Add maxi-taxi drivers to the list of people anxious about the rapid rail project proposed by the opposition PNM.
Previous concerns about the plan centred on the cost of the feasibility study and of bringing the system into existence, but the travelling public has not expressed any displeasure at the idea of bypassing overcrowded roads for fast, safe and relatively clean public transportation. In his budget response, the Opposition Leader promised to revisit the project if the PNM was returned to office, tying the project to the long-overdue possibility of gradually reducing the costly gas subsidy.
For the maxi-taxi drivers, the prospect of the loss of jobs was worrying and they weren't happy. The concern of Maxi Taxi Association head Linus Phillip is understandable, but it's misplaced.
For one thing, there will always be people who want transport that drops them to their door or street corner instead of at a station that's some distance away. There will still be a need for a cohort of short-drop taxis to service the major stops of any mass transit system that gets passengers where they need to go in the sleepy hours of the morning and after an exhausting day.
Mr Phillip is also underplaying the widespread, long and painful hours that so many people spend travelling a few miles in bumper-to-bumper traffic, a problem that has a tremendous cost to people and to businesses.A short but sharp shower on Monday created a gridlock in the afternoon that stretched all the way back to the centre of Port-of-Spain as usual.
Rain isn't the only factor. All it takes is a stalled vehicle or accident to bring traffic flows to a complete halt on far too many thoroughfares into and out of Port-of-Spain–around the Savannah, in Cocorite, on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, to name a few regular spots.
Beyond the rapid rail project or some comparable mass transit system, the government needs to step up with more options to manage overcrowded roads. While the major rework of the traffic flow in and out of Diego Martin has dramatically reduced that bottleneck, geography limits how many major projects like that can be undertaken–and there are simply too many cars on the roads.
In August, Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz added one more choice for consideration in the ongoing mass transit discussion, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a midway point between the rapid rail project and the existing PTSC fleet of buses.
Mr Cadiz proposed much larger buses, operating at fewer stops, like a train system using existing roads. Faster passage for these larger transport systems would be facilitated by dedicated lanes and they would operate on more frequent schedules. Mr Cadiz mentioned ten and 15 minutes as a standard where such systems have been deployed.To make that project happen, a feasibility study will be needed, so the Transport Minister's announcement in the budget debate yesterday was a welcome one.
The water taxis are also a good, innovative, ongoing project that should be encouraged and expanded and made viable.BRT systems are generally regarded as a stopgap until a light rail system can be built. Progress needs to be made soon and after all this talk about mass transit, it's time to turn all these options into the reality that the travelling public needs.