Dear Editor,
Why must every vehicle pay a return fare on the Berbice Bridge? I am an auto dealer and if I take a vehicle from Georgetown to Berbice why should I pay a return fare of $2200 for a car and $7600 for a small canter? There should be an option if one wants to pay a one-way fare. Some will leave Berbice for Georgetown via the bridge which would be free, and return on the ferry so they would only have to pay $780 for a car coming from Georgetown.
Once you collect a ticket after payment on the bridge at the New Amsterdam end, there is no one to collect the ticket who would know if one has not paid.
Yours faithfully,
Zakir Ally
A good obsevation by Mr. Ally,… guess the authorities just thinkig of applying the same principles as the DHB;.. However, this is shortsighted, conditionalities are not the same ..i.e a huge disparity in fares… vehicles should be offered single crossings… ..Public must push for a review…immediately…
It is an efficient way of collecting tolls by only collecting one way for the presumed return crossing.
By doing this, you do not have traffic delays due to people fishing in their pockets for loose change to pay the toll collectors and slow toll collectors.
Same principle applies in many toll crossings. If you pay $10 when entering staten island via the Verrazano bridge, you do not have to pay when you are leaving and in a hurry to get home to Brooklyn/Queens etc.
Reader Alli please note. This is a longer bridge . Longer than the Demarara and more costly. Plus you are paying for the access road.So pay up or take a ferry.
Mr. Ally I caanot understand your rationale. Are we trying to cheat the tolls. Do we want progress for Guyana, and complain a couple of years down the road.
I hope your comments will help the authorities implement safe guards for cheaters.
It’s not cheating the toll, JM. It’s minimizing one’s losses. Legally.
It came to my attention today that some of the costs of crossing the Berbice exceeds the 10% of the ferry fee.
I was told that a Toyota Tacoma with a few boxes of load in the tray cost GYD$13,000 dollars to cross the bridge. That’s US$65.00 or nearly 1/2 of the average monthly wage in Guyana and in this case added nearly 30% to the cost of the goods transported. Financially this is a disaster for the businessman and the Berbice economy as a whole as these prices will be passed on.
A similar crossing on the Demerara River would cost just $600.00. and $900.00 on the ferry. Now I know that the bridge has to pay for itself but surely this is ridiculous. Having worked in public transportation forecasting many years ago I can assure you that the traffic on the bridge will exceed any mathematical forecasting model and since the bridge will be profitable with a mere 10% traffic increase over the ferry traffic it seems that such exorbitant pricing is wholly unnecessary. I think the traffic will quadruple in 2 years.
The bridge is a monopoly and as such should be regulated as one and I would think the law provides for regulation of monopolies in Guyana. A reasonable rate of return for an accepted time period should be agreed on between the government an the bridge company and the traffic and revenues closely monitored to ensure the profits do not exceed this figure. An amortization period of 25 years is generally accepted for a house ( average fixed loan period in the US) the payback period for the bridge should way exceed this. Also, I think encouraging more traffic with lower fees would be better than driving commercial traffic back to the ferry and the punishment they have endured for so long. Maybe they should all move to West Demerara where the residents seem more favored.
SAGE
All persons commenting about the toll will eventually accept and pay the toll. It is truly the Guyanese way complain, sulk, curse, etc. but accept as is.
Why would people invest, if they can’t get a return.!!!2!!!
U want road, bridges and other Infrastructures fu Free Free Free
PNC mentality at work.A freeco. It is endemic in Guyana. The dependenc problem.They expect the government to do everything for them.This is the kind of training handed down by the PNC.
io a talk too much.me would a keep me mouth shut.
with the change buy a fry rice.
this is a whole lot o crap some of u guys going on with. we know that people invest for profits, but we also know that charges must take into consideration the ability of the people to pay and quite frankly i don’t think the average guyanese citizen can afford those exhorbitant fees. let those of u in the U.S who are talking u mouth full o thrash be faced with a $65 toll to cross any bridge, especially if u are not going across it for business which will earn u in xcess of that. then we will know who like freeness and who willing to pay for development. if u are all willing to pay for development at the costs we pay here then come back home. as a matter of fact u should not have left in the first place. houri deh a battam a river he nah know how sun hot!!