Video source: BLP News
The government will take strict measures to improve the service of the Barbados Transport Board by installing GPS tracking devices on its fleet.
The proposal was made by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley after numerous complaints about poor customer service and management at the terminals.
During the St Andrew Speaks town hall meeting on Tuesday 22 August, several local residents raised their concerns. The problems ranged from long waits to bus drivers refusing to drive the entire route to Transport Augmentation Project (TAP) operators asking seniors to pay the bus fare.
An outraged local resident spoke out vehemently on Sunday about the long wait for the Shorey Village bus.
“I leave home at 2:20 to catch the 2:30 Shorey bus. I see no 2:30pm bus, no 3:30pm bus, no 4:30pm bus. As I was leaving to go home a lady told me to look out for a bus coming up and it was six minutes to 5pm.
“When I come back down, I say I’ll take the 8:30 bus. I can’t get a 8:30pm bus, I had to sit and wait for the 9:30pm bus.”
“The next day I’ll ask the lady [in the terminal] What happens to the Shorey bus and three buses parked down there and they say they don’t have any? They send you to Holders Hill with a person and a chauffeur.
Transport Board Chief Operation Officer Lynda Holder, who was present, stated that her departure reports for the St. Andrew route were at odds with the resident’s testimony.
However, she promised that action would be taken to rectify the situation.
“She [the terminal associates] will not say to you “I don’t know”, they will say to you “it will be X time”. And if you’ve waited a certain amount of time, we’ll fill up the buses,” assures Holder.
In response, Prime Minister Mottley recommended installing GPS systems on the bus fleet for live reporting.
“Santia [Bradshaw] is working on installing the cashless machines in buses. I’ll ask them if we can put GPS on buses so it doesn’t conflict with… what the terminal reports. And you can access the records and see where the buses went and what time it was,” the Prime Minister said.
“There are too many people complaining regularly about the lack of buses to Shorey Village, so I’m asking you to hold a meeting, check on the situation, and … come back.” [residents] and report what you did with the problems.
“It’s unacceptable and there’s no reason why it should happen,” Mottley said.
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