The park-and-ride system implemented for the group stages of the ICC T20 World Cup at Kensington Oval has garnered praise among private transit owners, though calls have been made for improvements ahead of future major events.
Adrian Bayley, former head of the Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-Op Society Ltd and Transport Authority Board member, spoke with Barbados TODAY after recent discussions with the tournament’s local organising committee, along with director of the Barbados Transport Authority Ruth Holder and chief executive officer of the Transport Board Fabian Wharton, about the system’s benefits and drawbacks.
“We were asked to look at putting in a proper system to ease the congestion around Kensington [Oval],” said Bayley. “Over the last few years once England came into Barbados for a cricketing series, with the large number of people who come down from Great Britain, it became a major bottleneck to get into and from Kensington.”
The solution saw the Central Purchasing Unit utilised as a parking area for taxis servicing the cricket ground.
“That made a massive difference in the flow of traffic in and out of Kensington,” Bayley explained.
But he acknowledged ongoing difficulties in navigating the area immediately surrounding the historic venue: “The challenge [still] was to basically get in and out of Kensington Oval, but I would say the police service would have assisted us immensely and performed their duties quite well.”
Bayley called for wider adoption of the park-and-ride model to ease congestion on the roads, which have remained largely unchanged since independence despite rising vehicle numbers.
“If we can get more and more Barbadians using the park and ride areas and easing the traffic, [instead of] persons driving into Kensington to find space to park and small areas to find their vehicles, if we can get that changed, that would make a massive difference,” he said.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport Roy Raphael said the system “worked relatively well” for public service vehicle operators, albeit with limited financial gains during the group stage.
“For us, we are looking forward to the Super 8s and the finals,” he said. “Some taxi operators did not see a lot of benefits, as well as the ZR [route] operators. But it’s still early, we are waiting on the Super 8s [matches] to see what traffic it will bring.” (SB)
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