Hot and bothered in water taxi

THE EDITOR: Beads of perspiration rolled down the faces of passengers as we struggled to breathe in the sweltering heat of the morning sun.

Desperate to arrive to work on time, hundreds of passengers endure a 65-minute sail from San Fernando to Port of Spain on the Trini Flash water taxi, which has been without air conditioning for the past week.

Thank God for the Emergency Instructions pamphlet which passengers use to fan themselves lest we all suffocate and die.

The Trini Flash has not been functioning to maximum capacity for the past few months, as it works more slowly than the other vessel, and the air conditioning system was previously "hit and miss," in that some days it worked, and others, it did not. The "hit" has now been taken out, in that it is fully non-functional.

Minister Sinanan, we are suffering because of the poor service provided by the water taxi.

Coupled with the unbearable heat, the ceiling in the Port of Spain terminal is still in a very dilapidated state and I fear one day soon, it will collapse. Passengers have adopted the biblical principle that we have to "endure until the end." How much more incompetence must we endure with this service?

The rainy season is here and with south Trinidad under flooding for most of this week, very soon the water taxi terminal in Port of Spain could also be flooded, given its dilapidated ceiling. Buckets and garbage bins being used to collect rainwater clearly cannot be a permanent solution. There aren't enough "Wet Floor" signs to warn passengers that the entire floor of the terminal is underwater when the rains fall.

Please, Mr Sinanan, I am begging for a speedy resolution to these issues. We deserve better and we cannot take it any more.

MICKHELA ALEXANDER

San Fernando