As Barbados steps up its readiness for the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which officially kicks off on June 1, a major rift has emerged over who gets a seat at the table for national emergency planning. Private public transport operators, the backbone of the island’s daily mobility network, are voicing sharp disappointment after being locked out of a top-tier hurricane preparedness convening hosted by Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
The Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), the group representing private operators of taxis, minibuses, and ZRs, says the exclusion is part of a persistent pattern that leaves the industry in the dark when crises unfold. Despite being responsible for moving 80 percent of Barbados’ daily commuters, the association’s leadership only learned of the recent high-level meeting through media reports, according to AOPT Chairman Roy Raphael.
Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY, Raphael emphasized that this snub is far from an isolated oversight. “This is not the first time that’s happened,” he noted. In her opening remarks earlier that week, Prime Minister Mottley confirmed that a broad cross-section of stakeholders had been invited to the talks, including representatives from emergency management agencies, security bodies, health departments, the Transport Board, utilities, telecommunications firms, tourism groups, agricultural organizations, community leaders, and private sector entities. Official photos from the gathering showed senior cabinet ministers, emergency response coordinators, and technical agency representatives gathered to coordinate national readiness ahead of the storm season. But not a single seat was reserved for the private public transport operators that handle most of the island’s passenger movement.
Raphael explained that while the state-run Transport Board holds a permanent spot at emergency preparedness discussions hosted by the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), private operators are forced to rely on filtered, second-hand information to plan their response. This fragmented communication structure creates dangerous confusion when a storm approaches, he argued, making it far harder to mobilize drivers and vehicles quickly to support response efforts.
“We don’t want people to call us at the last minute. We want to be able to hear it at the same time as the Transport Board so that we can coordinate our efforts together,” Raphael said. He pointed to past hurricanes and national shutdowns as clear examples of the risks of this exclusion. On multiple previous occasions, operators only learned of critical emergency decisions through public news broadcasts, rather than direct outreach from authorities. That disconnect left many operators off the road unexpectedly when commuters needed to evacuate or get home ahead of worsening conditions, creating chaos for both drivers and passengers.
“A lot of our operators were off the road, and it created issues for people to get home,” Raphael recalled. “We don’t want to do that again.”
Now, ahead of the 2026 hurricane season’s intensification, the AOPT is pushing for systemic change to ensure private operators are integrated into all national emergency planning from the start. The alliance is currently awaiting a scheduled meeting with Minister of Transport and Works Kirk Humphrey to lay out its concerns formally.
Beyond a seat at the table, the group is also working to address other critical gaps in emergency preparedness for the sector. Raphael confirmed that the AOPT plans to hold discussions with petroleum dealers to secure dedicated fuel access for private public transport vehicles during storms and other crises. At present, long queues at gas stations during national shutdowns often leave operators unable to refuel their vehicles when they are most needed, so establishing reserved emergency pumps would resolve that major pain point, Raphael explained.
The AOPT is also proposing a structural fix: the creation of a dedicated national transport emergency committee that includes both representatives from the state-run Transport Board and private public transport operators. Raphael argued that this permanent body would streamline coordination and eliminate the communication gaps that have plagued past responses.
Private operators stand ready to support national emergency response efforts, Raphael stressed, but they can only do that effectively if they are included in planning from the earliest stages. Early involvement would let the alliance pre-identify available drivers and vehicles, particularly critical for supporting vulnerable populations like elderly residents who may need evacuation or medical transportation during a storm. Currently, the group already partners with the Ministry of Transport and the island’s tree trimming division to provide mobility support for senior citizens, and early coordination would let that effort scale more quickly if a crisis hits.
“We want to get involved at the national level. We don’t want people to call us and tell us something is happening after the fact,” Raphael said. “If there is a shortage of drivers [on the government’s end], we must know early so we can identify the drivers that will be available.”