Cayman taxi system being reappraised

The way taxi drivers and tour providers operate at the port is to be reappraised.

Currently, drivers with a license to operate at the port take part in a lottery to determine placing in the queue each day, a system that has been in place for years. However, MLAs Ellio Solomon and Arden McLean both said in a meeting of the finance committee they had received representations from constituents that the format was not working.

“The Public Transport Unit does not dispatch taxis,” Mr. Shomari Scott said. “The Port Authority has the right to do as they wish regarding dispatching. However, we will look at how it works at the airport, and perhaps implement a similar system. We can recommend to the Port Authority board regarding efficiency but it is outside the remit of the unit.”

Cline Glidden of the Ministerial Council for Tourism added there was a specific taxi zone in which during specific periods soliciting was not acceptable. However, some operators nonetheless circumvented such a process for immediate gain.

“Some park [illegally within the zone] and accept the $25 fine because they can pick up $600 worth of business,” Mr. Glidden said. “This is a challenge. Some amendments to the laws and changes to fees and fines may be needed.”

Regarding the amount of taxis licensed to operate, Durk Banks of the transportation board said there had been no new licenses granted since 2007 and there were 280 permit holders with some 2,400 seats. However, 10 of the taxi drivers were without vehicles. There are 216 tour operators, whose licenses are similarly under moratorium. There are 10 tour operators with no vehicles at the moment, he said, but explained that in the current economic climate this may be due to them being unable to borrow money or afford fixing vehicles that were off the road.

Pre-booking

Duane Seymour enquired as to the percentage of pre-booked tours and Mr. Scott explained pre-bookings were specifically through the cruise ships. The Public Transport Board would only have that information if the cruise industry and private bookers would provide it, he added.

Mr. Glidden said there had been discussions regarding the amount of pre-booked business for some time. He said cruise lines would much prefer to deal with one company for a 1,000 person booking than 100 separate entities.

“The Land and Sea Co-operative was set up to satisfy [their] requirements and do prebooking for small operators. All are encouraged to sign on and we work with the cruise ships to send their business to Land and Sea,” he said.

However, the problems arose when operators felt they could make more money independently of the co-op. One of the challenges to Land and Sea was the responsibility to share the business fairly. Some drivers could feel that they were not getting enough business through this process so they go out on their own and then are unavailable when the co-op needed to call upon them, he added.