Swaby meets with transport stakeholders to tackle parking challenge for taxi operators

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby met on Friday with transport stakeholders amid concerns surrounding parking for taxi operators in downtown Kingston. The mayor met with representatives of the Transport Authority, the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to discuss ways to ease parking pressures in the busy city centre. "Customarily, we would have our stakeholders meeting in preparation for the Christmas season and all the related activities that are associated with life in the city during the Christmas celebration. Today, we had the police, the taxi association, the NWA (National Works Agency), and other persons that were there, Transport Authority and so on. We would normally have this meeting by mid-November. From last year, what we have said that we would have had this meeting at an earlier stage where we can start to tackle some of the issues that exist," Swaby said. The mayor reiterated that there are certain areas that will see stricter enforcement in terms of illegal vending, including Parade. "What we are doing, we are having the consultation. We'll be informing persons when they should desist from doing so, and we will be putting the measures in place to mitigate against those things," he said. The mayor said consultations with the vendors will commence in October. Meanwhile, with traffic and congestion already posing challenges, the mayor said finding workable solutions for taxi operators is now firmly on the agenda. "The discussion about traffic is mainly around the taxi men in terms of having somewhere they can stop and collect their passengers. There are some suggestions put on the table. I know that the team will be going out on the road to see how feasible they are. It obviously has to get the blessings of the police at a higher level and transport authority too, and then we can make an announcement of those situations. So it's heavily around the taxi men. There are other issues that they have raised on the table. It's something that we have been meeting on a fortnightly basis, so we'll be having further discussions on those," Swaby said. Senior Superintendent of Police Winchester Watson is sending a strong message to taxi operators noting that the police are prepared to work with them, but there will be no free pass when it comes to breaking the law. He said the authorities will engage operators and address their concerns—but officers will remain firm in keeping order on the streets. “We will work along with the taxi operators, but we will not relax in maintaining law and order in the streets,” Watson said.