The organisers of Buju Banton’s Long Walk To Freedom Concert set for the National Stadium in St Andrew on Saturday are encouraging patrons to come out early and make use of the park and ride shuttle service, which will be provided for patrons.

The concert is a kick off for the deejays first concert series since he was released from a United States prison in December where he served time on drug trafficking charges. In addition to Buju Banton, the entertainment package will feature Chronixx, Etana, Coco Tea, Delly Ranx, Romain Virgo, Ghost, Agent Sasco, LUST and Buju’s son Jahzeil. Tickets for the bleachers section of the stadium are still available for sale at select Digicel stores.

Production manager for the event, Marlon Burke, told journalists that plans are in place to regulate the traffic in the area. This will include the close of several roads in the area surrounding the National Stadium and the regulation of traffic flow into the area of the concert. As a result, parking at the venue will be limited to essential services including the media and production teams as well as for some patrons holding Ultra VIP and VIP tickets.

“We will not be utilising the full parking capacity of the National Stadium. We’re not trying to encourage any unnecessary traffic in the area and those who do not have the requisite parking stickers will be forced to used the park and ride. It is important for persons to utilise this service as we are having the Kingston City Run following the Buju Banton concert and we are trying our best to have a successful staging of both events. The parking facilities at Heroe Circle will be manned by by the JCF (police) and private security. Security won’t be an issue, the venue will be properly lit and we have the backing of the KSAC (Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation bracket, the Jamaica Defence Force, the Fire Department.”

Burke added that the shuttle will commence at 4:00 pm, four hours ahead of the start of the event.

“The shuttle service will be operated by the JUTC. We have 40 buses that will be operating from Heroes’ Circle. roughly 1,200 persons can move in any one run we will be doing this over a four hour period prior to the start of the show. The JUTC has been a major part of the planning and they have provided us with their expertise and given us their feedback on a number of concerns. In addition to the shuttle buses being provided for the park and rise, the JUTC will be offering direct shuttle service to the venue , so from Portmore, Half-Way-Tree and other venues there will be shuttles heading to the stadium.”

The organisers are projecting that 32,000 patrons will file into the stadium for the event and the parking facility at Heroes’ Circle can accommodate approximately 5000 vehicle and additional lots are being accessed to deal with any overflow.

—Richard Johnson