At the opening ceremony for the long-awaited Berbice River Bridge, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that the bridge would help to ease the travelling woes for commuters, especially schoolchildren.
However this newspaper caught up with some schoolchildren on Friday afternoon as they were leaving the ferry on their way home. When asked, they said they had not used the bridge for school because they could not afford the high transportation cost. Some observers have suggested that a system could be worked out where they would go up to the bridge and special vehicles from the eastern end would wait in front of the toll station to avoid paying the charges and take the children across at a cheaper rate.
Meanwhile, traffic chief of ‘B’ Division, Owen Trotz told Stabroek News that Route 50 minibuses are allowed to go to New Amsterdam to drop along the Main Road, turn into New Street and then along the market area.
He said they would then have to go to the NA stelling to await passenger to take back to West Berbice. Likewise, the traffic chief said Route 63 buses can also take passengers up to the Rosignol stelling. Trotz urged the drivers to obey the speed limit on the bridge and to exercise caution when using the approach road on the eastern side as “it is not finished as yet.”
