Park and ride facilities coming soon to ease congestion in POS: Warner

Jack Warner with Marlene McDonald at a meeting Laventille with taxi drivers

Jack Warner announced on Wednesday that there are plans for "Park and Ride" points outside the city of Port of Spain that would allow drivers to park their vehicles and take a PTSC shuttle bus into the city. The Works and Transport minister expects to begin the service in September.

He noted that the mayors of Chaguanas, Port of Spain and Chaguanas have endorsed it as an effective way to ease congestion and gridlock in the capital city. The system is common in major cities all over the world where people are encouraged to use public transit.

Warner spoke about the plan at a news conference hosted by Port of Spain South MP Marlene McDonald who invited the minister to meet with Laventille taxi drivers who had been complaining of poor road conditions.

The minister listened to the problems that the taxi drivers face and promised immediate relief after consulting with Highways Division chief Roger Ganesh, who accompanied him to the meeting.

He said the initial investment to resurface the main artery from Piccadilly Street into Laventille would be about $1.7 million.

He also promised that he and his cabinet colleague, Emmanuel George, would visit the Laventille area next week to deal with problems created by water mains owned by the Water and Sewerage Authority.

“He is a man of his word,” McDonald said about Warner, adding that she trusts him. Warner returned the compliment. “I’ve always said Ms McDonald is the best MP on the PNM side...when she calls I come running,” he said.

Warner was also in South Trinidad Wednesday where he and his junior minister Stacy Roopnarine opened a rehabilitated road in Moruga.

The $11 million project took four weeks to complete. Warner also promised the reapir the Tarouba Link Road, which connects the Solomon Hochoy Highway to the San Fernando By Pass.

Speaking with reporters in Moruga, the minister said he believes it would be a good idea for big cargo trucks to use major roadways between six in the evening and six in the morning.

Warner was responding to the traffic chaos that followed the crash of a fuel truck on the Solomon Hochoy Highway near Gasparillo on Tuesday. Firefighters blocked the highway on both sides causing a massive traffic jam that lasted several hours.