Marlon Vickerman, Features Writer

A commuter makes his way to the second level of the new Half-Way Tree Transportation Centre yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

It is the city's newest landmark and can be seen from several miles away. The new Half-Way Tree Transport Centre was officially opened on the weekend and the sense of pride of those in attendance was as thick as the massive columns supporting the building.

The comments they made demonstrated that, for the most part, people believed that the development of the transport centre was a step in the right direction. "It pretty yuh nuh, a long time this should a deh ya," and "a first-class building dem ya" were just a couple comments overheard.

National colours

The stairways and the columns were all wrapped in the national colours for the christening event. But, even without that, their white- grayish tone would still have made them easy on the eyes. On the upper level, where the formalities were taking place, there were many stories being told. There was the woman who started gyrating wildly, much to the annoyance of a man standing nearby, after the singing group, One Third, was introduced. Then there was the other woman who affectionately beckoned to an energetic young man to come closer to her before she slapped him twice, frisked him a bit, planted him in a seat and sternly told him to stay there, all in one breath. But the focus was the centre. On the lower level, there were not many activities other than the security guards and police officers on patrol, but from the looks of things, business on the level will be booming when all the features are in full swing. There are shop spaces marked with specific units for a pharmacy, barber and beauty salon, bookstore, pastry shop, Internet café and document centre, jewellery shop, music shop, deli, remittance services, clothing shop and a mini-mart, all marked 'opening soon'.

Security cameras, ventilators, route maps and real-time bus schedule displays are all mounted on the lower level and all come in very handy, especially the green bean-bag-like seats placed along the bus bays. They are made of hard plastic by the way, but this still does not detract from their comfort. It is also noteworthy to say that the bathrooms in the facility are quite spacious and accommodating.

The centre is beautiful, inside and out, and with this beauty comes a challenge. The challenge is the task of keeping it that way. In the words of one of the many security officers who were on duty, it rests within the hands of everyone who passes through the facility to exercise enough pride to keep it looking good.

All loading bays on the upper floor are labelled with the number 2, followed by a letter, while those on the lower section are labelled with the numeral 1 followed by a letter.

The information on the bus schedule monitors is displayed under the headings

Route, Destination, Time Delay and Zone. A display, for example, stating Route- 17A, Destination- Gtr P/More , Time - 1:05 p.m. and Zone- 2E means that bus number 17A, heading for Greater Portmore leaves at 1:05 pm and is parked at loading bay 2E.

Once in the transport centre, all tickets must be purchased at the ticket outlets at the facility and not on the buses.

Smart card holders, however, may proceed to the buses and conduct the normal procedure.

marlon.vickerman@gleanerjm.com