LINSTEAD, St Catherine — The authorities in this town have appealed for operators of public passenger vehicles to use the designated transportation centre to help ease congestion in the streets, a perennial problem that worsens during the Yuletide season.

According to manager of the Linstead Transport Centre, Christopher Angus only about 10 per cent of operators who should use the transportation hub on the town’s King Street are actually doing so. He added that the facility can accommodate up to 60 taxis and 30 buses at any given time.

“That park was designed to earn over $1 million dollars per month but we are far from that; far, far away from that,” Angus said emphatically.

The transport centre was built to accommodate taxi and bus operators who ply routes including Spanish Town, Bog Walk, Sligoville, Commodore districts, and Wakefield. Most of those who offer transportation on those routes opt, instead, to go the illegal and dangerous route of picking up and dropping off passengers in the streets.

“Right now, as we speak, basically only the Spanish Town route [is] using the park. As close as the Bog Walk route is [to Linstead], no Bog Walk taxi coming inside the park,” said Angus as he commended operators who use the facility.

“Since I have been here [at the transport centre for less than a year] I have seen loyal drivers, drivers who comply with the rules of the park,” Angus told the Jamaica Observer.

On December 12 he hosted an awards ceremony for those who are compliant. Head of the Linstead Police Station Inspector Judith Pownall, who attended the ceremony, used the opportunity to appeal for more transport operators to use the centre.

“We want you to use the bus park and have less congestion in the town centre [so] that persons can move freely,” she said, adding that “thieves thrive in these areas” that are congested.

Inspector Pownall also disclosed that more officers will be deployed in Linstead to maintain order during the festive season.

“The perception is that police officers don’t like bus operators and we target them, and stuff like that. Actually, we don’t but we do know that there are some of them that are non-compliant. They break every rule. We are law enforcers so our duty is to enforce the law,” she asserted.

The call for motorists to make use of Linstead Transport Centre was supported by councillor for Linstead Division, Herbert Garriques (People’s National Party).

“I was one of those who really begged and pleaded for Linstead to have that [transport centre]. I must tell you that I am not happy with the way it is being used,” he said during the awards ceremony.

“I am encouraging those of us who continue to use the transport centre, and encourage you too to encourage those of us who are not using the centre, who are blocking the streets and causing whole heap a problem for the [Jamaica Constabulary Force] and the municipal police,” Garriques said.

He added that the claim that there isn’t enough space to accommodate a relatively large number of public passenger vehicles in the transport centre is a smokescreen used by those who want to break the rules.

“One of the reason more money is not made here or spent here in Linstead is because of how the street is congested. A lot of people love Linstead and want to come Linstead to do business [but won’t do so due to the congestion],” he added. “Most of it [congestion] is because of how the taxis and the buses are in the middle of the streets, believe me. I am not afraid to say that; it is true.”