Better business for Port taxi drivers

Small taxi operators at the Bridgetown Port have reported an uptick in business in the last week, following an intervention by two Government ministers who responded to their complaints about a lack of work from larger cruise vessels.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey, officials of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), Bridgetown Port representatives and personnel from Royal Caribbean Cruise recently held discussions on the matter.

When a team from Barbados TODAY visited the port on Monday, several taxi operators said there had been a noticeable difference in their daily trade since the talks.

One female taxi driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, said going public with their concerns seemed to have been the catalyst for change.

“After we received coverage from the media about the situation happening here at the Port, and after the Ministers spoke, the work finally started flowing for us a few days later. We started getting more work but things are still on the slower side because a lot of taxis came back out to work after the ministers promised us that the situation would be addressed,” she said.

“The change in work was very noticeable, with almost all the taxis getting work now as long as the passengers keep coming in on the ships.”

The taxi operator added that the larger tour companies still got the bulk of the work coming into the port on a weekly basis.

However, she said given the improvement they have already seen and the upcoming Christmas holidays, the drivers expected even more jobs to come their way.

“The buses are still getting the majority of the work, but at least we are getting some traffic now, as opposed to a few weeks ago where we were getting nothing. We were promised a better season overall, and based on the information we have and what we have seen so far, the season should be looking better for us in the coming days, hopefully,” she said. (SB)