It seems that every problem related to the delivery of Public Transportation in Barbados has been exposed in the past few weeks. Raising bus fare has always been a sore thumb for successive administrations. In my lifetime, I have seen bus fare rise from $0.25 in 1976 to the present $3.50. Despite increases in the cost of public transportation, addition of new routes, increases in the number of buses and a significant increase in private operators in the delivery of public transportation, the efficiency and effectiveness of the service has never improved.
One must not forget the role played by the previous Administration in the starvation of government owned public transportation while they set out to privatize the entire system by issuing licenses to private operators. The 10 long years without purchasing a single bus is a major part of the problem. What the last few weeks have exposed are the bones of a badly decimated patient. Sad to say, it has also given a voice to those responsible for the patient’s state of health. The present Government must act to prosecute the hell out of those former Ministers of Government who are still to be blamed for what was inherited, lest they continue washing their mouths on them.
What the transport ministry has not realized is that they are to deliver a quality service. I applaud the effort to clean up the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal. However, the under capacity of buses needs to be rectified as soon as possible and with new buses. There is simply no way around that. One hopes that the difference in the increase of bus fare will be used to start a fund to buy some.
In my opinion the best recommendation that came out of the Prime Minister’s meeting with the entire sector is the plan to absorb some of the private sector mini buses under the Transport Board’s brand. Although that is to be commended, more must be done as the focus should now be on efficiency and effectiveness in order to reap economies of scale.
For this to be achieved the entire system must be changed from its very base. One cannot build a new transportation system on this old base and expect to obtain new results.
While all roads lead to Bridgetown, the public transport system does not have to reflect this. The present system must be redesigned for connectivity. For example, on a set of new blueprints, one can leave Christ Church and travel to Belleplaine without going to Bridgetown or by catching a special bus. The new design should encompass an express bus, a tram system or even an air train service that runs down the centre of the island, possibly encompassing the old train line as well as an extension to the airport. It should travel from St. Philip to St Lucy in no more than half an hour, stopping at several hubs along the way. With the present system an increase in bus fare is burdensome if one must catch 2 buses to get to work in the morning and 2 buses to get home in the evening. Having a decentralized system should positively impact congestion on the roads. Redesigning the system will increase efficiency, reduce travel times and lead to effectiveness.
The role that I envision for the mini buses and ZR’s is that they all do not have to congregate and ply their trade from Bridgetown. The ones that have opted to be part of the Transport Board brand can also operate to carry persons to catch the air train service and to take persons to catch the transport board buses. For example, persons who live in Cane Vale, Gall Hill and Silver Hill area can catch one of the Transport Board Brand mini buses take the to Oistins to catch the Speightstown bus. Persons who live in the south can take one of the branded ZR’s to a hub to take the air train.
The logistics of the routes must be re-examined. Longer buses with greater seating capacity must be purchased. Just because we came across the Atlantic like sardines packed in a tin does not mean that we must live this way until perpetuity. With a full complement of buses, more buses must be available at peak times; no one should have to wait an hour or half an hour for the next bus especially on the long routes and; a limited stop service must also be in place for some buses that travel the long routes.
We must also aim to have a transport system that supports not only a work day schedule but also performs a coach service for leisure. For example, no one would have been subjected to getting a ticket for parking illegally when they used their own transportation to attend the Buju concert last weekend. If transport board had a leisure service, few patrons would drive to those big events where they would be no parking.
All bus stops must become Smart Stops with online capability to inform commuters when the bus will be at their stop.
For government to remain a provider of public transportation, the transport board must re-claim some of the lucrative routes and limit the number of licences that they will issues to private operators.
The Management structure at the Transport Board must be aggressive for projects to be accomplished within short time frames. The transport board must also realise that increases in bus fare are not always the solution to address loss of income and that they must seek to reduce operating cost, waste and misuse of the public funds. An Improved customer service will lead to an increase in confidence in the transportation product.
We must seek to optimize our present modes of transport as well as introduce different kinds of transport. We can correct the deficiencies of the present system by creating a new state of the art logistically sound and efficient system that resolves decades old problems of not enough buses, buses not running to schedule as well as accessibility to public transport and a costly poor service.
As we investigate the next decade, travelling by bus can become a positive experience. Providing a high-quality service of differentiated products will make the transport board a profitable entity. It can therefore reap economies of scale to the point where bus fare can be reduced to $2.00 again as more persons will opt for a service that is reliable, convenient and saves them time.
@ Heather
Well said ! We need a Rural Transport Authority , to manage how citizens from rural areas can be effectively and safely transported.
You got what you voted for , You Have a Crime Minister the Prime Minister Died! More pain to come, 15%VAT no Clear title deeds for UDC,2.5%VAT for Garbage Trucks,=17.5% Vat from Crooks, Liars and Scumbags, more taxes on all things you touch and need and 3.50$for Electic Buses ” Wait for Its, Keep Voting for Criminals and not Truth! FACTS Crime Family in Office!
We do not need additional bureaucracy. It is costly and demonstrably useless. We need to make the system work. It takes a Prime Minister to tell people do the jobs they are being paid for and treat the travelling public humanely? We should all be ashamed. Do the job you are paid to do. Drivers should NOT be paid to sit around. An example, not all charters need to cause buses and staff to be parked at one location for the entire day. Drivers are paid to drive. Keep the buses moving by designing routes that keep the bus in motion. The point to point and return model is a dinosaur. Right now, the airtrain, even a light rail variation, while desirable, is too expensive, The transferable fare by use of the smart card is what is needed NOW. An inexpensive device on transport board owned or decaled buses will suffice. The key component is the timely payment to the private owners. Also, we are a seafaring nation, why do we have to wait on others to introduce water taxis.
.
Sir William Skinner
What ‘rural transportation authority’. More mimicking of the Mother Country.
Barbados is 166 square miles. Nowhere is Barbados should be ‘rural’.
And anybody who has been out for any length of time is made to wonder why we even need cars in the first place.
There is nowhere in Barbados that takes more than 30 minutes to reach, at most times.
Yes, there is a pressing need for effective public transportation but this perceived need to have a small island match the development structures of others is, and has been, antidevelopmental.
@ William Skinner May 3, 2019 7:48 AM
No need for another GOB technocrat(s) working out rural transport policy, no need for another sub-unit or unit to be appointed to do such. What we need is a properly functioning island-wide public transport system. This will encompass the rural urban and other areas in the island. A comprehensive policy with rules and regulations and agreed service levels. The system needs enforcement that is done in a fair manner towards the operators in the system.
Barbados is not that large; a few kilometres outside the city and you technically have rural areas. We need to move person from various areas around but imo we dont need a RTA for that to be accomplished.
Just saying
@ Pacha
I am not looking at the Mother or Father country. My ideas are for my country. If we have a rural Transport Authority designed to eliminate the problems now being experienced by those citizens, it would solve many problems. Have you or any one else ever seen a document that deals specifically with how we transport our rural population ?
You glibly talk about getting from one place to another in thirty minutes. Well, talk to somebody who lives in Sugar Hill , St. Joseph but works in Six Roads St. Philip. Until the town planners, and others above my pay grade declare the country a city, at least , for planning purposes, I have to believe we have a rural community. I have learnt from you today , that we may very well be a city.
And BTW, I am not known for injecting global positions in my presentations, I deal with immediate problems of my homeland.As you are more than aware, I have often posited, that in terms of development, we are quite for ahead when compared with the international models. I don’t see size as backwater or banana republic.
SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)
The whole idea of a public transportation system is to move people quickly, efficiently , safely and inexpensively. Any serious planning must look at the needs of all demographics. Failing to do so creates: inefficient, unsafe, and expensive public transportation. Our system must be designed for our people , not what obtains in “outside” countries. Look around and you would note that we seldom implement anything successfully because we always want to copy what goes on “over and away”.
@ William
Is the problem one of the middle class professionals not having to travel on public transport back to the Heights and Terraces? Is that why both DLP and BLP governments reject the idea of one car per household?
True story: I know one lawyer who asked his teenage son what he wanted for his birthday and he replied a ride on a ZR van. Tells you everything.
@ Hal
Visit any high school/college and you would see students with their own cars. That is why so many are seriously detached from those who are barely making a living. That’s why the bus stands were not maintained, they don’t use them !
The bottom line is that there are not enough Public Transport buses. That issue is being sidestepped. If private transport buses are integrated into the system, that is an attempt to solve a political problem ,not an economic or social problem. The objectives of the two systems are antithetical. PSVs objective is to make profit. Public Transport is to move people at the lowest possible cost. Is $3.50 cents a reasonable valuation of the real cost of transport? In my opinion not too far from the optimal. I assume the technocrats did the maths.
@Vincent
The problems are many that plague the transportation sector. Even when we had a larger fleet it was problems. We have bigger issues like integrating the PSVs? The corrupt manner permits are issued by successive governments. Allowing single players to own multiple permits etc.
Good food for thought! First, and foremost; why cant I catch a bus in Grazettes to go to Warrens, or on Sheraton without going down to Black Rock, or into town. A taxi to Warrens $10, then a ABC Hwy to Sheraton, and back $7.00,then a shuttle free from Masseys, of another taxi down to Grazettes $10. Or, Walk down to Black Rock, and catch a bypass to Sheraton, and back $7.00 and walk back up to Grazettes..Or take a bus from Grazettes to town, $3.50, then a transfer bus over to Fairchild St, and then a bus to Sheraton $3.50, and return the same way $7.00.
Even a full time route from Speightstown to Oistins which includes Holetown, UWI, Warrens,Mall International, and Sheraton
every 1/2 hour either way from 5:00 am to 2:00 am. This becomes the ABC Hwy route,and you eliminate the bypass route You also avoid the congestion to Oistins on Friday on the main for visitors mostly from the other side of the island.
There will be no effective transport system until
-we manage the ownership of private vehicles to create a passenger pool to make the transit profitable.
-we eliminate corrupt behaviour how permits and repairs etc is done
-this can be a long list
@ William,
I knew someone who lived in the Ivy, 800 yards from the community college, and drove to college every day.
@ David Bu at 10 :37 AM
Your submission elaborates what I meant by a Political problem.
In an Island this size,there is really no need for a mixed system of public transport. Either the GoB sticks to regulating transport and sell what little of TB is left to the Private Sector , Or phase out PSVs altogether.
Do we have too many dogs in this fight?
@ David BU
In this debate we are spending too much keyboarding on which political party contributed to the transport chaos. That is irrelevant. The problem exists and it needs to be solved. This is an occasion to put into effect your Theory of Disruption…immediate and effective change.
@Vincent
We need immediate and drastic intervention by the authorities. There was the hope that when the Transport Authority was established we would have seen the rationalization that was needed. We know where we are with incomplete legislation and the former minister leading clients to exploit same.
“We need a Rural Transport Authority , to manage how citizens from rural areas can be effectively and safely transported.”
More igrunce.🤣🤣🤣
David
Get MAM and her inner circle to start using public transport and you may start a mini revolution in that area.
@Pachamama
Walk a mile is the saying?
David
That is a necessary but insufficient precondition.
@ Pasha, I do believe that all of the government ministers should ride the transport buses to experience the reality of many Barbadians. I did this when I was home in January. It was a half an hour journey that I regretted. The bus rattled and shook the entire time. The noise level was intolerable to the point that could deafen. I felt that I would loose my heart, liver and kidneys by the shaking and I am not being dramatic.
We cannot normalize this. The poor and working class people need new buses.
Enuff
The suggestion may not be necessarily “igrunce.”
TB has a number of HINO Road Runner and Road Ranger buses, which could be used at various times during the day to transport passengers, for example, from Bayfield to Six Roads, or from Haggatt’s yard to St. Andrew’s Church.
There were similar services from Haggatt’s to Speightown; and Speightstown to Bathsheba.
Back in the day when there were few buses, TB was a bit more innovative with its routes.
@ Heather Cole at 12:24 PM
I believe every Barbadian knows that we need new functioning buses. But it appears that no one gives a damn for the class that uses them . And I wonder why.
There seems to be some confusion surrounding the Augmentation Program. For example, how does the system permit some ZMs to participate i.e. there is no sharing of info about the routes and times they will have to service. Is it fair to the ZM operator with financial commitments to commit to the Program without a clearer outline of the size of the opportunity? What change will the insurer have to make to adjust to the change in service vis a vis ZM to ZR. The blogmaster understands the ZM owners will have to park their ZM permits with the Transport Authority for one year – this is the period the government projects it will need to right the transportation ship?
We need more information Minister Duguid, or should we correct and say Prime Minster!
There are hundreds of rural citizens, who have given up on seeking employment and many areas of self-employment because they simply cannot get proper water supply and transportation. There was a time when rural communities bustled with self employment in areas such as vending, live stock rearing and small farming to augment incomes. You cannot farm without a proper reliable water supply and you cannot get produce to customers without access to proper transportation. The failure to revitailse our rural communities, has negatively affected economic growth and productivity
One of the quickest and most effective ways to grow productivity and save foreign exchange will be to ensure that public transportation is effectively organised within our rural communities.
“Yes, there is a pressing need for effective public transportation but this perceived need to have a small island match the development structures of others is, and has been, antidevelopmental”
Real talk, they do not know their place in the world’s food chain…delusions of grandeur..
Artax
It is nonsense!
I understand that yesterday the cleaners at the Roebuck Street depot were sent home and the cleaning contract awarded to a particular private company. Check and see if that company is connected to a particular politician.
Meat and potatoes
1) If we tackle the heads of the Hydra one at a time then we are spinning our wheels in the sand. If new businesses/industries continue to be located within the Bridgetown area then we cannot break the stranglehold of having Bridgetown as that central point which will continue to make travel between other areas difficult. We must also consider having areas of activity that are immediately outside of Bridgetown. People will travel to where the jobs are.
2) How do we change the mindset of people.
As a young lad travelling from my home to Speightstown was just a 3 mile journey, Walking to Speighstown everyday was considered a symptom of madness. I suspect the pressure to get a car is even stronger that it was in my youth.
3) Let us just admit the island is small(real small). Let’s talk about bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways. Go to Copenhagen or any other European city and see the abundance of bike paths and bicyclists. SAtop thinking of building roads/air-train above your weight class and find cheaper and easier way to move people.
4) We are lucky that some fool has not come up with the need for an international airport in St Lucy.
@ Heather Cole
The poor working class needs are remember every 5 years during election campaigning
What is meant that no one cares about public transportation because of the class which uses them?
Public transportation wasn’t designed for no specific class of people … It is made accessible to all … In busy metropolitan areas business professionals use public transportation because of the lack of Parking plus it is cheaper than have to pay the $5 to $10 dollars a day for parking…
@ TheOGazerts May 4, 2019 7:43 AM
“Let us just admit the island is small(real small). Let’s talk about bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways. Go to Copenhagen or any other European city and see the abundance of bike paths and bicyclists. SAtop thinking of building roads/air-train above your weight class and find cheaper and easier way to move people.”
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Well said, Theo!
People in Europe are doing their level best in moving away from the motor vehicle in order to meet the challenges posed by climate change while Lilliputian tropical (and broke) Barbados is talking about sky trains and more vehicles to drive around the 14×21 atoll.
No wonder the people are so obese!
How about getting at the forefront of technology in the transportation sector and promote the use of electric motor bikes for which flat and small Barbados is ideally suited?
David/BU
Don’t forget more passengers per Bus/ ZR / ZM, faster wear and tear of vehicles. What a way to retrieved permits. Then the deep pockets can move in and take over the system, the poor working class happy to be driven in a new AC Bus. By the time election come around.
For sure I would ride a bicycle and allow my son to ride a bicycle to school if there were bicycle paths. I am afraid to ride them on the road because of the abundance of crazy drivers.
We would be less stressed by traffic and pollution, healthier due to weight control, happier due to improved body image and the release of happy hormones and more productive due to increased mental and physical energy. And we would have done our bit to save the planet. We would also be richer due to reduced transportation costs and health care expenses. Also the maintenance of bicycle paths is cheaper. Less need for foreign exchange would also be a plus.
Oh, and I forgot, we would have more time to spare as bicycles are quicker than cars stuck in traffic.
I can’t think of a downside. Is there one? Maybe having to deal with a little sweat and the weather sometimes?
Best idea I’ve heard for years!
Back to earth, Donna! Stop dreaming!
@ David May 3, 2019 1:04 PM
“The blogmaster understands the ZM owners will have to park their ZM permits with the Transport Authority for one year – this is the period the government projects it will need to right the transportation ship?”
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Is the MAM government really serious about the ‘electric buses’ PPP or was it just another belch of useless political gas from the MoTW and his sidekick recently ousted from the chair of the TB?
Which entrepreneur would take such huge risks involving millions in debt and forex without ‘sovereign’ guarantees about routes allocation to ensure a return on his investment?
Is the government prepared to take the exiting revenue generating routes away from the ZRs and allocate them to the Electric bus operators as an integral part of the PPP arrangement?
@Miller correction, park their ZR permits. Good to see you back.
Miller
Bicycle paths on the roads of Barbados in this day and age … you mussie mad … have you taken into consideration the number of road fatalities of the roads of Barbados in recent years …?
@Lexi
We need to rethink this whole problem and stop trying to plaster over holes. It is more thAn a transportation problem.
Development has to be planned so that workers are not in one area. New roads must cater to other than cars.
Thinking of fixing one problem at a time is causing problems elsewhere .
Someone has already pointed out that there was corruption in awarding permits. Attention had to be paid to part of the process as we move forward
Are you certain it is the Miller?
There is a similar tone, but the pace of this ‘Miller’ seems much slower…
If it is him…. welcome back
Bicycle paths with some form of barrier between them and the road, Lexicon.
@ Lexicon May 4, 2019 9:05 AM
“Bicycle paths on the roads of Barbados in this day and age … you mussie mad … have you taken into consideration the number of road fatalities of the roads of Barbados in recent years …?”
The roads in Barbados are nothing more than makeover ‘horse-mule-donkey’ cart tracks laid out to meet the needs of the former plantations and their commercial connection to Bridgetown.
If they could be ‘upgraded’ to accommodate forex-burning steel donkeys from Japan or even luxury mechanical horse buggies from Germany why can’t they be ‘adjusted’ to facilitate the wider use of bikes, both pedal and electric-operated?
Bajans like copying things from the white man lands. So why not try ‘aping’ the Dutch and turn Bim into Little Amsterdam instead of a miniature black hellhole of Calcutta or Lagos?
DO WE HAVE ANYONE IN BARBADOS WITH SOLUTIONS TO TRANSPORTATION…….OR ANYTHING?
CANT OUR SINLESS PRIMEWICKER SOLVE ANY PROBLEMS AT ALL?
Plenty of solutions. Nobody to implement them.
Nobody thinks Mia is sinless. No leader has been. But somewhere a line must be drawn. I don’t draw it in the private bedrooms of consenting adults. But the private parts of non-consenting strangers – a definite red line!
Remember when all yuh laughed at Wilfred Abrahams suggestion about cycle lanes?
Who is all yuh?
Now Lexicon, something to remember would be – less cars, less accidents. If bicycles are used the number of cars on the road would be reduced and the probability of accidents would reduce with it.
Some of you still don’t realize it: Barbados is totally bankrupt. Increasing ticket prices is not about improving the service, but about preventing the further outflow of taxpayers’ money into bankrupt state-owned enterprises.
Those who now sit on their comfortable sofa in North America or England can, of course, offer cheap advice. But anyone who has ever smelled the shit on the south coast after 10 years of DLP terrorism sees things a little differently. We are here in the wild south and not in the north. Wake up finally. Your Barbados, as you know it from the year 2005 from the vacation, there is no more. After 10 years of DLP terrorism, the population is financially ruined and just waiting for the next opportunity to emigrate.
Have a look at the buses in Barbados. You don’t know if the arrogant Barrow bought them from Tanzania in the 1970s or if they even date from before the Second World War. We have no money for new buses. At the latest in 5 years also the remaining 40 buses will collapse and the chapter called public transport is then finally finished.
Donna
Less cars on the road equates let me to accidents, but not if the majority of the people who are driving on the road are in want of common-sense… we need to impliment the principles of Defence Driving to bring an awareness to the dangers or potential perils of the road …
Donna
Less cars on the road equates to less accidents, but not if the majority of the people who are driving on the road are in want of common-sense… we need to impliment the principles of Defence Driving to bring an awareness to the dangers or potential perils of the road …
Tron
The objective of the additional fare may not ameliorate the current service, but it will surely generate the much need revenue … but in order to improve the system there must be a total overhaul of the system in of itself… And one way of achieving this objective is to outsource some of the work to the private sector …but with a minimum oversight …
@ Tron May 4, 2019 12:31 PM
The government is not being open and honest with the travelling public.
It is patently clear that the Transport Board (TB) is on the top of the list of SOEs which must disappear from the large subsidy trough of State financing as mandated by the Prime Directive issued by the IMF.
Why do you think the bus fare was raised to $3.50 if not as an incentive to the private operators to fill the inevitable gap to be left by the collapsing TB?
The only question left to be answered is which would fall first. The TB or its friendly equivalent in the regional skies LIAT?
It’s a pity the fall guys have to be a political underling called Nicholls to be followed by a ministerial misfit.
Tron
We here in North America are offering working solutions to an antiquated ways of doing things … And by the way…I stayed in St. Lawrence Gap last year so I have a pretty good idea of the stench …
An unilateral fare in this day an age is just not the right approach to address the current system because there is no incentive in that at all… Here in America:
1) An one day fare for $3.50 where you can ride all day
2) then you have a $1.80 fare where you can ride to two hours and connect to different routes
3) A month fare for $65
4) A youth fare for $1.50 etc
But the drivers would have to be trained on this new ticket system… because this kind of a system is computerize … and therefore; persons traveling on the bus can purchase their tickets from the bus authority or stores which sells them …
” In busy metropolitan areas business professionals use public transportation because of the lack of Parking plus it is cheaper than have to pay the $5 to $10 dollars a day for parking…”
please tell me where i can find cheap parking in NYC for 5 or 10 bucks, would be happy to pass on the info to the working stiffs i know who pay up to 600 dollars a month to park.
“The roads in Barbados are nothing more than makeover ‘horse-mule-donkey’ cart tracks laid out to meet the needs of the former plantations and their commercial connection to Bridgetown.”
And they are looking more and more like cart roads daily, especially the road in front of Llaro court…it’s actually looking like some old cart road…that says everything..
URGENT! APPEAL FOR BLOOD
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Blood Bank is issuing an urgent appeal for O positive, O negative, and A negative blood donations.
@Lexicon, Miller
I agree with both of you. Privatisation works where there is competition. Public passenger transport is one such example. The yellow buses and the ZR vans are working very well. Why do we still need highly subsidised public passenger transport? No foreign investor will be so idiotic as to buy 200 electric buses at his own expense (which in the tropics may only function to a limited extent) and operate them in Barbados at his own risk under a TB label. And the domestic state transport company is broke and cannot buy new buses.
In other areas, privatisation seems questionable to me, such as health and water. Here, experience in other developing countries tends to be negative.
Barbados might be small, but its road network offers quite a challenge to the construction of designated bicycle pathways. Though the idea is a good one, Barbados is also a very hot place during summer and also quite warm during its coolest periods. When hot and humid, a mere five minute walk to a bus stop or a short walk to the corner shop produces enough sweat to make you a bit uncomfortable. Someone said that we can go the route of the E-Bike, which at the moment has revolutionised the bike experience moreso for the older generation than the young. In Italy, the young people are into them as something else. An E-bike that does not need too much exertion might a good alternative form of transport in a hot and humid climate. If we do not go with an E-Bike, then a scooter bike is another good cheap alternative, well from an EU perspective (not sure how much these would cost in Barbados). Outside of these, riding an ordinary bike in Barbados hot and often times humid climate, especially when going to work will mean workplaces providing provisions such as showers, and changing rooms to accommodate these positive changes.
Stop the presses breaking news
Read where Barbados govt might be putting their share of Liat up for sale.
It is not clear to me what was the role of the Trinidadian consultant. As I can rest assured that apologists will quickly correct any mistakes that I make, I will press on…
It appears that one of the roles of the consultant was to help in the acquisition of parts for the buses.
Wasn’t the transport board buses at that time gasoline and diesel technology, i.e. old and established technology? If we could not master this old technology, if we couldn’t sour parts by ourselves, what makes you think we will master air-train, light rail, electric buses? Technologies that no doubt will include smart computers.
Will this consultant’s role be built into the “new transport board”? Or will we wait until after the newness wears off or the ‘warranty’ expires we will be running around looking for expensive consultants to fix these new fads. Version 2 of problem 1.
We can only escape this quagmire, if we are completely honest with ourselves. Look at the the old transport board, look at at its successes and failures, and try to avoid a repeat of old problems. Try to develop ALL of the required expertise (offer scholarships) so that we do not have to engage foreign consultants to solve our problems.
“It appears that one of the roles of the consultant was to help in the acquisition of parts for the buses.”
lol, lol…ya see the latent stupidity, they lie to be elected…ALL OF THEM…then they need consultants to tell them what to do,..at taxpayers expense… to even pick up a phone and order parts in anywhere..is too much for them once they acquire a shite title and access to treasury and pension fund..they need multimillion dollar consultants for everything…these pretentious as*holes are pretending they don’t know how to pick up a phone, all they need to source parts is the buyer’s manual for the buses…not a 20,000 dollar a month consultant..TIEF.
They have had those shite buses since the 80s or thereabouts, they were warned REPEATEDLY..to stop buying them…but to do so…they will have to STOP THE CORRUPTION…and in their corrupt minds, that is not an option..cause Simpson gotta get his cut, the ministers gotta get their cuts, the lawyers gotta get their cuts…and on and on…
viola…ya now have a uselessly depleted, non functioning transportation system…and Transport Board buses parked her, there and everywhere, even in Perry Gap, next door to Dr. Bannister….hope we don’t hear some scandal where some tiefing lawyer stole that land from dead people and their living beneficiaries…to use the property to park buses.
DoLittle was quoted as saying: “You cannot negate the opportunity for charters, as these bring in more profits for the Board than routes.”
New technology cannot be your savior if you have ignorant leadership. With this lack of vision one can see the day when all buses are out on tourists charters and no one can get to work. Not even the hotel maids.
“The Transport Board is indeed a tough assignment. I’ve tried my best and I am happy with the job I’ve done. But there is always that point in life where your best will not suffice and this is certainly that time for me to move on. I am human, not superhuman and there are things in life that you cannot change. This experience has certainly reinforced that fact for me,”
Does this sound like an explanation for abandoning his post?
Did he expect a picnic?
What superhuman evil was he confronted with?
Is this the case of a good man who could not go along with what is wrong?
Were the pickings slimmer than he expected?
Without a sensible explanation then speculation is the order of the day.
Waru
Rogue Works and her administration are busy seeking to persuade that there is no other the Think Tank machinery like the administration she has constructed therefore all criticism is unjust and unconfounded. Just because she is meeting targets and bolstering the economy via cut and tax (like if she has a choice under an IMF programme), there is something to praise as much as there is a lot to ponder on. I said before that time will prove her a Rogue or I wrong, for labelling her as such. But, how can you justify a decision to increase numbers in a cabinet and then compound it by having an equally large number of consultants, and not be criticised when those large numbers failed to make the work any lighter or easier. Has the promise of greater transparency and accountability gone to the eddoes? I do not want to say it but I believe that the usual routes by which money is normally funnelled into the pockets of the political class are now through a different medium using many hands.
Yep..people have pointed it out problem for them, …everything is regulated outside of the island…SO GOOD LUCK TO THEM WITH THEIR BIG BRIAN SCAMS I SAY…