Editor’s Note: With 500 employees and some 25 million registered active users, Trip Advisor is probably one of the most influential travel websites in the world. (For some idea of the freeflow of ideas and information that happens there, read the Trip Advisor thread Barbados or Jamaica?)
One traveler recently posted an article about our ZRs, which we lifted and repeat below.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the collective opinion on this island is that it is about time for our government to stop talking and to start acting to rein in these ZR outlaws. The number one threat to our tourism industry is not beach erosion or over building or rudeness towards tourists (although those factors are all important).
The number one threat to our tourism industry is anything that conveys a message that Barbados is an unsafe tourism destination. Anything that even smells like it might make tourists think about their personal safety should be taken care of with all dispatch.
When will our government start putting these outlaws out of business?
Ya can’t hide this stuff anymore folks. It’s called THE INTERNET…
First of all, look at the accident statistics…
“Barbados was ranked in the Top 10 nations with accident victims according to the size of their population, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, which compiles and publishes data on a range of economic and social issues every year.
It reported that Barbadians were getting injured in road accidents at an annual rate of 763 victims for every 100 000 people on the island, putting it in the eighth spot, just ahead of Japan, the United States, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Canada and South Korea, among others. Only Qatar, Kuwait, Rwanda, Costa Rica, Panama and Jordan were higher on the list.
No other Caribbean country was listed among the top 50 states when it came to road accident victims.”
Posted on Trip Advisor by “Madwand” of Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA
I posted some of this in another message, but wanted to elaborate for the sake of anyone looking to ride on the ZR buses. This was never mentioned in any of the reading I did before I went.
Some of the ZR buses are very dangerous and operating illegally. These will be the ones you will see that will stop for you even though there are already so many people in the vehicle that they are squeezing out the windows. These buses will have a ZR pimp operating the side door and doing the hustling. He will be the one snatching people in and out of the vehicle to make room for more people. These will be the ones that are stuffed over capacity and are not safe to ride on.
The first ZRs I rode in was so bad we got stopped at an intersection by a cop and several people were made to get off and the driver was written a warning. Then he blasted off again doing the same thing, zooming through subdivisions trying to beat traffic. To top it off, when we got to B’town, I was expecting the bus station, not a parking lot full of ZRs, so I didn’t get off, and nobody said anything. and halfway back to Oistens the ZR pimp told me I had to pay again. So I got off and handed him another $1.50 to get off. Then paid another $1.50 to go back to B’town again. At least the second bus wasn’t husting, so it was nice and safe.
If you are waiting for a ZR bus and you see one like this stop and solicit you, do not get on or you will regret it. You will see a dozen of them in a minute’s time, so don’t feel like you have to get on the first one that stops for you, even if the ZR pimp persists on taking you. Keep waiting til one stops for you that is not stuffed full.
Barbados Free Press 