CHRISTIANA, Manchester — Taxi operators who on Monday blocked a section of the Succeed main road in protest over the lack of a transport centre will have to contend with the inadequate parking spaces issue on Wildman Street in this south-central town for now.

Councillor Desmond Harrison (Jamaica Labour Party, Christiana Division) told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that the local municipality will be expanding the Christiana bus park to accommodate the taxi operators.

“What obtains now is what they had for Christmas, and [it] carried more traffic than there is right now and they didn’t demonstrate in Christmas. I am not saying that it is the perfect condition but the council is working on plans to expand the existing bus park in Christiana — but of course it takes a little time,” he said.

“We cannot give a timeline yet because it has to go through a process. What has taken place so far is that the place has to be surveyed for us to have boundaries,” he added.

The council, Harrison said, is “putting a drawing together” to do an estimate for the cost to expand the bus park.

For hours on Monday the disgruntled taxi operators blocked the Succeed main road, leaving scores of commuters — including students returning to school — stranded.

The taxis previously used a private property as a parking area, but it is now under construction for a commercial building.

The taxi operators say the parking arrangement on Wildman Street, commonly referred to as Market Street, is dangerous.

“Dem put we down a Market Street and that can’t hold nobody. The cart man dem down deh a deal wid badness; dem have dem knife. If you park, dem a tell you seh dem a go stab yuh up,” one operator who identified himself as Shevon claimed.

“We want a park; that is the most important thing right now. And [the reason] wi block the road [is that] we don’t have nowhere fi park. If we nuh get nuh justice today wi a go do it again tomorrow, bright and early,” he said, adding that the police have not been lenient in writing tickets.

“Wi a get too much ticket [citing] failure fi use park and there is no park. Wi load down a Market Street. People have dem bags fi pick up, we nuh obstruct nuh traffic. Police pull down pon wi and a ticket wi. A $2,500 is the cheapest ticket and wi get three, four, five. We can’t get a chance to work and pay dem ticket deh,” he said.

However, Harrison contends that there is indiscipline.

“The police officers are ticketing them for their indisciplined behaviour and they all blame it on the parking situation,” he said.

Principal of Christiana High School Leecent Wallace is hoping that the protest will not continue as he said many students were late for school on Monday.

“A number of the students are coming from Trelawny and if they can’t get anything to the location then it is going to definitely be a challenge for them, so there is a concern,” he said.