Transport sector brakes up amid virus fallout
Published:Tuesday | March 17, 2020 | 12:28 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Monday is the new Sunday.
That’s the reality cabbies, Coaster bus drivers and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company woke up to yesterday as ridership was a major casualty of the fallout from COVID-19.
A week after the health ministry confirmed the first local case of the novel coronavirus, with 12 confirmed cases as at yesterday, transport hubs that were traditionally a hive of activity were transformed into virtual graveyards. With schools shuttered, passenger volumes slumped to lower-than-summer levels.
Jomo Stainless, an operator within the Stainless fleet of buses, said that he was forced to park two buses and only operate one because of the plunge in profits.
“Low passenger turnout ... . Last Saturday, it appears as if nobody wanted to pass Stony Hill, that is where the crowd was. Now, today the road is empty,” he said.
A JUTC bus parked at North Odeon in Half-Way Tree had only two passengers aboard. The driver said that the fears of contracting coronavirus was keeping passengers at bay.
“People are staying away from travel even though we clean the buses,” he told The Gleaner.
Inside the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre, the collapse of ridership was even more evident.
Giovanni Scott, one of two workers The Gleaner noticed sanitising buses, said that the popular pick-up spot had been free of crowds all morning.
CORONAVIRUS CLEAN-UP
Meanwhile, Rayvarica Simpson-Anderson, a driver, waited patiently for a bus to be sterilised before she started her shift.
“I don’t really have a fear for the corona. Things are like this (slow) when school is out. You don’t get that crowd. I still have to work the hours of my shift,” said Simpson-Anderson.
Tenesha Wallace, JUTC point dispatcher at the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre, said things had changed, but not drastically.
When asked if the schedule of drivers would be reduced, she said: “Persons are doing their regular schedule but I think persons are just staying in and not coming out.”
Taxi operators who ply the Half-Way Tree to Papine and August Town routes resorted to sitting idle in the parks or staying at home catching up on rest in the downtime. Some operators are already appealing for a repayment reprieve from loan companies.
Howard Livingston, who had hit the streets from 7 a.m., has been feeling the pinch.
“From morning a two trip mi mek. One go up and another to come down. We have road licence fi deal with and we nah mek no money,” he said.
“We an appeal for more time to pay an calling on the TA (Transport Authority) to grant extensions. A $1,500 mi mek from morning and a to one now.”
Livingston told our news team that the meagre $1,500 collected by midday was a drop in the bucket compared to normal days.
Another taxi operator, Daleton Brown, instead of loading passengers, was busy sanitising his empty taxi.
He also had concerns about his finances but acknowledged that safety was paramount.
“I come out early and nothing nah gwaan, so I guh back in guh sleep. We don’t want it to tek the whole place that everybody get sick, but we just affi try ride it out.”