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Submitted by Anthony Davis
Transport Board a failing state enterprise
Transport Board a failing state enterprise

There has been much ado about the Transport Board’s new service which was supposed to be rolled on 22 June, 2014. My question is: Did they really mean 2014 or do they mean 2015 or 2016?

The service is just as mediocre as before!

Does the Transport Board not have to strive for service excellence like all other entities offering  a service in Barbados?

Why do some people still have to wait two hours or more for service and buses are sent to places like Silver Hill and Wotton with 3 passengers, and they have the audacity to say that they are having challenges with the services?

Common sense would tell me that buses should be sent to those destinations where there are enough people to fill two buses first. They often announce that they are having challenges with the services. The only challenges I can see are the mental ones of the inspectors, because it is absurd to send out the buses mentioned with the three passengers and shortly after to announce that they are having challenges with the service.


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79 responses to “Transport Suggestion”


  1. Barbadians who live on low volume routes are taxpayers as well. It is not rocket science what needs to be done.

    The Barbados Transport Authority gets a big fail so far.


  2. And David it is also inconceivable to expect the Barbados Transport Authority all of the low volumes routes. When I worked at Uncle Wilbert Checken Factory in St. Thomas as a young lad. I distinctly recall walking from Park Road Bush Hall to catch a bus on Bush Yard gap. And after I got into St. Thomas I had walk about 10 city blocks in the St. Thomas woods to get to the chicken factory.


  3. My point is as poorly as I have stated above, it is Inconceivable for the Barbados Transport Authority to cover all of the low volume routes. It certainly could not cover the route I had to take through the ST. Thomas woods to get to Uncle Wilbert Checken Factory.


  4. “Does the Transport Board not have to strive for service excellence like all other entities offering a service in Barbados?”

    The management at the Transport Board seems to be of the opinion that they are doing commuters a favour instead of providing a service. Hence, they choose not to strive for excellence similar to other service providers in this island.

    Before critiquing the TB itself we need to start at the top. Both BLP and DLP are guilty of appointing their supporters to jobs for which they are not qualified. On April 1, 2010, the then Minister of Transport and Works, John Boyce, continued this trend, when his administration appointed FORMER BANKER of over 30 years experience, SANDRA FORDE, as the General Manager of the TB.

    “IN ITS SECOND YEAR OF OFFICE, ON THURSDAY APRIL 1ST, 2010, THE DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY CREATED HISTORY BY APPOINTING THE FIRST FEMALE, Ms. Sandra Forde, to the position of General Manager of the Transport Board, whose role it will be to lead the organisation in the 21st century.”

    The above excerpt, taken from the TB website, clearly indicates that this administration’s main focus was to “create history” rather than the priority of providing an efficient service. What the hell does she know about transport?

    I am of the opinion governments should appoint individuals to jobs for which they are qualified instead of party affiliation as the main prerequisite.
    Why not someone who has qualifications in transport economics, transport management, transport management and engineering, or transport and logistics? But we opt for a former banker. The human resources manager and financial controller would deal specifically with employee and financial matters respectively.

    I refer to the front page of the January 22, 2012 edition of the Sunday Sun under the caption “Leaving his worries Behind”……. We see a photo of TB GM Sandra Forde wearing a DLP shirt and a broad smile, while embracing Ronald Jones at the DLP’s Errol Barrow Day activity at East Coast.

    The Transport Board has been mismanaged for years by political lackies; now it’s Forde’s turn……… No wonder the Transport Board is in chaos.


  5. Same old, same old. We know we like it so !!!!!!!


  6. Citizens call on SOL if they have a social conscience to link the reduction in gas price to the PSV’s to improvement of their despicable driving habits. make the Forde woman and Preacher Lee bring semblance of order to the criminal, life threatening behavior demonstrated day by day by the ZR’s and yellow vans. Lee and Forde never speak of the terrifying driving habits of their comrades only of their desire for more profits. SOL the private sector posits that government is incapable and incompetent to bring sanity to the PSV’s now is your chance to help in this disruptive sector. SOL don’t only go after the bottom line be an agent for change put clauses into the gas reduction deal to bring Lee and his wild out of control ZRs to heel.

    Anyone notice ZR drivers and conductors in the uniforms Lashley said are a must? Mr. Tansport Minister not a person is in uniform the same pants hanging under they filthy backside, arm hole shirt and heads tied in the gang bandanas remain the order of the day.


  7. @Artax

    Coincidently Lisa Cummins on the talk show on Monday mentions the same thing, changing personnel at election time. Guess who was just appointed as High Commissioner to the UK.


  8. David | June 25, 2014 at 7:43 AM |
    “Guess who was just appointed as High Commissioner to the UK.”

    Who??? …….. Sir Roy Trotman?


  9. This is one sector if we want to test our leadership and managment acumen, we have to conclude that it is a bif fail.


  10. It’s a guy.


  11. Minister said in Parliment that no one would want to buy the Transport Board; yet demand for good transport services is at an all time high.Considering more would opt to use such services with current economic conditions,it will prove to be lucrative and Government should just sell the damn thing.


  12. “Why do some people still have to wait two hours or more for service and buses are sent to places like Silver Hill and Wotton with 3 passengers, and they have the audacity to say that they are having challenges with the services?”

    That is a very good question, but as usual, no one from the TB will be forthcoming with answers or explanations. Take a visit to the Princess Alice Terminal and you will observe some very puzzling decisions being made by management. For example Eden Lodge is the most frequently serviced route in that terminal, with buses often leaving the terminal with no passengers. That route receives service more often than Boscobelle, Indian Ground, St. Alban’s, Deacons Road, Connell Town, St. Lucy’s Church and District D.

    Another route not much consideration was given to is the Pine. It is a known fact that mini bus operators cease going to the Pine after 8pm, and on weekends, the service is worse. Yet, the TB has seen it fit to decrease service to that route, especially during the night.

    This is most outrageous decision that has been made by the TB management. On weekday mornings and after 9pm at night; Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays…….. drivers operating from the Princess Alice terminal are required to transport passengers to the Fairchild Street terminal.
    However, passengers going to Bridgetown from routes serviced by the Fairchild Street terminal have to walk from Fairchild Street to the Princess Alice terminal, having to venture through the dark area between Butterfield Bank and the General Post office… on to the terminal.

    Ok… they introduced a Bridgetown shuttle service, which operates between both terminals, but this service is very, very unreliable. So, supposed you are coming from Society and want to catch the 11pm Connell Town bus from Princess Alice. You disembark the Bridgetown bus and go in the Fairchild Street terminal to wait for the 10:30pm shuttle, but there is none……… what else must you do, but to walk or pay a taxi $10 to go to the Princess Alice terminal.


  13. Guess who was just appointed new leader of the blp…


  14. I remember being in a conversation with a Transport Board supervisor and asked him about dedicated school bus system.
    Whereby, instead of retiring all old buses at the same time, the best of those buses could be refurbished (as they are currently doing) and used specifically as school buses. With this system in place, it should be mandatory for children to utilise these buses.
    This would eliminate the inconvenience of regular commuters having to compete with children for space on the regular buses.
    After the school buses finished servicing the school routes, they can travel to Bridgetown, picking up passengers along the way. On evenings the process can be repeated.

    The supervisor told me it was a good idea, but the problem is…….. older drivers are the ones who have the priority of driving school buses, and they don’t want to drive old buses.


  15. Come on people, what’s with this “Guess who?” game. If you have the answer give it up or get out of the way! Guess who, what.


  16. Having regard to the last twenty five years or so in this country – there cannot be a better time than now for the broad masses and middle classes of people in this country to do whatever that is politically electorally necessary to PERMANENTLY remove both these intellectually and politically bankrupt and discredited DLP/BLP disorganizations from the parliament of this country.

    PDC


  17. You don’t need a rocket scientist to disseminate the problems with The Transport Board. Every transport minister responsible for the demise of the TB by approving operators to hog lucrative routes and continue to issue hundreds of permits to new operators. The new Transport Authority should be rostering these private operators throughout Barbados and not all the short routes. If you give over 50 operators the Silver Hill route, do you feel a massive bus can compete with these hustlers. Sometimes you have over ten minivans going to town, stopping at every gap, driving at as low as 10 mph creating massive road blockage. How come you can charge drivers for driving over 60 miles on these roads, yet these private minivans can have scores of vehicles travelling behind them like a funeral possession. The same way police inform walkers to move on and stop blocking sidewalks, the minivan operators should be charge for creating havoc on the roads. BTW, pensioners who depends on the TB will now have to suffer and walk distances to get a TB bus. The Transport Authority should have ensured all Transport operators comply by allowing these pensioners transportation before hastily sanctioning new routes for the TB. As BT will say Brassbowls.


  18. The problem is the Terminal to destination concept to which the Transport Board and the country are tied. Therefore the buses, which should be rolling continuously are parked up in terminals while passengers (tax payers) are stuck waiting and drivers playing dominoes. If a driver is paid for driving 8 hours, design the routes so that the bus is on the move eight hours. If it breaks down because the driver does not like the route, get that driver off the clock. The name of the game is moving passengers to their preferred destination in a prompt fashion, not passengers begging favors from Transport Board Staff.


  19. Why would the TB continue purchasing all these massive buses, which are costlier, more maintenance, more diesel abusers and get those successful Hino buses. Since the TB abolished conductors, wouldn’t it better to use smaller buses? Don’t you know you can get nearly three Hinos for one Mercedes? Again, more brassbowls at the helm.


  20. I spent the last half hour thinking about this issue.

    Barbados cannot solve its Transportation problems unless they get rid of the privately run PSVs.

    Transport Board buses cannot compete with the smaller PSVs which appeal to the masses because they provide excellent TIME service. Noisy smokey and sometimes driven recklessly but they seem to run frequently on the major routes.

    Here on BU we are trying to solve a problem but we have no DATA and no expert opinions so we are spinning top in mud.

    There is a reason why there are University courses in Public Transportation Management.
    The Transport Board needs a few people with the training to run a Public transportation service.


  21. Suck a……said:
    “Government should just sell the damn thing.”

    Don’t worry y’all, no one wants to buy the Transport Board because of the numerous personal injury liabilities claims stuck in the court system that is going nowhere and which the government does not see as important enough to tell CGI to clear the cases and return the entity to viability, but, it works in Peter Harris’ favor cause he will buy the Transport Board for a song or get it for nothing, just pay a bribe to one of the DLP ministers and it’s his ask cow/bizzy etl, get rid of the jackasses posing as general managers etc, Harris will also get rid of those bad quality buses that both governments have been warned ad nauseam and for years not to purchase from Brazil, he will make sure lazy bajans don’t ruin his free investment and bajans will get a better bus service because government will no longer be able to use the company as a political prostitute for their yard fowls each and every election…..so there.


  22. @ Tell me Why
    ….well said.
    This is another VERY simple problem of BRASSBOWLS AT THE HELM.

    Steupssss….if you put a jackass in charge of the wind – he would find a way to $&@ It up….and we have no shortage of jackasses….

    @ Artax
    …you could be serious…?
    If it is uneconomical for a ZR to run those routes at those times …you are suggesting that TB should then step up…?
    Skippa… If the ZRs don’t cover those routes PROPERLY, then they should NOT have licenses to cover them during the lucrative times….

    The real surprise is that we even continue to survive – given the degree of brass bowlery that permeates the damn place….


  23. I have a degree in Transport Economics, and you know what? I wouldn’t go near trying to manage the TB under the current circumstances. Before anything can be done about choice of rolling stock, routes structures etc, the has to be a comprehensive National Transport Policy that is enacted into law and which will keep the TB out of the political arena and away from political interference. Within this policy would be the detailed planning policy that would divide routes between private and publicly owned transportation. The issuing of licences willy nilly at the behest of any politician would be against the law. The Minister’s powers would be limited to enforcing the legislation, and no more. A decision has to be made as to how necessary but unprofitable routes would be paid for, and ALL public transport vehicles should be bound to a timetable that people can rely on. Those responsible for maintenance should be held accountable for all spare parts used, and for the allocation of labour. The presence of private cars in TB workshops would be forbidden.
    We all know that none of this could ever happen, so why are we discussing it?


  24. Bush Tea | June 25, 2014 at 11:37 AM |

    @ Artax
    “…you could be serious…? If it is uneconomical for a ZR to run those routes at those times …you are suggesting that TB should then step up…? Skippa… If the ZRs don’t cover those routes PROPERLY, then they should NOT have licenses to cover them during the lucrative times….”

    My friend, I’m not sure what you mean by your above comments, because I never mentioned in any contribution on this topic about the Transport Board servicing routes that are currently dominated by ZRs.


  25. Hants | June 25, 2014 at 11:27 AM |

    “Here on BU we are trying to solve a problem but we have no DATA and no expert opinions so we are spinning top in mud.”
    “There is a reason why there are University courses in Public Transportation Management.
    The Transport Board needs a few people with the training to run a Public transportation service.”

    So Hants, what data and expert opinion you referred to in order to come to the above conclusion?

    My contribution at 7:09am:
    “I am of the opinion governments should appoint individuals to jobs for which they are qualified instead of party affiliation as the main prerequisite.
    Why not someone who has qualifications in transport economics, transport management, transport management and engineering, or transport and logistics? But we opt for a former banker.”


  26. @ Artax
    How did Bushie misinterpret your below….?
    +++++++++++++++
    “Another route not much consideration was given to is the Pine. It is a known fact that mini bus operators cease going to the Pine after 8pm, and on weekends, the service is worse. Yet, the TB has seen it fit to decrease service to that route, especially during the night.”


  27. @Artaxerxes,

    I did not read your contribution. Have half a dozen news sites on my desktop that I am reading..

    Point taken.


  28. Almost all of the MoTs we have had in the last 20 years received kickbacks for licenses approved.


  29. why so much noise. now wid affta as yet to be soon announced leader of the blp .wunna could take a break..he got all the answers..the municipal tax going be a thing of the past..the retrenched workers will be deploy…the treasury would be putting money in everybody pocket…everybody would be in a good.Mood…and BU articles would be all sweet and honey…tek it easy nuh…..happy days are here again…wuhloss.


  30. To repeat, our inability for the last 30 years to solve the public transportation is an indictment.


  31. Bush Tea | June 25, 2014 at 12:15 PM |

    Bushie my friend, if you had thoroughly read what I contributed, you would have understood what I meant. But I forget that you is a heights and terrace man…… I have friends living in the Pine.

    If the Pine was taken into consideration, the TB route planners would know that the MINI BUSES DO NOT OPERATE AFTER 8:30PM. BY 7:00PM MOST OF THE MINI BUSES ARE OFF THE ROAD.

    NOTE I clearly stated: “YET, THE TB HAS SEEN IT FIT TO DECREASE SERVICE TO THAT ROUTE, ESPECIALLY DURING THE NIGHT.” (yes BUSHIE…… I EMPHASIZED DURING THE NIGHT!!!!!)

    Therefore, bearing this in mind, management should have been more sympathetic by providing regular service at least from 9am and onward, instead of reducing service.

    Now Bushie, Wansted, (unlike the Pine), is your type of area…… there is Wansted Drive, Wansted Gardens, and Wansted Heights, you also have West Terrace, Oxnards Terrace, and Baggatelle Terrace. Yes Bushie…. the heights and terraces. There are about 50 or more ZRs and one mini bus operating the Wansted route, with ZR’s operating as late as 12am. And yuh know too, wunnuh heights people got nuff big jeeps, cars and ting.

    As you asked: “If it is uneconomical for a ZR to run those routes at those times …you are suggesting that TB should then step up…?”
    The Transport Board continues to provide a regular service to Wansted on a regular basis, despite the amount of cars and ZRs. Why Bushie???…… it’s the heights and terraces…….


  32. LOL at Artaxerxes….
    The Wansted area is fully serviced possibly because of the thousands of students that frequent that area. When you see ZRs shut shop – in means there is no money to be made. THAT means even more to be lost by the TB.

    The commonsense solution is to sell SERVICE CONTRACTS rather than just licenses – if they are going to have ZR operations.
    The selected contractor then is REQUIRED to provide a minimum service to each area served.

    And Artax…
    Try and take home your girlfriend when the night come…..don’t look to the transport board to do it for you…


  33. Artaxerxes: Remember those buses aren’t only going to the Heights and Terraces on the Wanstead etc routes. the majority are from the Haynesville area, and yes, the people from the heights and terraces also take those zr’s. So what’s your point.


  34. David may I suggest,

    To repeat, our REFUSAL for the last 30 years to solve.

    Barbados has enough people qualified to make thins work but politics and greed gets in the way.


  35. We are on the same page Hants, the obvious point was to show the unwillingness by both parties to do nothing. We can extrapolate to guage the seriousness of the problem.


  36. Bush Tea | June 25, 2014 at 1:34 PM |
    “And Artax…
    Try and take home your girlfriend when the night come…..don’t look to the transport board to do it for you…”

    Hahahahaha….. Bushie I have a Mazda 3 and my girlfriend has a Suzuki Vitara….. so we could carry each other home at nights or sleep over.

    “The commonsense solution is to sell SERVICE CONTRACTS rather than just licenses – if they are going to have ZR operations.
    The selected contractor then is REQUIRED to provide a minimum service to each area served.”

    Good suggestion, Bushie.

    Tell me Why | June 25, 2014 at 1:36 PM |
    “Artaxerxes: Remember those buses aren’t only going to the Heights and Terraces on the Wanstead etc routes. the majority are from the Haynesville area, and yes, the people from the heights and terraces also take those zr’s. So what’s your point.”

    Well according to you, I guess I don’t have any point. Thanks for reminding me.


  37. Did we not hear the Transport Authority promise several years ago there was a plan to rollout just as Tea Bush is recommending read service contracts?

  38. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    “Reduce the operating costs of the Transport Board by sourcing electric and hybrid buses, which can be powered from renewable energy sources”

    What is the status of the above high sounding cutting-edge proposal to convert the Transport Board fleet to alternative fuels?

    Why is Barbados, overpopulated with so-called highly educated people, so slow in picking up the ball to save its sorry economic ass?

    Solar panel cells can now be made from magnesium chloride. Why not look into this technology at an early stage and stop waiting on the Chinese to import it?


  39. You could reduce the number of buses needed and the emissions created by them by making passengers prove they are not just going to Bridgetown to loiter


  40. Didn’t Minister Lashley promise a rebrand of the TB is on the cards a few months ago? What is the status?

  41. Hard Seed from Black Rock and Back in the Day Avatar
    Hard Seed from Black Rock and Back in the Day

    Too many idiots in positions creating havoc in every area of activity in Barbados. This is compounded by placing persons of the feminine gender to run things which only leads to one thing and that is chaos. If you want something break down , bring a woman. School system break down= women teachers too many selfish women teachers , I am not saying every single female teacher but enough of them to cause regression in the system. Where are the men ? The doings of women run the men.-Ditto for the Public Service and wherever else.

    Women change up things to suit them and things get watered down to accommodate them. This creates a downward spiral. Women usually want work but when they get it make excuses not to work; They cant do this and they cant do that because –Oh I am the weaker sex so as a Policewoman, I cant patrol there by myself or with another woman so you cant put me on that detail. And if you insist, they find a willing doctor and throw some sick leave in yuh and brag about it too. They get away with it because they are women and they are soft and they bruise easily and a whole heap of crap. Meanwhile the society is regressing trying to accommodate women. Everything gets watered down to accommodate women in certain areas of activity. This is not an attack on women but women have a role to play but when the roles get criss-crossed , problems result. Whenever a woman appears in a scene whatever it is, the dynamic changes, it has to change to accommodate that women, Eventually standards get relaxed and shortcuts sought and this leads to deterioration. Women are wortthy creatures. Women are mothers of our children; women are our mothers , our sisters and our aunts and women play important roles in building societies. BUT there are roles for women to play and as soon as you start mixing up the roles , problems will result. I love women. Love to see them , love to talk with them even though they interrogate and probe and pick your brains like Delilah.

    I love women but they need to stick to their roles as women and butt out


  42. I do feel that persons would be interested in buying the Transport only if they are given free reign to impose whatever busfares they seem fit! I remember Min Ronald Jones saying that in order for the TB to breakeven or turn profit, busfares would have to be in the region of $5 – $7 dollars. In some parts of the US even though the Transportation might be somewhat privatized, it is still subsidized by government.


  43. Hard Seed:
    “Where are the men ? The doings of women run the men.-Ditto for the Public Service and wherever else.”

    The men are busy running the country into the ground, most of the ministers in the DLP/DLP are men, they are also busy taking bribes from cow/bizzy et al, how can you see any competency in Barbados when all the men who should be real real leaders are real real corrupt and have been for 30 years or more, longer than females have been allowed any roles in government, cannot blame the females for that now can ya, the only thing the females can be blamed for is being stupid enough to follow these asses and place them on pedestals..

    Could not even bother to read all the other stuff I am presuming you are happy to be on earth and appreciative that a woman was the means by which you traveled to earth………lol


  44. millertheanunnaki | June 25, 2014 at 3:22 PM |

    Excellent post.

    I do not understand why Barbados only uses solar panels for heating water wnen the technology has evolved to convert solar energy to electrical power.

    About 30 years ago the Ministry of Agriculture had a building in Graeme Hall that was air conditioned using solar power.
    Wha happen ?

    What is stopping Barbados from embracing solar powered electricity?


  45. @Kevin

    I do feel that persons would be interested in buying the Transport only if they are given free reign to impose whatever busfares they seem fit! I remember Min Ronald Jones saying that in order for the TB to breakeven or turn profit, busfares would have to be in the region of $5 – $7 dollars. In some parts of the US even though the Transportation might be somewhat privatized, it is still subsidized by government.

    And what analysis would have informed Jones’ position?

    Why are we so gullible?


  46. David

    You’re correct by stating that some bus companies in the US are privatized, but those bus companies run interstate. Peterpan and Greyhound are two such examples!


  47. Recently Flow partnered with Brightpath to outfit bus stops with Wifi. The TB buses are already fitted with GPS hardware and almost every Bajan has a smart phone. Maybe it is time to create an app which allows commuters to know a bus’ service details in order to increase efficiency, and reduce the amt of time spent waiting on transport.

    When I travel overseas I somtimes use Google Maps in order to know when and where to expect the next bus, or train.

  48. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    Well Well | June 25, 2014 at 5:08 PM |
    “Where are the men ?
    dem bullin! LOL LOL MURDAH


  49. lol…..GP…tell that to Hard Seed, he don’t seem to know where the men are or what they are doing but he is blaming all the ills created by men on the island on the females…lol

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