January 17 2026: PRESS RELEASE  Moving the Economy: Diesel’s Role in Transport, Construction, and Tourism

 Nassau, The Bahamas — In the Bahamas, diesel is not a retail convenience. It is a core economic input.From public transportation and building activity to marine operations and tourism movement, the reliability and cost of diesel directly shape how efficiently New Providence functions.

Few local operators have observed this more closely than Peter Roker, a fuel industry veteran with four decades of experience, and the lone entrepreneur who first established a major commercial presence in what is now City 2000—at a time when the Carmichael Road corridor was widely regarded as commercially marginal.

“Fuel decisions don’t stay at the pump,” Roker said. “They move straight into fares, construction costs, service reliability, and ultimately into the cost of living and doing business.”

Roker points to the jitney system as a clear illustration of fuel’s residual impact .An estimated 200–300 jitneys operate daily across more than 40 routes throughout New Providence, moving thousands of passengers to and from essential employment, education, and services. these 30+-seat buses run continuously along major corridors from early morning to evening. "If transport slows, the economy slows,” Roker noted. “The people who rely on public service transportation (Jitneys) feel it first, and the effects ripple outward".

Roker is the owner of Esso’s newest branded Gas station on Sir Milo Butler Highway, his game plan from the start to establish a long-term focus on commercial clients.  The ultra-modern facility built around the needs of jitneys, big buses and heavy equipment, so it was built with generous forecourt space and a four-pump, high-capacity diesel system to support efficient access to the big equipment segment of the market. The objective, he says, is not marketing visibility, but operational efficiency for commercial users.

“This is about access, capacity, and predictability,” he said. “When operators can fuel efficiently, they plan better, price more steadily, and operate with fewer shocks.”The downstream effects, Roker adds, extend beyond transport into building activity, marine services, and tourism mobility—areas where timing, reliability, and cost control are critical to national competitiveness.

To ensure consistency in how fuel relief is delivered, the operation uses a structured customer system supported by his free RGS Loyalty Card.“The card is just the mechanism,” Roker said. “This is not just a promotion. It is a long-term operating approach.”Roker intends to share these observations with Kiwanis service clubs and other civic organizations, framing them as practical economic lessons drawn from decades of operating in the Bahamas.

"I've experienced both low-cost and high-cost periods, hurricanes, and many other challenges," Roker said.  “The question is always whether you extract more—or help steady the system. I’ve always believed in the latter.”