For decades, successive administrations have treated public transportation with a degree of laissez-faire neglect.
We have allowed the mass movement of citizens to remain largely outsourced to private operators, and while the entrepreneurial spirit of the maxi taxi industry has kept this country moving, a sovereign nation cannot afford to leave critical public infrastructure at the mercy of private associations, no matter how justified their grievances may be.
This week’s disruption exposed a reality many commuters already know: We do not possess a dependable, State-led mass transit system.
Historically, Government responses to transportation woes have focused less on moving people and more on moving traffic.
In this regard, we have witnessed a carousel of reactive measures aimed at easing congestion rather than addressing its root causes.
From Grand Bazaar to Chaguanas, millions were spent on flyovers and interchanges only to funnel the same volume of vehicles into the next bottleneck further down the highway.
Successive governments experimented with altered traffic flows, revised highway access points, peak-hour lane restrictions and roundabouts.
Yet these measures failed to deliver meaningful relief because they ignored the core problem - too many single-occupancy vehicles and too few reliable mass transit options.
These engineering band-aids prioritised cars rather than commuters.
Meanwhile, the state-run Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) remains deeply inadequate.
As mentioned in this space yesterday, despite repeated multi-million-dollar allocations, the bus system continues to struggle with unreliable schedules, maintenance problems and an insufficient fleet.
For many citizens, public buses are not a practical first choice but a frustrating last resort.
This is where urgent focus is needed.
When the rapid rail project was abandoned over a decade ago amid ballooning costs, the public was promised a diversified transportation system. What emerged instead was the water taxi service - a commendable initiative, but one limited by geography and incapable of serving the heavily populated East-West Corridor, from Port-of-Spain to Arima, where the majority of daily commuters live and work.
We must also be realistic. Trinidad and Tobago is unlikely to revisit a multi-billion-dollar rapid rail project in the present economic climate.
Capital expenditure of that magnitude is a luxury of a bygone energy boom.
But the inability to fund mega-projects cannot become an excuse for policy paralysis.
The Ministry of Works and Transport should urgently examine practical, affordable models used in developing countries facing similar constraints. Nations such as Colombia and Brazil transformed urban mobility through Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems - dedicated, high-capacity bus corridors that replicate much of the efficiency of rail at a fraction of the cost.
By modernising PTSC, investing in a larger and more reliable fleet, and establishing properly enforced transit corridors alongside the Priority Bus Route, the State can build a dependable backbone for commuter travel.
This is not simply about surviving the next transport strike or reducing commute times.
A robust, State-controlled mass transit system would strengthen productivity, reduce traffic congestion and lessen national vulnerability when private operators withdraw services.
The movement of people is too important to remain dependent on improvisation.
A reliable public transportation system must become a national priority, not an afterthought.
