Monorail will hit taxi drivers

The Editor: The overwhelming traffic during peak hours makes getting in and out of Port-of-Spain a horrible experience. I am grateful for any effort by the Government to reduce traffic congestion, thus in principle I am not against the proposed monorail. However, firstly we must recognise that the monorail will do nothing for the driving public. Traffic will still be backed up to Barataria at 7 pm on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway.  Secondly, the monorail would provide direct competition to taxi and maxi-taxi drivers. The private transportation industry provides employment to a substantial number of persons who may be unemployable in either the public or private sectors. These entrepreneurs have decided to make an honest living rather than turn to crime. The loss of passengers to the monorail, may make earning a living even more difficult. 

I would like to see a greater effort by the Government to develop proposals to solve our traffic woes, which maximises the use of our transportation entrepreneurs, rather than provide competition. I would like to propose that certain roads in Port-of-Spain are allocated for use by maxis and taxis only, which will allow for quick transportation of commuters to City Gate. For the driving public, like myself, I would also like to see parking lots instead of more high-rise buildings, so the streets can be cleared to allow a smoother traffic flow. Finally, though politically controversial, I would like to see a flyover constructed at the Uriah Butler Churchill Roosevelt intersection. This is the bottleneck that has to be dealt with if we want to improve the traffic flow.

PERRY POLAR
Curepe