Mark Titus, Enterprise Reporter

St Clavers Transport Centre is virtually empty as taxicab drivers prefer to solicit passengers at Sam Sharpe Square or along Market, Orange and Church streets. - Photo by Denise Reid

Stakeholders in Montego Bay say a holistic approach is needed if the proposed $90-million traffic management system due for the tourist capital is to be successful.

While the proposed exercise is geared towards eliminating the congestion plaguing the Second City, some industry leaders believe that a centralised, state-of-the-art transport centre and improved professionalism by the police would bring order to the process.

"It is good that such an improvement can come to our town, but certain important elements must be in place if we are to succeed," Deon Chance, president of the St James Taxi Association, tells The Gleaner.

Regulation needed

"There needs to be some form of regulation and enforcement in regard to vehicles parking along our major thoroughfares," Chance says, pointing to double parking as a traffic hazard.

While acknowledging the culpability of some cabbies, Chance, who also heads the National Council of Taxi Associations, says, "I believe that if the police were more stern in enforcing the law, there would be less congestion on the main thoroughfare.

"But if a driver is prosecuted today, tomorrow, the police and the driver become friends so the offender is never prosecuted again."

Chance advocates the establishment of taxi stops on routes on which buses don't ply, which would reduce the occurrence of uncoordinated halts on roadways.

"What the city needs more than anything right now is a transportation centre; and that would be the drop-off and pick-up point for every public passenger vehicle taking passengers into the town.

"This, again, would require a high level of professionalism from the police, who would be able to take the necessary action against those who are found picking up passengers outside of the terminus or who are operating illegally," he adds.

Businesswoman Jeanette McGowan argues that replication of the transport hub in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, would significantly reduce MoBay's traffic woes.

She also wants swift action to be taken against cab drivers who refuse to conform to traffic laws.

"If the new changes are to work, the powers that be must take action against the taxi men that park along the sides of the road, because when they do that, more congestion is created as both our visitors and citizens are forced to walk in the middle of the street," McGowan asserted.

Earlier this year, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett announced a $90-million plan for the installation of stop lights and other devices to assist with traffic management in the St James capital.

Traffic management

Pauline Reid, President of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. - file

The project, under the theme 'Tourism Partners with Transport', is expected to alleviate the problem of traffic congestion in the city when completed.

In his address, the minister said that traffic management was a critical part of enhancing the tourism product, noting that urban planning in Montego Bay had not kept pace with a growing residential and commuting population.

Describing the traffic crush as "nothing short of undesirable", Pauline Reid, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said businesses were haemorrhaging because of lost man-hours.

"Montegonians and other users of our roads are forced to spend long hours in traffic just trying to go about their daily business. The number of productive man-hours and expensive fuel is a deterrent to business in the region," she notes.

Tourists were also inconvenienced, the business chamber boss said, giving them less time to shop.

"Visitors to the island arriving at the airport are sometimes caught in the turmoil, while those who arrive by cruise ship and expect to go on that excursion find themselves locked in traffic for hours," she adds.

The long-awaited dualisation of the Bogue main road, which was accommodated in the year's budget, should serve to ease traffic congestion in that area, Reid tells The Gleaner.

Stephen Shaw, communication manager at the National Works Agency, which is responsible for the implementation of the project, said work would begin soon.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com