Mistrustful, cautiously hopeful, silent. These were some of the reactions yesterday of commuters at City Gate, Port-of-Spain, using the Public Transport Service Corporation's (PTSC) new Bus Rapid Transit System to the East-West Corridor. One week after Finance Minister Winston Dookeran announced in the 2012 budget the coming of the service, it came to pass. Almost every 15 minutes a bus pulled into City Gate in front the Arima line. Sometimes, it picked up as little as 20 people and pulled out and at other times took up commuters in lines stretching out into the corridor.
PTSC deputy general manager Brian Juanette said in the new system the bus might take up a small amount of people on the main facility but would pick up commuters at stops all along the East-West Corridor. Sadly, the new service does not extend to Sangre Grande. A small group of mostly elderly folks leaned wearily against the railing in their line and dolefully watched an Arima bus pull in every 15 minutes. "They real persecuting us here," a Sangre Grande man who works in Port-of-Spain and travels to and from the City every day said. "Every minute they sending an Arima bus."
At 2 pm a group of women standing at the front of the Arima line had heard about the new service but were completely mistrustful. "They suffering you and treating you bad," a young women said. "Is years I travelling on the bus and when you come here ten past three sometimes is all five you getting a bus. "When you go by the information booth they giving you attitude and knows nothing. "Is years they saying they bringing a bus every 15 minutes...This going and last three, four days and is back to the same thing."
Another woman cut in: "Sometimes the line all by the washroom. But Sando and Chaguanas bus always coming. Arima people have to suffer the most." Another woman explained why she endured the suffering for years. "From here to Arima is $4 with the bus and the maxi is $6...You saving a lil $2 on your salary," she said. "Then the maxi driving hard and you could get hold up in the maxi...You can't get hold up in the bus." The women got silent as an Arima bus pulled in front their line after 15 minutes and they quietly got in. The Guardian watched as a bus pulled in almost every 15 minutes after that.
Customer Service representative Josanne Rondon-Alfonso, showing a long list, said since 4 am yesterday morning the Arima bus had been leaving City gate every 15 minutes. "This will go on until 9 pm every night," she said. Juanette said PTSC chose the East-West to test the new service because of the large numbers of communities living there. He said it was a forerunner to a larger picture. "We haven't decided which routes and in which order as yet," he added. He said the travelling public would have some reservations about the reliability of the service.
Juanette said 1.2 million people use the bus every month. He said this did not mean the whole of T&T since the same person made multiple trips per week. In the budget, Dookeran said feasibility and design studies would commence shortly to establish a modern system of urban transportation, including a Bus Rapid Transit System. He said the new system would service routes along the East-West Corridor and from the East-West Corridor to San Fernando.
