By LETRE SWEETING
lsweeting@tribunemedia.net
WESLEY Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union, said yesterday that union members are still awaiting correspondence from the Ministry of Transport and Housing on the issue of the regulation of taxi plates.
After several months of seeking to meet with Minister of Transport and Housing Jobeth Coleby- Davis on the issue of increased taxi drivers in an oversaturated market, Mr Ferguson said all he has now is a lot of complaints, but no response from the ministry.
“So far, the taxi union has not heard from the minister in spite of our numerous attempts to meet with her. Emails, telephone calls went to the office and there’s no meeting. So the minister basically has just gone quiet,” Mr Ferguson said.
“We are basically in the same position we were in when we began, nowhere. The minister is now MIA, missing in action, can’t see her anywhere other than on TV, giving out keys for new houses,” he said.
“We are waiting on an opportune time and I will bring every taxi driver downtown who got those taxi plates to present them back to Parliament, because they have no use for them,” Mr Ferguson said.
“She (Mrs Coleby- Davis), like I guess the rest of the MPs, believe that if you ignore a situation it will go away. Because everyone is getting their payments right now so we don’t want to come in the midst of that,” he said.
Mr Ferguson added, “All we have now is a bunch of complaints from taxi drivers now that they are now making no money because the parade that they would have indicated that we would have had for Thanksgiving, it never happened.
“Thanksgiving was a fizzle event. Nothing happened and Christmas promises to be the same, because there are too many taxi plates out there and the taxi drivers are not making a fair share to take home to their families, because of the massive or reckless increase in taxi plates that was given out by this government,” Mr Ferguson said.
In August, Mr Ferguson, told Tribune Business that the government gave out too many taxi plates in its latest exercise and drivers are now suffering because the market is now saturated with additional taxi drivers.
“We only asked for 200 plates but the Ministry (of Transport and Housing) gave out 600,” Mr Ferguson said at the time.
Between June and July, the Ministry of Transport and Housing gave out 580 taxi plates, reports indicate, well above the 200 Mr Ferguson had initially asked and negotiated for. Despite 90 of the inactive taxi plates being revoked, he said this is still too high a number of taxi plates issued for drivers.
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