The new board was just recently introduced by our Vice Premier, the Minister of Integrity, Nature, Transport, and Elderly Care, Ursell Arends, MinTino.
Board members are the following: Henry Gregory Tromp, he is an engineer by profession, a business consultant, a banker on the management team of CMB; Eric Tromp, an engineer, also representing business; Dinesh Mahtani, a jeweler and upscale retailer, representing commerce and finance; Ling Wong, an economist and Demis Illis, a lawyer with some active board experience.
The minister wished them good luck, and they would need it.
AruParking
If you recall, Aruparking was introduced with an iron fist in 2016, courtesy of Otmar Oduber, the minister of transportation at the time.
AruParking used wheel clamps to enforce compliance, but the signs explaining rules, came later. Hundreds of tourists and locals were tortured by the draconic conduct of AruParking storm-troupers. They were made to pay steep fines, and waste half a vacation-day locating their impounded cars.
Then during the dying phase of the AVP elections campaign in 2017, clamping was banned, and in one fell swoop, the 18 months spent on educating the public to park and pay, went down the toilet.
Paying for parking became on option, a suggestion, not a must.
Offenders could no longer be clamped, they got a yellow sticker instead, which most drivers promptly removed.
Then parking had to be paid for, from 9am to 3pm, and Sunday was free, with the obligation to pay Saturdays, during peak business hours.
An effective PR campaign would be required to reinvent AruParking, and to turn this major loser into a sustainable enterprise. Why not privatize it?
ARUBUS
The last I heard, the former useless minister of transportation brought 15 new buses in Brazil, because the previously purchased buses from China were a dud. The minister took a few trips to Brazil to inspect his purchases, on the tax-payer dime, each trip reportedly coinciding with a major soccer match.
When you buy ‘cheap,’ you end up paying dear!
All big buses should be retired and the era of mini buses ushered in. The big buses travel EMPTY all the time, yet Arubus, so far, refused to change its modus operandi and refused to economize.
We talked about it frequently. We must open transportation up, as a private, small business opportunity and make each driver his own boss, carrying the necessary insurances and licenses, aware of his duties to provide service and safety.
Right now, the pirate taxi trade is thriving, because the secondary routes are NOT serviced by Arubus, who over the years refused to change its ineffective ways.
All Arubus drivers must become ITPs, independent transportation providers, the sooner the better, to improve public transportation for those who do not own a car. When you open transport up, you give people the opportunity to supplement their income and share the economy. If we had better public transport, we would have LESS vehicles on the road.
AruTram
What a disaster. The world’s most expensive tram system can shuttle about 16.000 visitors a month, from the cruise ship terminal down main street, but the main street is dead. Cruise ship passengers may find all the tee shirts, shot glasses and bling they can buy, right across the terminal, no need to take the tram to nowhere.
I have no clue what to do with AruTram. Its construction killed main street.
Suggestions, please.
