A long wait to enter the City!

   This is the fate of many civilians of Trinidad who often drive up from their homes, beit from Central, East or South... a long wait to enter the city! The traffic upon the entry to the city of Port-of-Spain builds up as a result of the great volume of cars on the nation’s roads, travelling toward the same destination. According to Hall and Barrett (2012, 291), the social spaces of the city life are also affected by the increasing dominance of the car.

An overview of vehicular traffic upon entry to Port-of-Spain
Photo Courtesy: Cherise Ali and Navida Bachan

            There are simply too much cars on the nation’s roads, all because of the subsidized cost of gasoline which encourages dominance of private vehicle ownership. The current gasoline subsidy allows our country, Trinidad to maintain a fixed, but low price. As a result, the portion of the countries’ population with a higher income is deemed to benefit without a doubt, further enhancing increased private vehicular usage. An estimate of 0.7 million vehicles 

(IMF Fiscal Department) are currently in use, resulting in nothing less than long commuting hours spent waiting on first class roads, while beamed by the morning sun rays, 

only to arrive to work either late, or tired.

 The link below will take you to a local newspaper article related to problem of congestion related to the number of cars on the road.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Simply_too_many_cars_on_the_nation_s_roads-170861001.html

            As depicted by the photo above, upon entry to Port-of-Spain, one can view the cities vertical glass edifices, stemming out of the car-filled roads. Cars line the roads entering the city of skyscrapers built in close proximity to each other. This is the daily picture of the city’s overview of congestion entrenched in the commuter’s memory. In this photo, I wanted to convey the aspect of the urban life from the outside, showing that congestion in not only found within the urban area, but is also an issue leading up toward the city. High densities of human in-low to the city is as a result of the concentration of activities centred in one location, whereby commuters must pay the price to obtain them; monetary or time. This by itself is a major cause for concern regarding the time spent by the country's workers waiting to arrive at their work place and even school children to their respective schools. 

 The following link directs you to a youtube video: Traffic Congestion in Trinidad and Tobago by Navin Lachee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6V9nPAOols

REFERENCES:

Hall, Tim. and Heather Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography 4^th edition. London and New York: Routledge.

R. J. Smeed. 1968. Journal of Transport and Policy. Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.33-70. The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Accessed 9th February 2014.  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20052080