Integration of public transport: Some comment from readers

From EH: “While reading, some ideas came bubbling up. Not necessarily coherently related. You noted that (next to the taxi system, and regrettably not well-integrated into it), the PTSC should serve two distinct markets: (a) High volume markets where buses (and I guess dedicated road lanes) make sense; and, (b) Low volume travel lines that are commercially of no interest to taxis. You could add to that ‘Low demand for traffic hours in the day’.

“Nearly everybody owns a mobile phone these days, and GPS locators are rapidly penetrating the phone market. What about using that to improve the efficiency of the taxi-system and improve security of travellers? In first instance, I think of establishing (or expanding the 911-call centre) to arrange that every person who feels threatened is only a click away from calling for help (don’t dial; just press the panic button. An alternative procedure could be that a person setting out to travel, logs in to the centre indicating intended travel after which the system monitors the trip and alerts a human supervisor if the travel pattern changes, until the traveller logs out, having safely reached the destination). The travel planning data that is provided at log-in can also be used to combine trips desired by aspiring travellers to more efficiently match taxi-movements to travel demand.

“Another issue is that the obvious (immediately possible) solution to the mismatch between demand for road space and available road space is rationing the available space and time to give high occupancy vehicles preferential treatment. I’ve heard that many taxi drivers don’t drive during rush hours as at that time their income per hour is, of course, lowest. Is that indeed the case?

“Both in the Netherlands and in Curacao I’ve seen that encouraging lower vehicle speeds leads to dramatic capacity increase. Four-lane arteries where high speeds were possible, reconfigured to two (separated) lanes with an ambiance that discourages speeding, and intersections that have higher capacity due to slower speeds, resolve traffic jams that previously existed. As a transportation man, you know that lower vehicle speeds translates to more vehicles per hour as vehicles can be packed more closely together at lower speeds. For me it was a wow! of an eye-opener.” (For any particular uniform road segment, traffic capacity remains the same, but lower speeds during uncongested traffic flow will result in higher traffic volumes).

Next, from SC: “What about auctioning off commuter routes to operators of the mega and macro buses. Leave PTSC as a regulator and privatise the transit system.”

IM responded to that comment with: “Auction? Those with money will speak loudly again. And pose tremendous problems, more than it will solve. Give us other options.”

From KR: “We must not fear and discriminate against those that control capital, they have a role to play in the development of the modern or any society. We must put systems (policies and management mechanisms) in place to ensure accountability, transparency and fairness, while simultaneously promoting the development of new entrepreneurs to effectively and efficiently provide required services.

“Commercialisation/ privatisation of transit routes already has a model (not perfect but useful); the maxi taxi system. Prospective investors must gauge the return on investments and if it does not make sense they will not invest. The size of the market is a critical consideration. I proffer these views because it cannot be expected that government will subsidise commercialisation of transit routes if that happens we will possible end up with another City Gate facility.”

From SBM: “You have to deal with the core issues here! Public transportation is transportation none the less. As everything else in Trinidad, we can build it, but can it be made consistent, then consistently reliable? Secondly, In response to the privatisation solution. Can anyone please name one thing or entity that was privatised which in turn holistically benefited Trinidadians?”

Again from SC: “The bus companies were private before being shut down and nationalised. The phone company was private before. Texaco before Petrotrin, Co-Op Bank before FCB (First Citizens). If as Rae says the maxi taxis are private and transport 95 percent of the commuters what is the issue? PTSC will require billions of dollars of investment and will never be in a position to become the on-time bus service that is required.”

KR responded: “The socialist type ideology of the past did not work for us. Inefficiencies borne from historical antecedents imposed on a culture of unproductivity buttressed on poor governance, ethnic discrimination and flawed management rendered all public sector enterprises to sustain failure.”

SC concluded: “Imagine the state could still pay for a subsidy to keep bus fares at an acceptable level and yet have a reliable, on-time service. Before the trade unions object we would be looking at a complement of bus drivers way in excess of what is there now. By privatising the transit system you will create thousands of new jobs, better pay, and yet people could set their watches by the bus.”

I will respond to these comments later.

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