THE EDITOR, Sir:
RECENTLY, THERE has been calls for the nation to conserve energy. I suppose the Mid-East crisis has once again opened our eyes to reality. How did we get here?
The policy of the present administration over the last 10 years has contributed tremendously to our present plight. The government in its zeal to get quick revenue over these years has allowed the importation of "deportee" motor vehicles into the island and through their negligence has allowed those gasoline consuming vehicles to drive the diesel transport sector into extinction.
Travelling across the island a 40-seater bus, a coaster 30-seater or a 12-seater minibus is a scarce sight these days. These larger units were more efficient as they carried the public at a cheaper rate per passenger mile as the diesel engine is more efficient than a petrol engine.
In fact, a 30-seater diesel bus consumes not much more fuel per mile than a station wagon with 5-6 passengers aboard. Simple arithmetic will give us an idea of what thousands of these cars stuck in traffic jams that they have created consume annually.
It takes 16-20 cars to do the work of a 40-seater bus. Imagine the miles of traffic jams created and acres of parking that have to be provided by taxpayers islandwide and not to mention the crowding out of countless business places for illegal parking, resulting in significant loss of revenue to these businesses, caused by these vehicles.
We must act now! We have to look at getting the train service from Kingston to Linstead, Kingston to May Pen and Montego Bay to Cambridge revived. Imagine the difference in these corridors alone. We must introduce incentives to get back vehicles of no less than 12 seats to go up into the villages, eventually phasing out these so-called taxis.
If we start now by curtailing the further proliferation of these route taxis, within five years we will see positive savings on our energy imports and importation bill for spare parts for thousands of route taxis.
We cannot wait, let's act now or else. Six-lane highways around the country will not solve the problem.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL McLEOD
Ocho Rios P.O.
St. Ann
