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Taxi Drivers 'Fed Up' - Friday 11, March-2005
Being a taxi driver in Barbados is a waiting game.
Waiting for a passenger to come along. Waiting for someone to move so you can nab that coveted parking spot.
Right now, Bajan taxi men say they are waiting for the ball to drop – 500 more taxi permits recommended by Minister of Public Works Gline Clarke last week and coming soon to a road near you.
“The minister should come down here!” was the repeated cry of taxi drivers when the WEEKEND NATION spent two days in the Lower Broad Street taxi stand this week to find out what life is really like for the local taxi operator.
Frustration
It is mid-morning Monday when we arrive. Over a dozen taxi men are clustered gloomily at the entrance to Flower Alley – the tiny, dank passage between Diamonds International and Knight’s Pharmacy.
Their faces reflect the frustration and boredom of a slow day, but they quickly become animated over the issue of the 500 permits.
Vociferous opposition bursts forth and the discussion grows heated and loud, though very few are willing to give their names.
“I don’t think the minister cares at all for poor people,” says one with a hurt, put-upon expression.
“Not even an increase of 100 taxis good at this stage,” declares another taxi man as they jostle and interject to make their strong feelings clearly known.
Yet, the minister said it was taxi operators who asked for this at a recent meeting with his ministry.
President of the Lower Broad Street Taxi Association, Philip Garner, tells his side of what went down in that meeting.
“I personally am the only person who objected to more permits,” states Garner, saying between ten to 15 representatives of different taxi associations were at the meeting.
He implies that the desire for personal profit overcame the other representatives.
“They went representing organisations and eventually they started talking for themselves,” he says darkly.
Several taxi men say it is only the “big operators” who want more permits, particularly BT permits to operate coaches from the air and sea-ports. They claim the effect will be to squeeze out small, independent operators like themselves even more.
“Most of the packages are sold on the cruise ships. Them does tell them it’s ‘safer’ to go on the organised tours. As a tourist in a strange country, as you hear ‘safer’ you ain’t going with the small man. This is the [tourist] season and look at out here!” says one coach driver, gesturing angrily at the congested stand.
Drivers say this congestion is making life hard for them, as more people enter the taxi business – 1598 taxi operators ply the streets.
On Monday, the competition for parking spots is brutal, with five or six vehicles double-parked on the perimeters of the taxi stand, slowing traffic to a crawl.
Every now and then, a vehicle departs with a passenger. Without fail, almost as soon as the engine sounds, an anxiously lurking taxi man positions his vehicle to take the spot of the exiting taxi.
“Down here like Parliament – as yuh move yuh lose yuh spot!” exclaims one taxi man wryly.
Garner says this taxi stand, which he estimates can only hold 40 to 45 taxis, hosts up to 70 taxis a day. He says he would like the lines of the parking spaces to be re-marked and numbered and for operators to be assigned a number “even if we have to pay a minimum maintenance fee”.
Ghost town
The Lower Broad Street taxi men complain their difficulty is compounded by competitors from the Bridgetown Port, who they claim clog their taxi stand on slow days when no cruise ships are in.
Several vehicles, especially coaches with the ‘Bridgetown Sea-port’ sticker displayed can be seen in and around the stand. At the Port, however, it is a ghost town, with two taxis parked outside and their drivers not in sight.
“The port taxi men don’t want us come ’round there to work but when no cruise ships ain’t there, they come down here and park!” fairly screams one taxi driver in frustration.
“We cannot go there and solicit but out here is a free for all!” agrees another.
To avoid double parking, they slowly circle the taxi stand like giant birds of prey to avoid the eyes of the police, who could charge them for obstructing traffic.
During the time the WEEKEND NATION is there, no less than three sets of police officers pass the area.
“Wunna ain’t see that you blocking up the road?” asks one officer in an almost jovial tone.
The sight of police usually prompts a few taxi men to move along quickly, taking their vehicles for one more turn “around the block” until the officer is out of sight.
“I circle here four times already! Write that!” a taxi man shouts from his car before taking it around the corner for a fifth time.
On Wednesday, however, it is a different scene at the Lower Broad Street taxi stand. The congested scenes of Monday are not evident and the WEEKEND NATION sees more business in the first 20 minutes there than during the several hours spent on Monday.
The reason? Two cruise ships – the Carnival Destiny and the Golden Princess, are in port. Tourists wander up and down Broad Street in couples or in groups as taxi men eye them hungrily.
The large group of Monday is reduced to two or three operators by Flower Alley. There are no double-parked taxis and the few that do linger on the perimeters of the stand move off within minutes. Yet the cry goes up.
“There still ain’t no work here!” insists one taxi driver.
Shuttling tourists
Much of the work they are getting is shuttling tourists to and from the Port at $10 a head.
Several visitors object that the Transport Board shuttle from the Port cost only $4 but usually take the taxi anyhow.
The concerns about parking are still evident as one driver escorts a couple to his vehicle, exclaiming in his best Yankee twang:
“I parked over here because the stand’s so crowded! It’s so bad today!”
One driver notes drily that the port taxi men are nowhere to be seen.
“On Monday, the Harbour men had all here line off. Now today they all bound back up there.”
“Watch they gine bound back down here,” replies his colleague.
As the WEEKEND NATION leaves the taxi stand, one driver hits the jackpot, convincing a group of four to take a tour to St James and back at a cost of $40 a head.
It brings to mind the comment Garner made on Monday.
“Taxi work is luck.”
_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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