More buses coming, says Transport Board Chairman

Transport woes across the island will be a thing of the past as more buses will soon be on the roads.

Pointing to an aging bus fleet which has resulted in a major bus shortage, Chairman of the state-owned Transport Board, Ian Gooding-Edghill is assuring commuters that a plan is in the works to remedy the situation.

He shared this with supporters gathered at Carlisle Carpark for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) meeting to celebrate its first anniversary, Sunday night.

“We came to a situation where the average age of a bus in Barbados is 18 years old. We have a situation where those buses have accumulated more than a million kilometres and the Democratic Labour Party refused to buy a bus during the 10 years they were in office.”

According to the newly appointed Chairman, “My first task was to stabilise the bus fleet and I think we have accomplished that. The next phase is to ensure that those buses that were parked under the Democratic Labour Party are ready for inspection, and when they come out we will have close to another 40 buses.”

Moreover, Gooding-Edghill disclosed that the Transport Board will also retrofit 30 buses.

“We are going to take the ones they had lingering and fix those – new transmissions, new engines – a bus when you see it you will not believe that bus is about 20 years old.”

“We also have to get some new units too and we are working on that to ensure that we enhance what we have,” he said. (TL)