High-occupancy vehicle lanes being considered

THE creation of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the highways of this country is something that the Ministry of Transport and Works is giving serious consideration to.

Earlier this year, Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins revealed in an interview with The Barbados Advocate that the idea was put to the Ministry as a way to help ease traffic congestion on the island’s busy roads and they had in fact been encouraged to get the Wildey to Warrens HOV lane up and running as soon as possible. Last week, Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Lashley, confirmed to this newspaper that his Ministry had received the proposal and he indicated that it was being “keenly explored”.

“We can’t say as yet if and when it will be implemented as we still have to flesh it out and look at the best way of doing it and of course we have to engage our technical people. We would probably do a pilot and see how it runs before moving full steam ahead. But it is an idea worthy of consideration and we will be giving it attention going forward,” he stated.

However, Lashley acknowledged that should his Ministry push the idea of HOV lanes, in addition to promoting the concept of carpooling, they would also have to promote a park and ride system, such that persons would be inclined to put their vehicles down and utilise the bus service, whether that is provided by the public or private sector. In either respect, he admitted, persons would have to be assured that the bus service will be reliable and comfortable.

His comments came as he spoke to the importance of improving the operations and efficiencies of the State-owned Transport Board, and to make the entity economically viable. With that in mind, he revealed that the Ministry is still desirous of utilising alternative fuels such as natural gas to power buses, as it would result in significant cost savings for the Transport Board.

“That is something that would save us a lot of money, but would require a financial injection in the initial stages to retrofit the buses to utilise that alternate fuel. So we would have to do a cost analysis before we could move forward,” he said. (JRT)