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Dickson Igwe

Final article on public transportation in the Virgin Islands

A wonderful and delightful Native Virgin Islander, and popular writer, Sandra Philip Hodge, also known as Ndigo Naka, in an article written months ago, May 31st, 2011, to be precise, on BVI News Online, and a story headed ‘’ get public transportation on the road,’’ described how ‘’ public transportation involves a full time scheduled bus service, island wide, that is dependable and reliable, for a fixed fee.’’ She also rightly indicated that ‘’ up to now, there is no such system; but talk continues, and the public is still waiting.’’

Ndigo further described the drawbacks in private vehicle ownership, stating the fact that when one considers the high cost of car ownership, ‘’ it might be a lot easier to pay a bus fare to work and back.’’ This is so true, but it also highlights the fact that the Virgin Islands citizen and resident lives in a transportation dynamic of an overwhelming dependency on the motor car, and a lack of any real and viable transportation alternative.

Virgin Islands commuters are caught between a rock and a hard place. One big question in the country’s transportation dilemma is this one: is the Virgin Islander and resident willing to switch this love of the motor car for a more environmentally friendly and socially oriented public transportation modus?

Getting back to her excellent article, and Ndigo also highlighted the problems of a Virgin Islands monoculture of car use and car ownership, such as parking issues in Road Town, toxic emissions, and the selfishness of some car owners;’’ and this is certainly not helped by the fact that that taxi fares are way off ‘’ the average person’s budget,’’ especially for regular and daily commutes. The Writer and National Contributor, rightly described public transportation as a much needed social resource, and ‘’ absolutely necessary’’ to the territory’s development.

And this Commuter fully agrees. Bear in mind, the presence or lack thereof, of an effective public transportation infrastructure, is a serious issue, even dilemma, for this small country, and any other country for that matter, lacking this precious social and commercial type service, using four wheeled vehicles on road networks, and various other types of transportation technologies that utilize rail, water, and even air.

And in the midst of the national rendition on airport and seaport development; of getting the Virgin Islands plugged into the global airline and travel choreography, the need for a local and commercially viable, affordable, public transportation service, is just as important to this country’s social economy. In Europe for instance, one can fly into any major airport and take a simple bus or train ride to their home or hotel, even lugging loads of luggage: it is as simple as that. Sadly, that is not the case in the USA where a powerful car culture continues to rule. The Virgin Islands love for the motor car appears to be a micro of the US car culture: a similar modus Vivendi.

One of the conveniences of any travel destination is the availability of cheap and regular public transportation: one must never underestimate this virtue of a country’s public transportation infrastructure. In many of the world’s most advanced countries, rich and poor alike daily patronize public transportation services. A good public transportation culture is actually a marker of development, and of a high standard of living and quality of life.

Now, taxi drivers in these Antilles should be commended for having assisted in the provision of various aspects of social transportation: the bussing of Virgin Islands children to and from schools is one area this observer believes they are doing an excellent job. Still taxis and Government must take the next major step and provide the country with a national public transportation product and model second to none.

This can surely be done. The infrastructure is already in existence with rolling stock owned by local businessmen and taxi drivers. And if it entails a new community discussion on the way forward, so be it. In any case, Virgin Islanders must begin to move away from the car culture that is simply damaging the environment and making Road Town increasingly more congested, and an oversized car park.

The American Public Transportation Association has exhorts that ‘’ public transportation in the United States is a crucial part of the solution to the nation’s economic, energy and environmental challenges; helping to bring a better quality of life. Every segment of American society: individuals, families, communities, and businesses, benefit from public transportation. Public transportation provides personal mobility and freedom for people from every walk of life and provides an affordable alternative to driving, which is much more expensive.’’ It cites the fact that in the US, households that use public transportation save $10,000 a year. It is also much more environment friendly than driving.

Matt Bird, in an article of June 11, 2010, that appeared in Helium, an online media, described‘’ the advantages of having public transportation available, ‘’ he asserted that when public transport is available and easy to use, people are much more likely to use it.’’ The writer also described how in the long run, public transportation cuts down on the cars on the road, and saves the average consumer thousands of dollars each year on car maintenance and repair bills.

Another writer in the same media, Dyan Miranda, on November 27, 2010, a narrative headed, ‘’ the importance of public transportation,’’ described how public transportation was a ‘’cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative’’ to the motor car. Miranda stated that public transportation saved the consumer money, helped the environment, weaned community out of energy dependence, and provided ease and convenience. The writer even went further and determined that public transportation, ‘’ strengthens community, providing jobs for the public, giving us a cleaner environment.

In the Virgin Islands, any forum on the need for a better public transportation service must ask the following questions: ‘’ will the people of these Antilles be willing to swop a toxic car culture that is environmentally and socially damaging for a new and much more efficient public transportation and environment friendly dynamic? Are taxi drivers willing to put the needs of community first, before profit and loss considerations? Will a new public transportation scheduling be customer friendly and offer very frequent services, even till late at night? Is the Virgin Islands taxpayer willing to offer a new breed of taxi driver designated public transportation operator, who will own, operate, and manage a public transportation apparatus – subsidized fuel, subsidized operational costs, and further tax benefits? Will this even incentivize taxi drivers?

Then, will an effective and well managed public transportation system, supported by the community, not lead to higher earnings for taxi drivers in the long term, and a better sense of social purpose for the taxi industry? Will a much more available and competitive public transportation service not serve the economic needs of a service and tourism oriented economy? Will all businesses support a public transport Modus Vivendi by investing in the system through the purchase of travel passes for its employees; advertising on safaris, even financially supporting taxi drivers through offering them special service contracts as an incentive for workers to leave their vehicles at home and use their services?

What about Road Town? Imagine a model where the majority of workers, business owners and managers who live in the various districts around the country arrive by bus and safari! Would this not lead to a much more pleasant, congestion free, even pedestrian friendly, capital city? Yes. The benefits of an effective public transportation model are numerous.
Another very intelligent and insightful writer, Edgar Leonard, responding to this Pilgrim’s earlier article on the topic of taxi drivers and public transportation in BVI News Online put forward further questions: ‘’ what percentage of the population prefer public transportation? What is the demand for public transportation? Will the private sector be interested in providing accessible, available, and affordable public transportation? Is the population large enough and demand great enough to entice the private sector without public sector subsidies? What about the opportunity cost of instituting public transportation? And other than fleshing out the legislation and construction and maintenance of the infrastructure, what will be government’s role in this initiative? Finally, will it be a public cum private venture?’’

Public transportation must be looked at for what it is. It is not just an alternative to driving, and the pollution, and national congestion car ownership brings; it is a completely alternative social and economic culture that will foster a stronger community, and a cleaner and greener environment.

Dickson Igwe is on Twitter and Facebook

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First of two stories on the crucial need for a comprehensive public transportation service in the Virgin Islands

Yours truly enjoys reading the news stories and commentaries of native, expatriate, and staff writers in the Virgin Islands press. He finds them rich with information, and very instructive, and they are part of his modus Vivendi of sources frequently quoted in his weekly narratives.

And so, on a bright and magnificent Saturday morning in paradise, as he rustled though the pages of the national newspapers, sitting on his favourite rock on Mount Healthy, he read a few lines from the excellently informed William Walker. His was a contribution in the BVI Beacon of February 2, 2012:  ‘’Public service changes considered.’’ In the article, the BVI Beacon Contributor described the St. Thomas, United States Virgin islands’ transportation system as ‘’ an example of private enterprise matched to a government sponsored service.’’

Walker further described how short taxi trips in that territory ‘’ are only $1; the longer ones are $2.’’ Bear in mind that the St. Thomas safari bus transportation model is complemented by a government owned bus service which is not as frequent as the taxi operation. Walker further described the well understood model of a BVI public transportation system and dynamic which is still practically nonexistent, as a dedicated effort by local taxi drivers to ensure ‘’ the system does not run at all.’’ It is obvious Mr. Walker appreciates the importance of an efficient and competitively priced public transportation system to the social and economic welfare, and development, of the Virgin Islands, and all countries for that matter!     Good public transportation is part of any modern society’s fabric.

Now, this Pilgrim writes, some of his most important stories by epiphany. He may simply be lying on a hammock on a pristine and white sand beach, at a romantic location somewhere in the Lee wards; or languishing in the sky about to drop into a John F Kennedy; even sitting on a crowded train on London’s Underground rail system observing the changing demographics of Britain’s largest city. Or similarly, sitting on the front seat, on top a red London double-decker, rumbling past Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, on a Sunday evening: that certainly gets the thinking juices flowing.  Once he got the pinch while soaking his weary body in a pool in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he was instantly revitalized, and then swiftly got out and sprinted to his hotel room to spend the rest of the day typing away at a laptop.

Sometimes he even gets the urge to write a rendition on the enchanting Caribbean travelling on a ferry on a brilliant and sunny late afternoon, returning from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, to his home in Tortola, a frequently pleasant trip, and with a pelican giving him a personal escort. Once he was even pulverized by droppings from that selfsame specie of winged creature while passing by, and watching intensely, an astonishing sunset over St. John. Yes life in these Virgin Tropics is a blessing, notwithstanding life’s boomerangs and curve balls.

However, most of his stories emanate from the mundane: for example, the boring normality of a regular working day.  And so it was, early on a weekday afternoon, he was standing in line at Riteway Supermarket, Pasea, Road Town, the checkout desk, when opportunity came slamming into him.

A familiar taxi driver, and friend, entered the store smiling expansively, his dark Ray Band type sunglasses giving him the look of a ‘Tropical Bohemian,’ this guy was a rendition of ‘equatorial cool.’ Now, this Observer, getting that well known urge, assertively accosted him with the rhetorical question: why after all these decades, has the Virgin Islands taxi fraternity been unable to provide the country with a decent, regular, and pleasant public transportation system?

The taxi driver, well known to this Layman, smiled even more widely, and then he went on a ‘sing song and jive’ telling of the limitations of providing a public transportation service and dynamic in these Antilles. Chuckling funnily, grinning nervously, as he proffered his thesis, while simultaneously, and even paradoxically stating his full agreement with the need for a comprehensive public transportation service in these Antilles. And giving this Observer a ‘heap of bull’ about taking the idea in hand, and offering his assistance in investigating the matter, and ensuring something is done about getting the problem fixed once and for all. And to the delight of a number of shoppers standing by ears wide open, listening intently. One wondered how come he hadn’t run for high office!

Before this chance meeting with his Bohemian taxi buddy, days before, at UP’s Cineplex, yours truly had the honour of meeting with another big name in the taxi world, and a Virgin Islands radio personality at that, who soberly explained the challenges of providing a public transportation service, which came from complexities of routing and scheduling, to problems of fare determination, and even taxi politics. He left this Pilgrim in the lurch, with a look of profound sympathy that stated: ‘this public transportation thing is not as easy as it sounds partna.’ He did encourage this writer to continue on his public transportation odyssey, however!

Then on Valentine’s Day, he met with another taxi owner, and this time a very good friend, who understood this Pilgrim’s agitations and vexations on this topic, and further informed him that with over 500 taxis in the country, there was absolutely no reason why his  colleagues couldn’t ‘’ do this thing for the people’’ using his exact words.

Let’s return to Riteway Pasea on that cool and sunny February afternoon in 2012AD, and my enigmatic taxi driver buddy.  After he ended his rendition of ‘John bull’ and waltzed away, a customer who said he didn’t mind me quoting him, Captain Joe of Patouche, a yacht charter business, stated categorically and vocally, to the equally pleasant surprise of all who were in earshot, that the problem with the inability of the taxi business to provide a healthy public transportation system was one of affluence. He said the Virgin Islands taxi drivers were rich, and therefore more interested in providing a service to the overnight tourist and cruise ship passenger, where the big money was to be made, than helping Joe Public get from A to B conveniently. Bingo! A light was turned on in this Discoverer’s mind.

And of course the yacht charter captain was right! He even agreed with this public transportation enthusiast that the establishment of an efficient and effective public transportation model would benefit tourism, as many tourists look at this feature of a destination as vital to their enjoyment of their vacation. A good public transportation model adds value to the tourism product and is good for the environment, something environment savvy tourists appreciate these days. And not everyone, even the supposedly wealthy tourist, wants to pay $20 to get from Road Town to Nanny Cay. A cost effective public transportation system is a critical part of a country’s physical and social infrastructure, and it is simply nonexistent in these Antilles.

To be continued

Dickson Igwe is on Twitter and Facebook 

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