Lewd behaviour mars back-to-school rush

Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

The driver skilfully pilots the blue and white Coaster bus through the streets of Half-Way Tree towards downtown Kingston.

Alicia Keys' voice blares at passengers just after nine on Monday morning, the official start of the new academic year:

"Now you're in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new, the lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York, New York, New York."

On the last 'New York', the bus rocks and comes to a screeching halt at a corner, right behind a taxi in Cross Roads.

"Town, town, town!" The conductors call out.

Their palms bang the side of the bus, signalling the driver that it is okay to go.

Word quickly spreads along Half-Way Tree Road that a man fired gunshots, only to have his leg run over by a vehicle.

Back-to-school traffic congests the streets of the Corporate Area, signalling that schools are back in session.

Since 2003, the subject of tinted windows, lewd behaviour and sexual activity on public buses and taxis has been the source of vigorous debate.

Last year, the police Traffic Division pledged to step up efforts to stop the playing of songs and movies, as popular for their lewdness as their loudness, on buses.

Persons caught would be prosecuted and charged a minimum fine of $5,000.

The Traffic Division also noted that one of the main reasons the illegal practice became more widespread was due to citizens not coming forward with complaints.

Clampdown fizzled

But the clampdown enforced by Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis seems to have fizzled - again.

On Monday, an Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) bumps fists with the driver to the sound of Rihanna's music booming from speakers in the bus as they greet each other through the window.

Earlier that morning, high-school students and other passengers wait at the Half-Way Tree lay-by.

"You nah breed again?" a young man shouts at a student as she laughs with him and another man.

Those same men grabbed at young girls and women as they walk by.

One student unzips her skirt and adjusts her shirt, her underwear showing, while another high-school student watches from afar, her arms crossed.

"When (students) see me, they get on a bus," a traffic cop, who walks by occasionally, says firmly. "Some of them try and wait for the special buses or for their friends.

"But they know that when they see me, they have to get on a bus."

The so-called special buses are the ones with stickers, fancy paint, hanging decorations and, most important, 'hype' music.

A taxi driver, who withholds his name, says buses heading towards Papine are more accommodating of inappropriate behaviour than those heading downtown.

"That's when you really see the schoolchildren acting up," he tells The Gleaner.

Vendors near the bus park express disgust at the behaviour of some public-transport commuters, especially students.

"But what we going do?" a woman asks, resigned. "Is so dem stay."

Buses pull in and out frequently, but rarely without incident.

Rural-bound buses are supposed to drop off passengers at the Half-Way Tree lay-by and not allows others onboard.

But they do, much to the Transport Authority's annoyance.

"Keep moving, keep moving," traffic inspectors shout, only to have windows shut in their faces and buses moving off with their capacities exceeded.

"If they ask, tell them you're coming from Constant Spring," a conductor warns a passenger.

The bus takes off with a jerk, one of the conductors hanging precariously out the door and the voices of the Traffic Authority inspectors and traffic cops drowned out by the on-board sound system.

laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com