Commuters rush to get out of Port of Spain

RYAN HAMILTON DAVIS

MAXI TAXI, taxi and bus drivers braced for an early rush of commuters as a nationwide power outage prompted people to make their way home earlier than usual.

The outage, which happened at about 12.53 pm, left people througout Trinidad without electricity.

Commuters were seen crowding at the major transport hubs in Port of Spain as workers at government offices sought to make their way home after being let off of work.

At City Gate, maxi taxi drivers said they expected a crowd of people to arrive at the transport hub, and feared there may not be enough maxis.

“Everyone is going home,” said maxi taxi driver Larry Miller.

“This caught everyone off guard. In the next few minutes we will have a lot of problems here. We are getting it already. Soon there will be no maxis for people to get on.”

One commuter heading to Arima said her workplace waited for a while before allowing people to leave.

“I am glad they allowed us to leave early because we could not do anything in the dark.”

Sources at PTSC said operations at the transport hub were continuing using alternative power generators.

While government offices closed, some private businesses held out for more customers.

“People are still coming in,” said George Sylvester a worker at a store on Frederick Street. “So we want to patronise the few coming in.”

Walkthrough malls which were affected also continued operations with the help of power generators, but New City Mall closed its doors.

“I think we are done for the day,” said one store owner in New City Mall who did not wish to be named.

“A lot of people are going home too. I think I will chill in town for a while and go home myself.”