As the announcement came that the Government has agreed to introduce a river taxi service across the Berbice River, I could not help but reminisce about the time when the Transport and Harbours Department was operating a ferry service from Rosignol to New Amsterdam. In the mid-1980s, I was living in the MMA Rosignol Compound, and my two children were going to Berbice High School. It was a joy to watch the ferry dock at the Rosignol Stelling at 5.50 a.m. and how hundreds of school children and workers would hurry to catch the 6.30 ferry to New Amsterdam. Then one would hear the loud clanging of chains announcing that the ferry doors were about to close, prompting a greater rush of passengers. At 3.00 p.m., my wife would sit on the verandah of the house anxiously waiting for our two children to emerge when the ferry docked.
Those were golden days for us, and how much we would love to have the ferry service return if, and only if,