Falmouth municipality earmarks $9 million for transport centre upgrade

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE CHAOTIC scenes of pedestrians walking in and out of traffic on Duke Street in Falmouth, Trelawny, is set to become a thing of the past shortly, as the municipality is set to spend $9 million to refurbish the old parking area on Thorpe Street.

Citing a raft of construction that will ease traffic congestion in the town, Falmouth Mayor Colin Gager said that they have secured funds for the project. He made the disclosure during a meeting of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation last week.

“Funding has been identified to refurbish the transport centre on Thorpe Street. The scope of work will include the building of shelters, the installation of bathroom facilities, and markings to indicate where taxi and minibus operators may park, to ensure a smooth moving of passengers,” announced Gager.

Further, a meeting was also held with various stakeholders that included the police and representatives of the taxi association. However, one important stakeholder, the Transport Authority, was absent.

“There was a clash of meetings and I couldn’t make it. However, I was informed on how the meeting went, and the mayor and I have scheduled a meeting for [a] further update,” said Ralph Smith, manager, Transport Authority, Western Region.

Head of the Trelawny Police Division, Superintendent Carlos Russell, noted the hardships related to the maintenance of order along the roadways, while supporting the moves by the municipality to upgrade the transport centre into a fully functional space.

“We have tried to maintain order on Duke Street. It has, however, been difficult. The pedestrianisation of Water Square did not help,” observed Superintendent Russell.

He added: “The transport centre may be small, but it will allow for some damage control.”

There are over 40 transport operators serving the Falmouth to Montego Bay route five days per week. Errol Lee, a bus operator who works that route, welcomed the planned refurbishing of the transport centre.

“It will bring more order to the operators. No longer will they arrive late and want to leave first. It will also be a revenue earner for the municipality,” Lee said.

Another operator, who did not want to be named, accused the Transport Authority of bias in carrying out their duties.

“The officers come out and try to ticket us for the most minor infraction. Yet they turn a blind eye on the Voxy (Toyota) operators, whose road licences are [to provide services] from Falmouth to Lilliput, yet they load up with passengers all the way into Montego Bay. No ticket for operating contrary to road licence is issued,” said the operator.

Smith told The Gleaner that he is unaware of the issue and will have the situation investigated by his staff.

“I am not aware of that situation, but I will have my officers look into that complaint,” he said.