Tragarete Road as previously.   For instance, a passenger living at the top of Picton Street, Newtown, will have to walk six blocks to Ariapita Avenue to get a taxi into the city: three from Picton to Tragarete, and three or four more from Tragarete to Ariapita Avenue. The situation has also increased public transport passengers’ time to get from Newtown/Woodbrook and such areas into downtown Port-of-Spain. This was previously 10 to 15 minutes, depending on traffic.   It is now almost an hour, depending on where a person lives, how many blocks they have to walk to get to public transport into the city and how long they have to wait for such transport. Alternatively, city-bound Woodbrook folk can walk ten-plus blocks to downtown instead of taking public transport, and save taxi fare.   Those who live in western Woodbrook and who use public transport to get to points in St James and further east Woodbrook, similarly have to walk several blocks to Tragarete Road to get transport. On Tuesday, Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing, acknowledging complaints from citizens, said authorities could not plan for everybody, that taxi drivers had not given input in previous consultations on the plan and that “PH” drivers were doing well under the new plan.   But yesterday, the story from “PH” drivers was the same as those from “H” drivers. The male PBH driver encountered by the T&T Guardian was furious at the situation, as were his two female passengers, from Arima and Diego Martin. The driver in his 50s, who declined to give his name, said: “People don’t know where to go to get transport, especially to get into town. But it’s also harder for ‘PH’ drivers. At last ‘H’ drivers have a taxi stand.   “These people (authorities) doing things for ‘theyself’ and they only consulting who have Audi and BMW and who drive their children to school. “If the mayor can’t plan for old people and children at least, who you planning for? Only yourself?” He added: “How everybody could afford to get their own car to go on these new ‘highways’ they making out of the Avenue and Tragarete. If everybody get their own car, then Government will say it have too much cars on the road. That is how the congestion started.”     Extra $$ on fares, say passengers One of the driver’s backseat passengers from Diego Martin said: “Voices have to be heard on this. I now have to take two taxis to get from Diego into Port-of-Spain on the route I need to use since I drop off more on the St James side but the cars say they are passing on the avenue and that is way off the route I am going.” The woman, in her 40s, said she now has to pay two taxi fares which added up to more than she paid before.   The other passenger, a female student, added: “I go to classes in St James and I used to get the taxis close by but I now have to walk past KFC, businesses and other places, so it takes more time to reach to get a taxi.”