Vendors left in the dust - Clarendon sellers bank on toll fees to drive motorists from new highway

Standing for hours under the blistering midday sun, Bredren, a Clarendon fruit vendor, dangles a bag of naseberries and papayas for the sprinkling of motorists who pass the Clarendon Park area. Once a bustling thoroughfare, which joins Clarendon with Manchester, via Toll Gate and Porus, the streets now lie deserted, as the new leg of the East-West Highway reroutes traffic, leaving vendors like Bredren struggling to survive.

"Is about three hours mi out here now, and a just $200 mi make and is a bag a cherry mi sell," the fruit vendor told THE STAR. He said making a sale now feels like a Herculean effort because the streets are now nearly devoid of traffic, and the few vehicles that pass often do so without stopping in the area.

"Usually on Sundays, money make because of the funeral crowd, but everything gone on the highway. Last Sunday, mi out here fi di entire day and mi don't make not even a single dollar. When mi see certain time pass, mi just have to pack up and go home," he said.

Motorists have been travelling free on the new leg of the toll road, which stretches from May Pen to Williamsfield. The road opened last September, but the Government has allowed persons to use it without paying any toll until this Friday, March 31. The vendors are hoping that the Government will not extend the free usage of the highway.

Bredren and other vendors have had a significant dip in their sales over the last several months, as their usual customers have opted to using the recently openedsection of the toll road. With sales barely trickling, the vendor says he and his 'co workers' have found other means of earning a dollar.

"A lot of the vendors dem gone into farming, or some a dem just sit it out. More time a daytime, some of dem just frustrated and sit down under a tree a daytime. What mi do when it get really bad is dat mi go downtown Kingston, at the bus park, go sell some juice and peanut, because mi just have to survive," Bredren said.

Bredren points towards Robert Lawson, a deaf vendor who sells slingshots for a living. He said the youth has not sold any of his items in days, but he still displays his wares along the roadway on a daily basis.

Also feeling the pinch is fruit vendor 'Miss Tiny'. She sat by her small stall along the Toll Gate main road in Clarendon, her eyes appeared weary, and every now and again she adjusts the East Indian mangoes and soursops on her stall. For close to six decades, the senior citizen has been making a living from that particular spot, but it has been months since she has had a good day's sale.

"Is from mi a 12 years old mi a sell mangoes at this spot and mi a 70 now, and a the worst it has ever been," she said.

"My parents dead young, suh mi start work out here suh early, and mi never once think tings would get this slow, eno. No car barely a pass, suh nutten nah gwan. Sometimes mi get bored out here until mi wah drop asleep, but mi still stay and see if mi can sell even one thing," she said.

With little to no sales, Miss Tiny told THE STAR that she has to find other means to make ends meet.

"Is eight child I have for my husband and then he died. Is mango mi sell and take care of my children, fi show yuh how the place use to busy, but a dead stock now. When the times get really slow, mi just have to go do domestic work and wash people clothes so I can get a little money," she said.

Meanwhile, with March 31 fast approaching, many vendors along the 'old road' are cautiously optimistic that the collection of a toll on the new leg of the highway will send traffic their direction once more.

"All yuh see everybody a gwane and a ignore here suh, is because that leg of the highway free now," a CD vendor said. "Wait until the Government say the free ride over, most of the vehicle dem a guh start use back dem road here, because nobody nah guh can pay toll back and forth every day," he reasoned.