Plazas offer shuttle bus service to ease traffic congestion
A shuttle bus service to ease Christmas traffic congestion has been established at three of Kingston’s shopping plazas.
The owners and tenants of the Village, Mall, and Tropical plazas are spending more than $50,000 to provide the service to shoppers who will be required to leave their motor vehicles at the 10 Red Hills Road parking lot of the MarketPlace and take an air-conditioned bus to any of the three plazas.
“We decided to put it in place this year because of the constant problems over the years for people to find a parking space,” said Everard Austin, property manager for Village Plaza and the man in charge of the shuttle system.
The bus makes the five-minute hop between the MarketPlace and the plazas every half hour and the organisers have arranged for security at the parking lot, as well as on the bus. They are also providing refreshments for users of the service which is available from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm daily.
According to Anthony White, a security officer at the MarketPlace, the shuttle service has been in operation since December 15 and will continue through to tomorrow.
Public response to the service, he said, has been lukewarm so far, with 21 persons using it last Saturday and only one taking advantage of it on Sunday.
“We expect Tuesday (today) to be hectic,” White said.
Bernard Lewis, whose job is to ride on the bus and provide security, said that he takes requests for pick ups at the plazas.
“This service is excellent,” Arlene Baker, a shopper, told the Observer yesterday. “I chose to take this bus because the traffic is miserable and to get a parking space is miserable. I did my shopping at Tropical and Village and recommend this service 100 per cent. I hope they do this next year.”
Another shopper, Denise Morris, praised the service as “a very good idea”, while Shareen Wallis said she thought it “safe” and “very comfortable”.
Asked about the possibility of offering the service next year, Austin said: “We will tally the use for the 10 days and make a decision if next year we will offer the same number of days or less.”