Spring Village bridge closure triggers 100% fare hike

With the National Works Agency (NWA) ordering the immediate closure of the Spring Village, the main route for commuters in and out of the community, transportation through Nightingale Grove Farms (popularly called ‘Five Acres’) has become a nightmare.

To say that travelling through ‘Five Acres’ is a bumpy ride is an understatement, as the journey, which takes no less than 30 minutes, is painstakingly uncomfortable for drivers and passengers alike. As for the residents of that farming community, they must now contend with, forever how long, the incessant nuisance of dust, mud and noise on a daily basis.

Since the NWA’s advisory that the bridge is in danger of collapsing anytime and must be closed to protect the lives of commuters, taxi operators who ply the Spring Village to Old Harbour route via Gutters, have increased the fare by 100%. And even with such a massive fare hike, deemed necessary to offset the inescapable damage to their vehicles, the community is now off limits for some operators who have opted to terminate their route at Gutters. This decision has dire consequences for the community, employees of The Best Dressed Chicken processing factory who reside outside of the community, and the Christopher Levy-run Jamaica Broilers Group.

“It really put a strain on everything because normally before that (bridge closure) my sister in Church Pen would send up my niece for us to get her ready for school because she has to leave early go to work. Now that is a very lengthy process because we have to get her to my house, get her ready and still find a way to get her back on a taxi to get her to school; and it’s the same process in the evenings,” said Julima Charlton, a resident who works in Old Harbour town.

“So that put a strain on everything and it really does cost more. You have some taxis that charge $250 and you have some that charge $300 to come up and to go out,” she added. “Normally within five minutes or less you get a taxi, now you waiting longer. It’s really a long wait. But you have some taxis I see the drive down to the bridge and a lot persons they walk across and then there are other taxis on the opposite side waiting to go to Old Harbour, but the fare work out the same.”

In the afternoon of last week, a taxi driver told his passenger who was going to work at the chicken factory in Spring Village that he will have to take another cab because transporting him alone would not make economic sense.

“The fact se a him alone a go [Spring] Village it no mek no sense to mi, because a mi a lose. Di time weh it ago tek mi fi bring him go up de so fi just $300, betta mi gwan just run it from Gutters to Old Harbour,” he outlined, but did not want his name to be mentioned.

It is yet to be determined when a new bridge will be built as the NWA said it will have to seek emergency funding to build a new structure for which there was no planned budget in place.

Given the usual prolong procurement procedure before approval is granted for such works to be carried, the residents and Jamaica Broilers operators could be in for a long wait.

It is the hope of many, though, that they will not have to wait nowhere near as long as the residents of Troy, Trelawny who have been without a bridge more than 12 months now.

Also since the start of this week the authorities have been laying shingles on the road in Nightingale Grove Farms, but it remains to be seen if any major repairs will be done to the surface.

Meantime, People’s National Party (PNP) St Catherine South Western constituency chairman, Dr Kurt Waul, said the time has come for the roads in ‘Five Acres’ to be fixed.

“I have been a resident of the Nightingale Grove Farms community for over 20 years, and the roads within the community have always been in a state of serious disrepair even though members of this community are among the highest payers of taxes in Jamaica. The bare sand stone and marl pothole-ridden track spans more than 90 percent of the roadways inside the community,” said Dr Waul, who then added: “Given all that I have outlined, it begs one to question what more would it take for the Member of Parliament who is the Minister of Works to consider fixing the roads within the Nightingale Grove Farms community.”

Despite the immense impact the closure of the bridge is already having on the peoples of this community, the Jamaica Broilers Group in all likelihood will be the hardest hit in the long run.

Old Harbour News understands that while productivity at the factory remains high, workers have been getting to work late frequently due to the situation that exists at the moment.

We were unable to get a comment on the matter from the Jamaican Broilers Group but has been advised that the company will do so as soon as possible.