Bus operators and taxi drivers are calling on the Georgetown City Council to fix the deplorable roads around the Stabroek Market square and its environs which they say continue get worse every day.
When Stabroek News visited the area last week, it was observed that the roads where the buses park to pick up passengers for the various routes had large holes, which make them difficult for drivers navigate and contribute to the congestion in the area.
Bus driver James Smith said he was fed up that nothing was being done about the roads. “You come and park here and your vehicle high and low because of all the damaged road. Even when you come off and you got to come off the park you got to be careful and drive slow and everybody behind you always blowing and making a set of noise but what you gonna do? Drive through the holes like your head mad?” the man said.
Other bus drivers chimed in and expressed similar sentiments to Smith. They said that it was time for the roads to be fixed, which would result in the better flow of traffic in the heavily congested area. “If you come here during the days, not even peak time, you does see the madness going on and nuff things does contribute to them, including the holes in the road. Nobody gonna drive fast through them and so the whole traffic is slow, slow,” one man said.
“Nobody wants their vehicles to mash up ’cause you does already got nuff passengers in and so you got to drive slow,” Smith stated.
Taxi drivers along with the bus drivers who usually park and traverse the areas called for other drivers who were are just passing through the area to refrain from doing so since it adds to the congestion. “Sometimes people does come through here and hurry, hurry to pass and they just passing through, so it don’t make sense. It don’t make sense to just pass through here because of all the bus and cars that actually doing their business travelling through,” Ramesh Nauth, a taxi driver, said.
When Town Clerk Royston King was questioned on when the Council would be looking at the roads, but he could not give a definitive date. City Engineer Colvern Venture added that he had to consult the administration before he could give a comment.
