Taxi operators respond to beach vendors

Port taxi operators have rebuffed accusations from water sports and beach recreation vendors that, too, like the large tour bus companies, by-pass their small business to take tourists to the major beach recreation providers.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, the taxi drivers’ spokesman – Adrian Bayley, the president of the Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-Op Society Ltd, explained that taxi operators have been left with little choice but to take tourists to the larger establishments, four of which are on Bay Street.

He said that the issue was much deeper than big versus small business, suggesting that it was rather a lack of facilities at popular beaches, especially along the west coast.

Bayley said: “I can tell you that our members have looked out for the small business and we try to take tourists to as many attractions as possible.

“The problem is that when you go down on the west coast most of the facilities are private.

“Hotels used to sell day passes which allowed cruise ship passengers to use the bathroom and other facilities at the hotel, but this practice has ceased in recent times.

“The facilities at Mullins are for members only. Then there is no place to park.”

He added: “I saw one taxi guy taking his tourist to a beach at Paynes Bay.

“After he dropped them off and parked, he had to be running back and forth across the road to purchase beers from a bar for them.

“I am not going to ask my members to do that.”

In addition to a lack of facilities, the longstanding taxi operator told Barbados TODAY that on many occasions tourists already know which establishment they want to visit, based on reviews from their friends who visited before or from review websites such as Trip Advisor.

Bayley declared: “Many of the tourists already know where they want to go before they get into our vehicle, whether it is Harbour Lights, Copacabana, Boatyard or Pirate’s Cove.

“These are the places that they would hear about the most and it is the same places that feature most on the sites that review these places.

“So, it is not a case where they [the tourists] ask for a suggestion, they already know where they want to go.”

Last month water sport businessman, Neilroy Cave, accused taxis of being enticed by free food and drinks at the larger establishments.

Cave said: “These taxis are getting cut out by bigger businesses but instead of joining together with their fellow sufferers, they take the passengers that they manage to get to the same big businesses that don’t care about their survival.

“They [leave] out the small man, who suffering just like them, because the big beach places giving them free food and drinks whenever they bring passengers.”

But Bayley denied Cave’s assertions, even though he acknowledged that operators received lunch at half price and free drinks at one establishment.

He said: “it comes back to the issue of facilities and accommodation.

“It is is a business which understands that it must form these partnerships in order to survive.”

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb