Mark Titus, Enterprise Reporter

Ramsay

There is seemingly no quick-fix to traffic congestion in Jamaica's major towns. While local authorities grapple with the problem, some traders' ambivalence to, or encouragement of, the traffic nightmare has contributed to a lack of consensus.

"Some business operators like the congestion, especially those in the hub of the township, because more people are there, more people will pass through," says Aldo Brown, president of the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce. "Even in these bad conditions, you have some people who don't mind it and then it affect others."

Call for consistency

"It is a real challenge here, very chaotic on the street," Mandeville Mayor Brenda Ramsay tells The Gleaner, backing up Brown's concerns. "The police have tried to assist (but) there needs to be consistency, but the police alone cannot do it, everyone needs to cooperate for us to find a solution."

Mandeville's population boom, which now stands at 24,000, has influenced the traffic crush. Add three bauxite companies, a university, a number of secondary and high schools and a mass of returned residents to the mix, the town is at a tipping point.

"We have put some measures in place, but these initiatives can only be effective if the police are more visible, but they are short on manpower," Ramsay explains.

Spanish Town Mayor Dr Andrew Wheatley shares the sentiment of his Manchester colleague. "We get some support from the police, especially the ISCF (Island Special Constabulary Force), but they are stretched for the resources, the traffic department is very meagre."

According to Wheatley, who recently introduced a permit parking system into the town, such an exercise will start off with teething pains because of a culture of impunity.

"Initially, we found some resistance by some of the operators, (and) we had to also educate the public that they could not just stop and exit the vehicle in the middle of the road, and we are pleased by the outcome so far," Wheatley says.

Total chaos

A section of the busy town of May Pen in Clarendon. - File

Dennis Robotham, president of the St Catherine Chamber of Commerce, agrees that the police are partly to blame for the traffic travails of Spanish Town, cautioning that only some businesses will benefit from permit parking.

"The new regulation has somewhat eased the traffic congestion, but after 5 p.m., it is total chaos again because no police are present in areas such as Burke Road, Young Street and Wellington Street," he tells The Gleaner, "despite the police promising to focus on these areas, it has not changed. The whole place is taken over by taxis and they park anywhere and because they (police) are taking no action, the chaos still reigns anytime after 5 o'clock."

Many shoppers trying to save a buck will opt for business places with their own parking accommodation, such as plazas, instead of paying to park, Robotham argues.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum recently, May Pen Mayor Milton Brown said the Clarendon council was banking on implementing permit parking to alleviate gridlocks in the parish capital.

"We have gone to the stage where I am looking at signage as you enter our town, so that you can say we are a meter-parking town, and we have the roads and so on that you can denote that when you get in our towns these are the areas."

However, when this reporter visited May Pen, no signs had been installed to inform motorists of one-way streets.

Disorder was rampant at the intersection of Caledonia and South Race Course Road in Mandeville when the Gleaner team competed with impatient motorists and pedestrians using improperly placed crossings to get to the town centre. Huge delivery trucks further complicated the situation.

Our arrival in Spanish Town that evening confirmed the concerns of the chamber president, as every nook and cranny teemed with taxi operators. There were no police in sight.

Transformation

It was, however, a breath of fresh air as The Gleaner toured the north coast town of St Ann's Bay. Every taxi operator was parked orderly, waiting his turn. This is a stark transformation from several months ago as cabbies jostled for space and commuters in the small parish capital, slowing traffic and clustering shops and the service station adjacent to the police station.

St Ann's Bay Mayor Ivan Anderson is basking in the success of the council's permit parking system, implemented last month, and says a similar exercise will be introduced in Brown's Town and also the tourist resort of Ocho Rios.

"We were able to achieve this through a high level of cooperation among all the stakeholders, where everyone had an equal say, so it is a win-win situation for everyone," he notes.

Anderson says plans are in the pipeline to streamline vending in Ocho Rios and Brown's Town, as sellers from other parishes swamp the town's streets. "Due to this, vendors who pay their fees to trade in the market are also coming out on the road causing further congestion," Anderson, who chairs the St Ann Parish Council, says.

Greater cooperation from the police and ridding the streets of illegal vending are critical launch pads for the parish's traffic management plan, Anderson adds.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com