Changes in traffic regulations met with mixed views

The recently announced changes made to the Road Traffic Regulations 2009 by the Minister for Communication and Works, Honourable Julian Fraser, following concerns by taxi professionals, has been met with mixed views.

More than a week ago, Minister Fraser, Permanent Secretary, Julian Willock, and other officials met with taxi professionals to address the issues that were raised at previous meetings.

Following the concerns by the taxi industry, some of the changes made to the new regulation include the return of “Nature’s Little Secrets” to the license plate and the renewal of drivers ID every three years instead of one year as was previously stated in the regulation. In addition, physical examinations will be done every three years, except for eye exams, which will be carried out annually by the Vehicle Licensing Department at the time of vehicle registration. The Ministry has further informed taxi professionals that the class on the back of the driver’s license identifying them as a taxi operator has been returned.

In addition, the clause that prohibited a person from obtaining a taxi license if he or she had a criminal record within t ten years of the application has now been reduced to five years.

One taxi driver who preferred to remain anonymous from the Road Town Taxi Stand said most of the main concern is based on the belief that Government does not have enough interest in cruise tourism. He stated that there are a number of things that need to be given priority.

“The major issues and concerns that we have have not been addressed,” said the driver.

He noted that the changes made to the taxi plates and other areas are only minor when compared to the other issues that continue to affect the taxi industry.

“We have one of the worst cruise ship facilities in the Caribbean and not enough effort [is] put into that. Why can’t we have a few more cruise ships in the off season? From April to October, we get one ship per month and there are so many people who depend on it (the cruise ship industry),” lamented the taxi driver. He said last year they were getting two (ships) per month in the off season. He believes Government has a strong influence over how many ships can come here -even in the off season. He noted that neighbouring St. Thomas still gets more than one (ship) per month.

The taxi operator also noted the need to give the cruise ship dock a ‘face lift’ with the creation of proper vendor stalls to make the area more presentable.

Another issue voiced by the taxi operator is the taxi tariff, which is still going through a process following consultations, suggestions and changes that many of the drivers are not happy with.

“The proposed tariff we gave Government is the one we want and we want it before the beginning of the next season, nothing more, nothing else. I don’t think we were being unreasonable either,” he told StandPoint.

The driver believes that the proposal made by the taxi professionals for changes to the tariffs were fair; as such, the document does not need to ‘go through the amount of red tape it is going through’.

Following concerns raised about the draft tariffs at the meeting, Minister Fraser assured taxi drivers that he will review all drafts thoroughly, including sample tariffs that the drivers had submitted. The Minister promised to hold a forum to address industry concerns before the taxi tariff is finalized.

Glenroy Tobin of the Road Town Taxi Stand said he strongly supports the need for the proposed tariffs made by the professionals. He claims this should take precedence. He also reiterates the need for taxi professionals to get what they deserve.

“I don’t see why we should discuss the tariff again. Each association met with them (Government officials); I don’t know why they come with another story now,” he said.

Mr. Tobin said the changes proposed in the new taxi regulations have not solved the problem; rather, these changes have made things worse, especially without a commission in place to enforce the regulations.

“Even though they bring out these different categories, they still have people driving with shuttle plates and doing taxing... them ain’t ready. They (Tourist Board) have not done enough. If they competing for tourism they should be going to negotiate and make the place a better place,” Tobin lamented.

Another taxi operator, Clinton “Bouncer” Romney, said he personally has no issues with the eye test, the medical or the police record, but his problems are mainly with the implementation of the systems and the biases that seems to exist.

Before the changes were effected, Romney owned two taxi plates, TX 36 and TX 37. These numbers are presently on his ID, business cards and other taxi documents. With the new changes, Romney said he requested that he be allowed to hold on to his two plate numbers; however, he was refused. He later found out that another driver was given one of his number plates. This, he claims, is not fair to him as he is now being forced to change all his documentations to suit this change.

“I am not happy with all the changes and don’t see anyone monitoring the operations. The police don’t even know what the plates all about,” he charged.

Mr. Romney said he is also seeing that there are tour and shuttle busses that are still collecting customers that are not ‘sealed connections’.  He said Shuttle and Tour plates are supposed to be used by customers who have sealed connections or arrangements with vouchers and not cash.

Gene of the WaterFront Taxi Stand said he is comfortable with the changes that were made so far. He agrees with the regular eye and physical examinations. However, he maintains the clause pertaining to the police record should only apply to new drivers.

Henrique Malone, President of the Waterfront Taxi Stand, also expresses satisfaction with the changes that were made to the road traffic regulations, but he believes the new taxi tariff is long overdue and should have already been in place.

Three revised versions of the taxi plate, which featured the replacement of the letters TX, with the word TAXI, and the slogan ‘Nature’s Little Secrets’ were unveiled at the meeting. The Minister explained the rationale for having the word TAXI on the plate, and it was well received.

One of the versions had a plain white background; the other two featured a pictorial background, one dark, the other light. Unanimously, the operators selected the dark pictorial version as the preferred plate. The Minister assented and further explained that this particular plate will come at a cost, to which there was no objection by the taxi drivers. In anticipation of any resistance to such a cost, Minister Fraser had offered the plain plate free of cost. 

Share on: Facebook del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon Twitter