PORT MARIA, St Mary:
Mayor of Port Maria Richard Creary is to arrange a meeting with the police hierarchy in Area Two to once again look at the underutilisation of the town’s transportation centre by public-passenger vehicle operators.
The scarce use of the facility has resulted in a continuation of traffic congestion in Port Maria, the St Mary capital.
After The Gleaner published a complaint by a vendor at the park this week, who had said she was losing money because bus and taxi operators hardly use the facility, the mayor told The Gleaner that after a previous article on the subject was published in January, a meeting was held with Area Two commander Assistant Commissioner of Police Elbert Nelson and his team. The meeting was productive and yielded positive results.
“The police asked that we open the centre a little bit earlier, which we did. Three weeks to a month, we had close to a perfect situation in Port Maria,” he said.
Traffic ran smoothly through the town, the St Mary Municipal Corporation saw an increase in fees collected at the park, and passenger movement became more coordinated.
Then the situation started to deteriorate. On Tuesday, the streets of Port Maria were congested as the transportation centre remained empty, with vendors there bawling out in frustration over the lack of business.
“I plan to have dialogue with him (Nelson) because it worked for a month, or perhaps a little over a month, and we’re back at square one, and we see the police out there, but [we are] not seeing the results,” the mayor stated.
Meanwhile, Creary said he received a couple of complaints on Tuesday about the situation from another vendor and also from an unlikely source, a taxi operator who plies the Islington to Port Maria route.
“All Islington taxis used to use the park; they were conforming. A driver came to me this morning saying not even the Islington taxis using the park anymore, and usually, it’s much easier for him when the park is functional.”