All of our cities did not start out with this advance technology that we know in today's world but there were once horses and carriage system used in the 1800's to early 1900's. The Borchert's systems pays close attention to different periods or epochs based on the technology that significantly impacted urbanisation. First there was the Sail and Wagon from 1790-1830 where the movement of people was limited, then we moved to 1870 to 1920 which was known as the Horse Epoch where cities expanded and goods were moved long distance and finally the Auto/ Air Epoch from the 1920 to 1970, but really continuing to present day . This final period transformed the urban system drastically by the use of automobiles. This is clearly seen in the city of Port of Spain where the automobiles, maxi's , buses and other means of transport are in great abundance. Hence, in today's blog Hannah Marshall and Michala Rock would take you on a journey to Port of Spain and the struggles that comes along with being a taxi driver.
In comparison to natural resources and other economic devices, one can say that cities are the engines of economic growth in most developing counties and a that urban transport is the oil that prevents the engine from seizing up. Many persons depend heavily on motorized vehicles in and out of the city. One's senses are highly captivated while in the City of Port of Spain from the noise of traffic of the passing traffic, the angry driver beeping their horns, the talking vendors and the smell of combustion. There was one driver that went by the name of Mark highlighted in the picture in the orange shirt explained to us that life as a transport driver in the City of Port of Spain has its benefits and challenges. His daily route is to the San Juan area in Trinidad which is about thirty minutes from the capital.
In comparison to natural resources and other economic devices, one can say that cities are the engines of economic growth in most developing counties and a that urban transport is the oil that prevents the engine from seizing up. Many persons depend heavily on motorized vehicles in and out of the city. One's senses are highly captivated while in the City of Port of Spain from the noise of traffic of the passing traffic, the angry driver beeping their horns, the talking vendors and the smell of combustion. There was one driver that went by the name of Mark highlighted in the picture in the orange shirt explained to us that life as a transport driver in the City of Port of Spain has its benefits and challenges. His daily route is to the San Juan area in Trinidad which is about thirty minutes from the capital.
Photo of Taxi driver in Port of Spain
Taxi Driver Mark in the Orange shirt
assisting his passengers
Even though the challenges amounted
the benefit, he still persisted in saying that he turns up here every day
regardless. He pointed out the economic
situation was in terrible standing where many people did not like to take
public or private transport anymore and now are purchasing their own vehicles
their own vehicles.
According to diagram below it
highlights the increase in the amount of car now present in Trinidad and
Tobago.
According to the Trinidad guardian
(2014) there was a 12.4 per cent increase in new cars purchased in 2013 as
compared to 2012
According to NationMaster (2016)
Trinidad had 353 motor vehicles per 1000 people and ranked 48th out
of 191.
The x axis shows the progression of
the years and the y axis shows the increase in the number of cars per capita.
This goes to show that from 2005 to 2007 there has a significant increase in
the number of personal cars in Trinidad. This increase can be linked to the
increase in heavy traffic in the cities of Port of Spain and San Fernado. The
increase in personal cars could also explain the growing informal (illegal)
taxi service industry which gives competition to legal, registered taxi
drivers. This was justified by the words of a local taxi driver.
Mark
continued by mentioning that the passengers can also be horrible where there
are rude and don’t know where there are going so it make it difficult for him
to deal with when they are unaware. He also mentioned that the drivers can also
be a problem where they are many illegal drivers out there trying to make
money. He mentioned that he couldn't be upset because everyone has to survive
out here. The benefits he mentioned is that despite the economic situation. he
still makes money every day to feed himself and it also build characteristics
such as patience.
From research it was discovered
that The World Bank posited that sometimes presumed that the deteriorating
state of urban transport in many developing countries has been caused by
relatively higher levels of motorization with respect to income levels than are
experienced in the industrialized countries. The findings obtained in the
interview and the literature are common in nature.
Sources
Sources
- ttp://www.tradingeconomics.com/trinidad-and-tobago/motor-vehicles-per-1-000-people-wb-data.html
- http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANTRANSPORT/Resources/cities_on_the_move.pdf
- http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/8787.html
Happy Reading :) :)
