By October last year, some $8 billion had been spent on Guyana’s ‘Road Building Revolution’, which is the term touted on President Irfaan Ali’s Facebook page, and, according to information supplied elsewhere by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar, there was approximately $17 billion more to be spent on roads and bridges throughout the country. But that was last year’s news.
Assuredly, the 2022 budget will set aside sums that far eclipse those mentioned above for repairs and maintenance of existing streets as well as for continuing the ‘revolution’. All citizens, particularly those who are forced to traverse hazardous, dam-like roads daily to access their homes, no doubt are hoping that their areas are included, though so far, only major roads have been mentioned in any detail.
An ease in traffic congestion is one of the hoped-for outcomes of this current road expansion programme. However, given that the country lacks a mass transit system or what is better known as public transportation, the most likely development will be the acquisition by citizens of additional private vehicles and an eventual return of traffic gridlock. Just to be clear, the 15/16-seat minibuses that some citizens are compelled to use to travel around the country, are not in effect public transportation, though they are often loosely referred to by that term.
By definition, public transportation is the use of buses (able to carry between 50 to 80 passengers per trip), trains (100 to 200 per trip) and trams (30 to 40 per trip) to move people along travel corridors both cost effectively and efficiently. Public transport can be operated either by governments, private companies or quasi-government non-profit agencies, and is usually subsidised, meaning that operating costs are not covered by the fares charged to commuters. Generally, in most places in the world where mass transit is run by the government, people are able to recognise their tax dollars at work in the low fares they pay. In other cases, the government provides a subsidy to the operator, possibly from the same purse.
Another important feature of mass transit, which definitively removes it as a descriptive term of the local minibus system, is that fuel consumption is less. This, of course, translates to lower emissions and air pollution. Today, most developed cities have already or are in the process of scaling up their buses and rail systems to electric power, which makes them even safer for the environment.
Statistically, mass transit is physically safer for commuters too as there are fewer crashes and fatalities when measured against private transportation. Among the reasons this is the case is that the drivers manning public transportation vehicles are required to travel at the speed limit or risk being disciplined or fired. In most instances too, they are subjected to random drug tests and therefore are unlikely to drink alcohol or abuse any other substances before reporting for duty. Mass transit is also more inclusive as it takes cognisance of the need for travel among the disabled population and caters to them.
With the advent of COVID-19, users of public transport the world over have been forced to observe mask mandates or they could not travel. Further, for the most part, there has been adherence to vaccine mandates, since these became widely available, among operators, drivers and conductors, as a means of ensuring passengers’ health and safety.
By contrast, in Guyana as is the norm, during the latter half of last year drivers of minibuses were involved in numerous incidents, some of which were fatal for commuters or other road users. Among them were the crash in October which later claimed the life of legendary aviator Malcolm Chan-A-Sue, and another that same month at Vreed-en-Hoop that resulted in 53-year-old Pooran Chatterpaul being hospitalised. In the latter incident a breathalyser test found that the minibus driver had a blood alcohol content that was over the legal limit.
In September, a speeding minibus allegedly caused a five-vehicle crash that saw several people injured. There were at least two other road crashes involving minibuses in September where commuters and drivers sustained injuries. In August, a 23-year-old minibus driver lost control of his vehicle in Essequibo resulting in two passengers being hospitalised. And that same month, after being told that they were required to be vaccinated in order to operate their buses, a number of minibus drivers opted to stage a strike.
In July, a 23-year-old minibus driver was remanded to prison after he was charged with causing the deaths of two passengers who died when his bus crashed. There are many more examples, including one early this month which saw a 25-year-old minibus driver arrested after he reportedly plied three schoolgirls with alcohol and cannabis, which later saw them losing consciousness and being hospitalised. However, to continue to list them would be to belabour the point that with the exception of ferry services (and these are often iffy), the last six administrations and the current one have all failed to provide safe public transportation for commuters.
When the PPP/C drafted its National Development Strategy in 1996, it referred to the commercial rail service that ceased operation in 1974 and had promised to carry out “detailed studies” into the feasibility of re-establishing railways, which it noted could play “an important role in the future development of Guyana”. It is now over 25 years since that promise was made and not a peep has been heard about it since. Instead, President Ali recently spoke of plans for the ‘Lamaha corridor’ project, which proposes to place art and craft displays, restaurants, and recreational facilities including a basketball court at and around the former railway station at Lamaha and Carmichael streets.
There is no doubt that the ‘Road Building Revolution’ mentioned above is necessary and any attempt to improve infrastructure is welcomed by citizens, but for the last 30-odd years successive governments have been spending huge sums on roads and bridges and seemingly ignoring what traverses them. Where is the vision that will offer citizens a safe and inclusive alternative to the madness that has been rampant on our roads for so long? How much longer must people continue to perish?
