Recently, a few letters/articles touched on Georgetown’s  problems (“Solutions to the Management of Our City Overdue”, “Touts Continue to Menace Passengers at Bus Parks” and “Harassment by Touts Must be brought to an End”) but if history is our guide, very little will come from these written efforts.  That’s because on August 1, 2005, I published a letter addressing the road transportation system in Georgetown and seven-and-one-half years later the situation remains unchanged.  As  the recommendations are still pertinent, the entire letter is reproduced below: “The only encouraging news in your report on the utilisation of land at the old D’Urban Park Race Track (Monday, July 25, 2005) is that 39  of the 55 acres are to be left undeveloped for now.  It provides hope that proper development can take place there at some future time.  The remaining 15 or so acres have been designated to accommodate sports facilities (jogging, cycling, tennis, volleyball, basketball and football) and commercial operations (craft, sports-wear, music and video stores, restaurants and beauty parlours).  This utilisation is obviously not driven by a needs assessment of the city.  Given that D’Urban Park is the only available large tract of public-owned land within central city limits left for development, it shouldn’t be misused with frivolous and unnecessary projects.
There are already too many sports facilities in Georgetown.  To appreciate the amount of under-utilised private sports facilities existing in the city, one just has to travel through Thomas Lands on any given afternoon.  Surely, if there is a need for volleyball, tennis or basketball courts, these idle lands would have been converted to meet those needs.  When facilities are under-utilised, it simply means that supply has outpaced demand and therefore a clear indication that no more facilities are needed.
In sharp contrast to Thomas Lands, travelling along Avenue of the Republic between South Road and Regent Street,and adjoining streets, one is confronted with noise, congestion, disorder and lawlessness as the city uses these streets as bus terminals.  The problem is city-made and I can’t imagine that this decision was contemplated with permanence in mind.  In this area, mini-buses try to squeeze into spaces that are far too inadequate for their numbers; traffic lights are non-functional; “touts” stop and control traffic as they insistently lead commuters across the street to a preferred bus and aggressive driving is the key to progressing through traffic.
The problem of congestion, as exists at the current bus terminal, could be alleviated by assigning more room to the terminal.  D’Urban Park is ideally situated for a bus terminal.  It lies along a major roadway linking communities of the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara and thus all traffic entering and exiting the city.  It is centrally located and within easy access to governmental, commercial and recreational facilities (Cultural Centre, Sports Hall, Botanical Gardens, Cricket and Football Grounds, Government Offices and Regent Street Merchants).  A new bus terminal should not be as amorphous as the current one but should contain several basic features and be properly operated.
Features
These should include:
1. Covered commuter loading and unloading platforms with buses approaching these platforms in order of arrival.  A chute configuration can be incorporated to ensure compliance with the first-in, first-out principle.  Feeder buses and taxis would take commuters from the terminal to destinations within the city.
2. A metered and secure parking lot to accommodate commuters who would rather use mass-transit for long trips to places such as Rosignol and Wakenaam, or use the feeder bus system when travelling around the city
3. Commuter restrooms
4. Gas refill station, auto repair facility and vehicle fitness inspection station to meet the needs of the buses and taxi operators
5. Fast-food outlets
6. A shopping mall with a major retail store as its flagship.  Shopping malls thrive in high- traffic areas and commuters would appreciate the convenience of shopping coupled with readily available transportation to take them back to their destinations.  A mall would provide current street vendors with a high-traffic location to sell their goods and thereby remove them from occupying the streets.  In addition, the mall would also carry government services that people travel to Georgetown to access such as immigration (passport drop-off and pick-up), licence renewals, public utility payment centres, etc. and would serve to further reduce congestion in the city
7. As the facility is operational 24/7, a City Security outpost to ensure commuter safety and site security
8. A modern four-lane highway along Sheriff Street and Mandela Avenue. The central government can certainly make this its next major road project.

Operations/Financing
The terminal should be operated by the city which could be responsible for order, cleanliness, maintenance, security and safety.  Although the cost to construct such a facility is not enormous by any stretch of the imagination, as it is basically made up of pavement costs, it is probably beyond the city’s revenue streams to support.  The city, with central government support, could access urban development funds for its development.  Repayment of these loans and meeting operating costs could come from new revenues generated from parking, restroom use, and charging a modest toll for each bus passing through the terminal.  Additional, one-time revenue could be raised from the sale of land to the shopping mall developer.
D’Urban Park is the last, large tract of land within central city limits available for addressing problems faced by the city.  The opportunity could be lost if the city and central government do not optimise its use in alleviating these problems.”
Further, traffic congestion is becoming a serious problem and is currently causing gridlock on several city streets.  Besides the increasing number of vehicles using city roads, businesses are allowed to establish without providing adequate parking for their customers.  These customers are then forced to park on narrow public roads thereby reducing the thoroughfare for moving vehicles.  The solution is to encourage paid parking.  This is best accomplished by the authorities declaring no-parking areas in the vicinity of paid parking garages.  For example, there is a paid parking garage on Quamina Street just east of Water Street.  I parked there on two occasions and at both times there were two other vehicles in the compound.  Yet there were cars double-parked on Water Street between Church and Quamina Streets.  This is also one of those congested areas.  If that section were declared as a no-parking area, congestion would be significantly reduced, the parking garage would see an uptick in its return-on-investment and because of their new viability, private investments would flow into parking garages, even high-rise ones.  So here’s a solution that would cost the authorities very little but would have a favourable impact on a city problem.
There are no claims that the recommendations made above are optimal but what they deserve, along with those from other writers and columnists (I recall Major-General Joe Singh (retd) making a useful contribution a year or so ago on similar issues), is a response from the authorities as to what they intend to do about these glaring problems.  Allowing city problems to fester will only make corrective action more difficult in the future as these practices become ingrained in our cultural mentality as did squatting, road-side vending, touting, aggressive driving by bus and taxi drivers, improper garbage disposal, etc.