Economist Says Island’s Transportation System Inadequate

“It’s like the bus system here is a black and white TV in a modern house,” is how economist Dr. Thomas Samuel has described the island’s transportation system.  In an interview with St. Lucia Times, Samuel provided a critical review of the transportation system’s impact on the country’s economic growth and development. The veteran economist highlighted the system’s inadequacies, emphasising its incompatibility with current development needs. “The transportation system in Saint Lucia is somewhat inadequate and incompatible to the needs of the country at this stage of its development,” Dr. Samuel said. “And, unfortunately, it is a sector that has not undergone much transformation. Most of the routes are pretty much the same. They have been established since about 1993. With very few new routes, the population has grown quite a bit during that time over the last 30-plus years and new housing areas have come on board in the country. A lot of them are not well served because we have not really managed that sector very well.” He argued that the current system operates as a quasi-monopoly, allowing the National Council of Public Transportation (NCOPT) to exert significant market power and influence government decisions. To address this, he...