The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

More than 100 taxi drivers will possess their own franchises by March’s end after vehicle plates were issued directly to them by the Ministry of Housing and Transportation.

Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s (BTCU) president, told Tribune Business yesterday that 60 new vehicle plates were issued to taxi drivers last week with another 50 more to follow by March.

“This is important because it means they don’t have to lease any more, and now they have become owners of their own taxi franchise,” he explained. “These plates were given to the taxi union for its membership, so those drivers who were renting plates for sometimes up to $500 a month can now be relieved of renting. There is another 50 plates coming by the end of next month.”

The Bahamian taxi industry’s traditional structure has typically involved drivers renting vehicle plates from owners who either have retired from the business, or have no interest in it besides earning regular rental income.

Some taxi drivers do not even have their own vehicles, but instead lease those belonging to other persons along with the taxi plates. The issuance of new plates will thus help organise the taxi industry’s hierarchy.

Mr Ferguson said there are more than 500 taxi drivers still waiting on their own plates, including both union and non-union members. He added: “We are focusing on our membership now. This is why we ask taxi drivers to join the union, so that when these things come up they can be the first to benefit.”

The moratorium on taxi plates was lifted by the former minister for transport, Renward Wells, in December 2019 under the Minnis administration. However, no plates were issued to taxi drivers. Mr Ferguson said: “Renward Wells lifted the moratorium but he didn’t give any taxi plates out. Those taxi plates were issued by Jobeth Coleby-Davis”, current minister for housing and transport.

The union chief said the Government is also moving to address another long-standing concern by switching self-drive (SD) plates from yellow back to the former white and green colours, so that consumers do not confuse this vehicle type with taxis.

“We have found that through the efforts of the BTCU, the Government has now changed the self-drive (SD) plates from yellow back to white and green, and this full changeover will be fully complete by the next licensing period for June,” Mr Ferguson added.

“They were doing this systematically because there are some 5,000-plus SDs out there, so they thought it was in their best interest to keep the taxi plates yellow because there were only just over 1,100 taxi plates out there.”

However, Mr Ferguson voiced fresh frustration with Atlantis over what he described as a change to its COVID-19 testing policy for taxi drivers.

“Atlantis is now attempting to change the duration of the rapid antigen test from seven days to five days at the taxi driver’s expense without consulting the union, and giving us a reasoning behind it or the science behind it so we could all be on one page so I could tell my membership this is what this is,” he added.