ST JAMES, Jamaica — Some cabbies in Montego Bay, St James complained on Monday that even if they were to comply with rules now being enforced under Operation Restoring Paradise, the designated transportation centre is not big enough to fit them all.

They also complained of being penalised for operating outside of their designated routes as they obey detours to accommodate work being done on Howard Cooke Boulevard.

READ: Operation to restore public order underway in MoBay

“The operators have been operating at different locations in the city, which the authorities and the police have an issue with and have advised them to use the park. So this morning, everyone decided to come to the park and the evidence has shown that the park cannot hold the entire amount of vehicles that is in the system, even while the vehicles are being rotated in the park. So it caused a blockade on Barnett Street. Vehicles were lining up behind vehicles all the way up to Courts, causing a traffic jam on Barnett Street,” taxi operator Andre Montaque told OBSERVER ONLINE.

He was among the handful of cabbies who staged a brief protest at the Creek Street facility.

This is week two of “Operation Restoring Paradise, A Public Order Reset” which has seen the police and other state agencies clamping down on illegal taxis as well as illegal and unsanitary vending.

Thirteen agencies, including the National Water Commission (NWC), the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the National Solid Waste Management Authority, and the Transport Authority, have partnered with the police. The initiative has also received the full support of large swathes of the business community.

Lawmen have repeatedly stressed that the approach being taken in this latest push to restore law and order on the streets of the western city involves providing the information needed for those who are not following the rules to do so. For cabbies, that would mean reminding them that the transport centre is the designated area for their use. The police have also relied heavily on fines.

On Monday, the disgruntled cabbies complained that they were being strong-armed by lawmen who have been confiscating their vehicles as they attempt to navigate the traffic changes in place as a result of work being done on a bridge on Howard Cooke Boulevard.

“Them say we are operating contrary in the town when we try to get alternative route and they are seizing our vehicles,” said a taxi operator who did not want to be named.

He said his car had been seized.

Police officers, including Deputy Superintendent of Police in charge of operations in St James Eron Samuels, briefly engaged the protesting taxi operators.

Efforts to get a response from Samuels were unsuccessful.

Initially rolled out for 14 days, Operation Restoring Paradise is expected to become a permanent initiative within the western city. Similar operations have been rolled out in other sections of the country.