Exactly six months after the new traffic plan for San Fernando was initiated by Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner, taxi drivers plying the North/South route are calling for a review of the system. If there is no other alternative to explore, the Government should revert to the old system, they said on Tuesday.
Taxi drivers operating from San Fernando to Port-of-Spain, Curepe and Chaguanas shared the view that the plan is not working and is worse than before. During a press conference last year, Minister of Works and Infrastructure Jack Warner said the experimental plan was not cast in stone. He said it would be reviewed after three months and that if the plans were successful after the initial trial period, they would be implemented on a permanent basis.
However, six months after, there is yet to be any information on a review of the plan. The plans were implemented in San Fernando, Arima, Port-of-Spain, Chaguanas, St Joseph, Curepe, Penal, Siparia and Princes Town. The San Fernando plan was enforced on December 5, 2011, and sought to impose parking restrictions, relocate taxi stands and create more one-way streets.
David Yearwood who has been plying the Port-of-Spain to San Fernando route for the past five years said: "The route is no good. They have just created more traffic. They took out most of the traffic coming onto High Street and put it on St James Street. So now St James Street is only traffic and that causes us to make longer rounds."
Curepe to San Fernando taxi driver, Martin Smith, agreed, saying the current plan is no better than the old one. He explained that sometimes drivers returning to the taxi stand are forced to make several circuits around Harris Promenade and High Street if there is no space on the official taxi stand. He said it takes more than ten minutes just to make a single circuit.
To avoid this extra driving, some taxi drivers park on the opposite side of the stand, transforming the dual carriage way into a single lane. Many of the taxi drivers said they believe that authorities should go back to the old traffic route until they come up with a new plan. They claim the "bottle-necking" of traffic at various junctions hinders the number of trips they would like to achieve a day.
They pinpointed the major congestion spot as corner of Circular Road and Pointe-a-Pierre Road which trickle to the bottom of High Street. A Marabella taxi driver, who declined to give his name, said it takes him more than ten minutes to get from the entrance of Naparima High School on Pointe-a-Pierre Road to his taxi stand, which is located a few metres away.
He added that moving the taxi stand from one side of the road to the other has made access easier for them. However, passengers complain that there is no shelter on that side of the road whenever it rains. President of the San Fernando Business Association, Daphne Barlett, said the plan has increased the flow of traffic into downtown, San Fernando. This, she said, should have benefited the business community.
However, parking continues to be a problem and with the implementation of the wrecking service sales have suffered, she said. "When shoppers take a chance and park on the streets they are wrecked so that is a big concern for us at the moment," she added
Warner had said that he believed the plan would relieve the traffic congestion in these areas and would assist in law enforcement with the aggressive resumption of the wrecker patrol. Barlett said she is hopeful that when the Chancery Lane Complex is opened, its multi-storey car park should ease their parking woes.
