4 'smart' bus sheds commissioned in Tobago

Ian Pollard. - File photo courtesy THA

THE THA's Division of Settlements, Public Utilities and Rural Development, together with community stakeholders recently celebrated the commissioning of four “smart” bus shelters at a cost of over $700,000.

Addressing a commissioning ceremony on December 18, along the Claude Noel Highway, the division's secretary Ian Pollard said these bus sheds were an initiative started in 2022 under the division's former assistant secretary Niall George. It has been completed under assistant secretary Orlando Kerr.

“It’s one of the better bus sheds in Tobago given its features, and this is all part of the growing theme of making Tobago the greatest little island on the planet,” Pollard said.

Two of the sheds are near Bishops' High School and two near Signal Hill Secondary and were built by contract builders RJS Transport and Equipment Rentals, and Desjay’s Construction Services, at a cost of $787,287.10.

Kerr described the commissioning as “a happy day for Tobago,” noting this was just one of a series of improvements to Tobago's physical infrastructure.

“We felt there was a need for us to do the improvements here at the Bishops' and at Signal Hill areas because of the size of the school population. So we are indeed very heartened that today it has become a reality.”

Construction of these bus sheds, he said, began on October 13 and was completed on November 25.

“If you look at this as compared to what existed before – the style and also what is available in terms of the fact that they can charge your phones and they would also be Wi-Fi accessible.

"Of course, whatever safety mechanism must be put in place in terms of responsible use and so on – we believe that the children should be able to access Wi-Fi because we live in a technological era and its no secret that Wi-Fi is something that is useful so we intend to have all these bus sheds with Wi-Fi access. Also coming on stream, we would be able to have the bus schedules and so on digitally.”

Construction materials used, he said, included reinforced concrete foundations, structured steel framing, polycarbonate sheeting and galvanised standing seam roofing, while design considerations and accessibility features includes wheelchair access.

The four bus shed were adopted – two by Bishops' High School, one by Lambeau Credit Union and the other by Ora-Care Dental Centre.

“What they would be responsible for; because these bus sheds don’t have any repairs to do, is mainly to brand it and maintain it and I think there may some little negotiations in terms of the Wi-Fi because we plan to have Wi-Fi access as well for all of these bus sheds.”