Order At Our Bus Parks

May 16, 2008 Editorial

The Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, is obviously a no-nonsense character. He has made it clear that there must be changes in the way in which our roadways are used.
More recently, he urged public transportation operators that there is the need for change if order is to prevail at our bus parks around the city. The Minister must be commended for dealing firmly with the situation at our bus parks.

The Minister must be, too, aware of how difficult it is to institute change, more especially within our public transportation system, which for too long has been allowed to run unregulated.
Ever since a court decision outlawed the use of Avenue of the Republic for use as bus parks, the Ministry of Works, the Mayor and City Council and the Police have been meeting to try to come up with a workable plan for the relocation of city bus parks.

This plan ran into an initial snag when it was discovered that the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown had leased, seemingly without the approval of the government, the area in front of the Stabroek Market, which was previously a car park.

It is still a car park, now privately managed, and for which the M&CC earns some $300,000 per month, a fee that the government may wish to absorb so as to avoid the Council prevaricating on any demand for the scrapping of the rental agreement.

The Stabroek Market area, however, given the need for space, could have been better utilized as a terminal for one of the proposed bus parks in the city. There has been great resistance to the plan to relocate the bus parks with some operators justifiably complaining that there was inadequate notice given.
That aside, there seems to a reluctance on the part of some transportation operators to make the necessary sacrifices that the general problem of bus parks demands.

Perhaps the authorities erred in trying to compact too many parks around the Stabroek area.

But consider if there is so much resistance to the reallocation of space within this area, what the reaction will be of some route operators if they are to have their bus parks outside of that vicinity.

Positive change, we are convinced, will only come about if the authorities are firm in dealing with the chaotic situation that is developing. There has to be order within the city and there is an urgent need for greater order at our bus parks.

Not all of the parks need to be located within the heart of the city. There have been suggestions mooted in the past for out-of-town routes such as Berbice, Linden and areas of the East Bank south of Grove, to be spread out and away from the Stabroek Market area to ease the congestion there.

There was even a proposal for the rear of the new vendors’ mall on Water Street (the former Toolsie Persaud site) to be used as one possible park. Another suggestion was for the old railway embankment along Lamaha Street to be cleared of squatters and be used to construct a multi-route terminus.

We are sure that all of these options were carefully considered and the fact that it was decided to accommodate the displaced parks within the Stabroek Market area is a sign that those concerned are trying not to cause too much dislocation to the operators and passengers alike.

Sacrifices will, however, have to be made if order is to be restored.

We therefore urge that all the sides concerned meet to work out an amicable solution to the congestion that presently plagues the Stabroek Market square. With good sense and a firm hand guiding the discussions, progress can be made.