The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Taxi and jitney drivers have warned they may have to push for fare increases to offset the impact of increasing fuel costs.

Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s president, said the sector may seek up to a 25 percent increase on their price-controlled fares depending on how high gas prices soar. This would take prices to $13.75 per mile.

Jitneys, meanwhile, are already reeling from the ‘50 percent of maximum capacity’ restrictions imposed on passenger numbers to combat COVID. Harrison Moxey, the United Public Transportation Company’s (UPTC) head, reiterated that the sector may seek an increase in adult fares from $1.25 to $2 - a 60 percent rise.

Mr Ferguson said he was “very concerned” about the rise in gasoline prices, arguing that taxi drivers consume the “lion’s share” of this product considering how many trips they make back and forth from the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) to various destinations on the island.

He added: “One taxi driver could make five trips to the Paradise Island Bridge from the airport daily. Crossing that bridge also burns up a lot of gas, plus you have to have air conditioning. A lot of people complain about taxi fares being so high, but when you look around now everything else is going up but taxi fares isn’t.

“The only consolation we have at this time is that the minister [of transport and housing] is giving out more taxi plates. When you take into consideration the insurance for a taxi, if you are leasing and the two licenses that we have to pay for with BahamaHost and business license, it is an exorbitant cost to operate a taxi in this Bahamaland.

“A lot of our patrons just don’t appreciate the fact that it is very expensive to own and operate a taxi in The Bahamas. But with the rising price of fuel in the world, and because the taxi rates are basically regulated by the Bahamas government, we don’t have the luxury like the rest of the businesses who could just go up at will and they then pass the costs on to the consumer,” Mr Ferguson continued.

“The taxi driver doesn’t have that luxury; our rates are set. But if gasoline goes up any more, the taxi union will have to seriously consider asking the Government for a hike in taxi prices.”

Mr Moxey, the United Public Transportation Company’s (UPTC) head, added: “There’s nothing going good for us. It looks like we are left to fend for ourselves, and the high gas prices is only making a bad situation worse.

“We need to get this 50 percent maximum capacity off of us so we can start to operate in some form of normalcy. This further increases our expenditures and operating costs.” Despite the reduction in COVID-19 case numbers, and the easing of restrictions elsewhere, protocols for jitneys have yet to be adjusted.

“We have to think about what’s our next step,” Mr Moxey said. “We have been trying to get the protocols on the bussing industry removed, with no luck. While COVID-19 at its highest peak affected other industries, the public buses were not affected.

“We were not aiding in the spread of COVID-19 through the examination of the contact tracing, so it just doesn’t make sense to us why we have to still be battling at 50 percent?” Mr Moxey said he was considering asking for a rise in the public bus fare for adults to $2, up from $1.25. Young children and senior citizens will remain the same.

“We put our proposal in writing to the Ministry of Transport, but the timing wasn’t the best time,” Mr Moxey said. “It was at the height of the pandemic and people were still jobless, and we agreed to put it off. But we spoke to the new minister and she thinks we are deserving of a lot of the things we are requesting, but if they are not going to give us the increase then let us operate.

“I don’t know what the rationale is but if they can give us some protocols and some guidelines to operate by, turn us loose and let us go.”