Gov’t plan to develop a national transport strategy
(CNS Business): It’s time to revamp the public transportation system in the Cayman Islands, to have more “reliable transport in all areas” that will “alleviate congestion on our road and parking downtown”, according to Tourism and Transport Councillor Joey Hew.
In the Legislative Assembly government officials reviewed the current bus system and decided the island needs to develop a long-term public transport strategy that is more suitable for society. Hew said expanding bus routes to all areas in Cayman is the first step.
“What we see in the future is not simply a public transport unit that runs omnibuses back and forth and around the island, but one that has larger capacity buses, more comfortable buses, that run from district to the main depot. Then perhaps our omnibuses could run within the districts and around the districts, making it more feasible and viable for them to do so,” he told CNS Business.
Joey Hew, Councillor, Ministry of District Administration, Tourism & Transport
Hew said this will not happen overnight; it will take several steps and changes in legislation.
“First, our short-term goals are simply policy changes. Then we are doing our midterm goals, which are changes to the public transport law, changes to much larger policies that require legislation, and then third and foremost is to develop a long-term plan which may include a public transport authority or a partnership with the private sector to develop a national transport strategy,” he explained.
As part of the new bus system, government also plans to develop public transport depots where people can drive their vehicles, park in a secure place and then take a bus to their destination. Hew said it’s part of their plan to encourage people who live in the outer districts to take the bus, rather than driving into town to find parking.
“Obviously, the key to a successful public transport system is one that’s going to be safe, and that’s going to run on a fix schedule so persons can know once they’ve taken the bus that morning they will get to work on time or their event that evening,” he said. “You don’t want to take a bus into town to go to work and then work a few hours late and not be able to get a bus back home.”
The tourism councillor stressed if Cayman has a more regulated bus system, then more people would be willing to take the bus as their way of transportation around the island.
“What we are faced with is obviously in certain areas of George Town we are lacking space for parking as we try to do our George Town Revitalization. We are also facing congestion on our roads and there are only so many roads we can build on this little island unless we start to stack them. So we have to be proactive in finding ways to encourage persons to use the public transport system to alleviate congestion on our roads and parking downtown,” Hew said.
The George Town MLA explained that the government is not planning to disenfranchise anyone. “I don’t want to cause any concern amongst the public transport operators right now,” he said. “This is a long-term plan that we will work towards ensuring that everyone is thought about and we take all things into consideration as we move forward.”
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Public busses need to be run by Gov’t to run on time .It will never happen otherwise. You all think that this is a typical place like the states but in certain areas they have the same problem we do. Cheap busses offering limo service. which of course, causes busses to run late. Then if they pass the dock and see people looking for a cheaper ride they hold up their hand and yell 2.50 , well who wouldn’t take a cheaper ride. Only PTU can give a ticket. The ticket was suppose to be $500 lol that never happen . The same people was causing problems for years because of connections to the last Premier. He promised every time we came to him to fix it but he never did. So if you want it on time It has to be run by Gov’t. We only need busses running from 5:30 am -9:30 am then 3:00-7:00pm
For years the PTB has been encouraged to review the Bermuda public bus model and consult with their management. Contacts were made and info provided but no attempt has ever been made to assess that system. Why? Because it’s common sense.
We adopt other pointless practices when it suits us – such as DST – but refuse to adopt practical and sensible practices.
Mr. Hew is in “la-la” land if her feels the PT system needs “more regulation”! What it needs is sensible and workable regulation and procedures.
Cudos to Joey. If we had a good, clean, safe public transport system that ran on a time schedule I would use it for my weekly trips to George Town. Let’s move ahead with an integrated transportation strategy for Grand Cayman. – Brian Tomlinson, North Side.
Our infrastructure cannot support bigger buses.Imagine driving home behind one of those bigger bus that cant even pull over to the side to load/unload passenger.
and when the roads flood again lets close the schools and make the parents pick up their kids
that’s twice this year you morons pulled that stunt
instead of putting them on the school buses the safest transportation available
How third world what fool came up with that idea
How about just keeping them in school!
Good, but if we really are going down this route let’s go a step further and make sure the service is environmentally friendly. If electric buses are too expensive at least base the service on vehicles that can use LPG rather than petrol or diesel.
If this turns into just another procession of clapped out old minibuses like we have now it’s not worth the effort.
We need a bus system like there is in the UK, where drivers are well-trained, disciplined and courteous to passengers. And we should have a few large, clean buses, not the “hodge-podge” of little buses who do not hold to established pick-up times. And given our tropical weather, we should have proper bus shelters for those who use the system.
Bermuda public busses are clean, air conditioned and run on schedule.
nothing beats the Geneva tram system for public transport.