ALL ABOARD!!!

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Yes your right, this blog is about how persons move from town to town via one of the most exciting forms of transport, the boat. This picture was taken at the Water Taxi Terminal on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. If you remember from a previous blog, my first journey on a bus was done while doing my blog entry on buses as a form of transport in the city. I was tempted to take the water taxi to San Fernando but due to getting seasick easily I refused this journey this time. This blog focuses on the water taxi service that operates between Port of Spain and San Fernando as a form of mobility between these two cities.

With Port of Spain being the capital of the city, most of the governmental institutions and private business are located here. This has been one of the main causes of traffic congestion for commuters on a daily basis. Port of Spain can be seen as having the bottle neck effect where by commuters from different parts of the country are trying to get into the capital city at the same point in time. In order to alleviate the traffic congestion the government turned to the sea as a form of transport. This is where the water taxi came about. Hall and Barrette (2011) in their book, Urban Geography spoke about various forms of mobility in the city ranging from bicycle, to bus to car and even rail. However, their book did not speak about boats as a form of mobility from city to city. Miller (2012) did however speak about the benefits about boats going on to say that it is the most scenic form of transport (second to airplane.) In addition she also said justified the use of water taxis as they are no stop lights or traffic congestion on the seas.

The Water Taxi Service is owned and operated by the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited. The taxi service is available to all members of the public and operates as an alternative form of transport between the cities of Port of Spain and San Fernando. The service comprises of 4 vessels which traverse the Gulf of Paria waters on a daily basis. Tickets can be purchased at both the Port of Spain and San Fernando terminals for any sailing up to one week in advance which makes smooth sailing for passengers. The ferry capacity is limited to 402 seated passengers and also has 2 wheelchair spaces. When looking at the sailing times, it is seen that the water taxi is geared towards moving persons from Port of Spain to San Fernando and vice versa in peak traffic times. This feature of the water taxi makes it a great option for persons who want to avoid the head ache of traffic congestion.

As recent as January 2013, the government has been second guessing the Water Taxi Service. Due to the service being uneconomic, authorities have already scaled back on sailings between Port of Spain and San Fernando and dropped plans to expand t to Point Fortin and La Brea. Current Minister of Transport Chandresh Sharma has indicated that the service is heavily subsidized and transports fewer than 1,500 passengers daily between Port of Spain and San Fernando. The service is costing tax payers $50 million annual to operate and just brings in a mere $7million in revenue. We all know the main goal in any business venture is to make money. Seeing that the Water Taxi Service is very unprofitable the question remains will the water taxi continue to be one of the ways in which persons traverse through different cities? If you don’t get seasick easily maybe you can try the water taxi yourselfJ. In case you do want to try the water taxi here is some more info: http://www.wecaribbean.net/trinidad-and-tobago-water-taxi-schedule/  Happy sailing folks.

Just a little song to the poem above. Yes the song is something we all learnt in preschool but looking at this video in a wider perspective you will notice that there is no traffic and the two occupants are just sailing along without any hindrance.

Reference

Hall and Barrett,2012. Urban Geography. 4^th Edition. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.(pages 282-301 ).

Miller, Laura.2012. Frommer’s Walt Disney World and Orlando. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Trinidad Guardian.2013. “Realise potential of water taxi service” Trinidad Guardian( January 18^th 2013.) Accessed March 20, 2013.