For residents of rural eastern Barbados’ St John parish, a functional public bus system has remained out of reach, with long-standing gaps in service turning routine daily commutes into frustrating, hours-long ordeals that have pushed some to take costly steps just to get to work and back. Barbados TODAY traveled to the parish to document these long-held grievances, speaking to dozens of residents who shared consistent accounts of erratic scheduling, incomplete routes, and waits that can stretch to three or more hours for a single ride.
One young local worker, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that the unreliable service forced him to purchase his own vehicle – a significant financial burden – to accommodate his non-traditional work shift running from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. He noted that while buses departing the capital city run roughly every 30 minutes for most of the day, service heading into St John is far less consistent, with scheduled buses sometimes failing to show up entirely, especially during late-night hours.
Another resident, who identified himself only as Nurse, echoed these frustrations, noting that long wait times for buses traveling from the capital to St John have been an issue for decades. While he acknowledged a minor improvement following the recent addition of new coaches to the route, he pointed out that understaffing and overcrowding still lead many buses to cut their routes short. Instead of completing their full trip to Sherbourne as scheduled, overloaded buses often turn back early at Villa Nova, leaving passengers stranded far from their intended destinations.
Karen, a lifelong St John resident, told reporters that multi-hour waits are a regular part of life for local commuters. “It’s not good, gotta wait too long. Sometimes two, sometimes three hours,” she explained. Like many locals, Karen relies on public transit to get to her job, waking early to catch a 5:30 a.m. bus to arrive at work by 7 a.m., and not arriving home until after 6 p.m. She added that the problem is particularly acute during school terms, when most buses are reallocated to student routes, leading to even longer gaps between civilian services, though the inconsistency varies day to day. To fix the crisis, Karen proposed expanding the overall route network and adding more buses to the region to meet unmet demand.
The shortcomings of the current system also impact workers who travel into St John from other parishes. A staff member at Mount Tabor Primary School, who commutes from St Philip, explained that no existing public route runs directly to the secluded school location. Her bus only drops her off at a Four Roads gas station, leaving her with a lengthy walk to the campus – a trek she only avoids when she can catch an informal ride from another local. She added that occasionally, school buses heading to Grantley Adams Secondary School in nearby St Joseph or local routes serving St John’s students will give her a lift, but there is no formal, consistent service for non-student commuters heading to the area.
Getting home is equally unpredictable. The worker can sometimes catch an afternoon school bus leaving the area, but if she misses that connection and cannot find another ride, she faces an extremely long walk on an isolated road. She confirmed that during school hours, most buses are prioritized for student transport, leading to gaps of two hours or more between regular public buses. On some mornings, nearly all available buses are reassigned to drop students off at schools, and in the afternoons, the schedule is just as spotty: if a commuter misses the 12 p.m. bus, the next available run is not until 2 p.m., and the one after that at 4 p.m. – if that last bus even shows up. Wait times for the popular Martins Bay route can stretch even longer, hitting three to four hours on bad days, she said.
In response to these widespread complaints, Barbados TODAY has reached out to the Barbados Transport Board to request an update on the agency’s previously promised review of the Six Roads bus route, one of the main routes serving the St John area. As of publication, no response has been issued.