THE Traffic Department of the Police ‘A’ Division (GPF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works (PWD), yesterday aggressively moved to end the congestion and lawlessness pervasive among minibus operators who park in the Stabroek Market area.
The two agencies have placed four 40-foot concrete columns in front of the Stabroek Market clock, in the parking tarmac used by the Routes 41, 45 and 46 minibusses, to regulate their movement while in the park, and to serve to ease the congestion and confusion often associated with unsupervised and unregulated movement.
‘We need to bring some amount of sanity to this place –Calvin Brutus’
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle at the location yesterday morning, Police Superintendent Calvin Brutus, ‘A’ Division Traffic Officer, related that the move was taken after the police saw the need to bring some amount of sanity to what was going on at that Stabroek Market area.
He said the move is a form of regularizing of the parking system for the routes 41, 45 and 46 buses, and pointed out that in the past there was no proper usage of the space made available to the buses, and there was no proper entry and exit system into the park.
Brutus said the concrete columns will replace traffic lines which were previously placed to guide the drivers on where and how they should park, because the drivers never heeded those guidelines, and that had caused the system of boarding and disembarking the buses to be thrown into total chaos, with passengers themselves being frustrated.
The system of loading passengers will be similar to what obtains at the Kitty and Sophia bus parks, and drivers would be restricted in their movements, and would have to be confined between the concrete columns once they enter the bus park. Thus there will be no room for ‘boring’ by drivers.
The new system is expected to accommodate a maximum of approximately forty buses between the three routes. This does not represent the full complement of buses plying the three routes, the Superintendent explained, hence a system has been devised: When the park is filled to capacity, minibuses seeking to off-load passengers will be allowed to do so on the outskirts of the immediate parking area, but they will not be allowed to pick up passengers from that location, since the area will be demarcated a no parking/stopping areas.
Superintendent Brutus explained that after offloading passengers, the buses would proceed to seek parking opposite the Parliament building, once parking spaces are available; or they can use the areas along the Avenue of the Republic.
Superintendent Brutus explained that a zero tolerance approach would be used on operators using the areas as pickup points for passengers.
All picking up of passengers must be done in the bus parks, the Traffic Officer explained. Brutus said there will be strict enforcement of the new regulation, and drivers who flout the regulation and add to the confusion at the Stabroek Market area will be arrested and charged.
The route 45 minibus will be entering the park from the southern section of the tarmac, in front of the Stabroek Clock, and will be exiting on the northern section of Water Street. Those buses will be moving through two of the concrete columns, one will be for direct exit from the parking area, while the other will be used for buses which are desirous of remaining in the park until they are filed.
The routes 46 and 41, however, will be entering the park from the northern section, and exit on the southern end. There will be a total of six lanes for the two directions, with each direction employing three lanes.
Chief Building Engineer of the Ministry of Public Works, Mr Howard Samaroo, told this newspaper that the move to lay the piles was part of a move to bring order to the Stabroek Area, in collaboration with the police.
He admitted that the way the buses are usually parked and how each utilises the amount of road space given to them is cause for tremendous traffic congestion in the surrounding areas.
Samaroo said the MWH had been able to acquire four of the columns used in the bus park, but is looking to acquire an additional amount so that they can be able to fully set the area in the manner they wish for it to be.
Yesterday morning heavy machinery from the Ministry of Public Works was used to set the piles in order, while traffic ranks were directing commuters to where the buses are usually parked.
Also overlooking the setting up of the new parking system were ‘A’ Division Commander, Snr Superintendent Clifton Hicken and Deputy Commander Dion Moore.
(By Leroy Smith)