The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port's (NCP) chief executive says the new taxi call-up system will have a dedicated sales desk and better organisation for visitors seeking transportation following Friday's opening.

Michael Maura said: “What's happening is you have this oval-looking taxi facility. It's basically a sales desk, if you can call it that. What we did was we had a wrap made for the building and it looks like a taxi so that you don't have to speak English but you know, you walk through that breezeway, you look to your right and there you see this huge decal of a taxi and so you know that's where I have to go.

Tourists then tell the operators where they would like to go in New Providence which is much different than what existed prior to Nassau Cruise Port's completion. Taxi cab operators have historically been disorganised with no designated call-up area, sometimes resulting in aggressive behaviour when they are competing for visitors and fares.

To keep Nassau Cruise Port organised and fluid for traffic, operators have had to employ new methods to keep taxis in a facility where drivers feel comfortable and tourists find it easy to come to. “A tourist would say that they want to go to Cable Beach, or I want to go to Paradise Island, or I want to go someplace else. That group then directs them to the GTA, which is what we call our Ground Transportation Area, and that's where the taxis are queuing,” Mr Maura said.

Nassau Cruise Port has leased the old Kelly’s Dock for the GTA, which can handle up to 30 taxis and operate as a holding area similar to what exists at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA). “So it’s more orderly and efficient,” Mr Maura said.

He added that the $8m concession agreement for downtown’s beautification “will be spent no later than 12 months following the completion of construction", and once Nassau Cruise Port is fully open ] executives will sit with the Downtown Nassau Partnership to determine how best to invest the remaining $7m. Some $1m has already been spent renovating the Ministry of Tourism building at the north end of Rawson Square for conversion into a tourism police station.

Mr Maura said: “Our forecast for 2023 is around 4.2m passengers, and the confirmed bookings that we have for 2024 are over 4.5m visitors arriving and, again, that's a lot of people. As you move down the piers, we would have resurfaced all of the piers completely.

“As you move towards the land, we would have spent about $125m or $130m on upland works. You would see this phenomenal new arrivals terminal which supports Bahamas Customs, Bahamas Immigration and the Port Department has got better facilities as well.”

There will also be additional security facilities for the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Defence Force, and for Nassau Cruise Port itself. As guests walk through they will encounter the equivalent of a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) checkpoint that travellers are familiar with entering New Providence by airplane.