Long-standing public transport woes in the Scotland District and central areas may be set for relief with 35 new electric buses unveiled on Wednesday, backed by a $21m government investment to modernise the fleet and retire all diesel vehicles by the financial year’s end.
“I am pleased therefore to announce that the government of Barbados has procured the 35 buses as it has indicated that it would do, to be able to allow for a more reliable and efficient and modern public transportation system,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works Santia Bradshaw told reporters at the Bridgetown Port, where she was joined by other ministerial officials, senior Transport Board management and several drivers.
The new arrivals bring the total number of buses in the national fleet to 121.
According to the deputy premier, the additional buses are intended to ease long-standing service challenges, particularly in the Scotland District and several central areas, where commuters have repeatedly raised concerns about reliability.
“That these 35 buses being added to the fleet will help us to address the concerns of the general public, particularly in the Scotland district and a number of the central areas where we continue to hear the outcry from the Barbadian public about public transportation,” Bradshaw said, stressing that limited fleet numbers had constrained route planning. She said priority would continue to be given to the elderly and to ensuring schoolchildren can travel to and from school consistently.
Bradshaw cautioned, however, that the buses would not be immediately deployed.
“Now, while you see 35 buses here today, it is not a case whereby tomorrow, the first day of the year, that you will start to see these buses fully deployed into the transport system,” she said, explaining that several technical steps remain. These include installing the cashless payment system, programming digital route displays, registering the vehicles and completing charging infrastructure. She said integration is expected over the coming weeks, with full deployment by the end of January, adding, “So we ask the public to just bear with us as we integrate these buses into the system.”
Bradshaw confirmed that the Government intends to retire the entire diesel fleet by the end of the current financial year.
“Our plan is that by the end of this financial year we’re going to retire all of the existing diesel buses,” she said, noting that earlier investment of about $6m in diesel buses was only intended to provide temporary relief while decisions were made on a fully electric fleet.
She also outlined immediate logistical arrangements, noting that some of the buses arrived with low battery levels and would be driven short distances to charging locations, including the Transport Board’s Weymouth headquarters.
“So, they will make some short trips to the Weymouth location, get them charged up fully there, and then we will begin the process of being able to fully operationalize these buses to make life a little bit easier for Barbadians who commute on our roads,” she said.
The government invested approximately $21m in the 35 buses, said Bradshaw, while noting that for a decade prior to the Mottley administration coming to office in 2018 there had been no investment in expanding or upgrading the bus fleet.
Bradshaw highlighted that the administration committed both to maintaining the existing diesel fleet and transitioning to electric buses. “This today is, I believe, now the expenditure that we’ve made to date is close to $58m since 2018 to ensure that we have a more efficient service that we can deliver to the general public,” she said.
Bradshaw described the acquisition as a fulfilled commitment: “This is a promise that has been made by the government of Barbados. This is a promise that has been kept.”
The deputy PM took the opportunity to also thank the public for its patience amid ongoing service disruptions, acknowledging the frustration caused by delays and unavailable buses. “We are trying with all best efforts at the Transport Board to make sure that we improve the operations and certainly modernise the system for the future.”
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