Electric taxi service launched as Transport Board to get more buses

The public transport system is set for a major boost, with the addition of 35 new electricity-powered buses to the state-owned Transport Board’s fleet by year-end, acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw announced on Friday. 

The news came as officials unveiled a new fully electric, small-scale, taxi service designed for short-haul routes, part of a broader push to modernise and expand sustainable transport options across the island. 

The privately-run taxi, dubbed Zippy Taxi, is to be deployed on short-haul routes, akin to Transport Board’s City Circle bus.

“We can boast of the largest electric bus fleet in this part of the western hemisphere. We have about 89 buses presently, and we are hopeful that by the end of this year, we will have another 35 buses to add to our existing fleet,” said Bradshaw, who is Minister of Transport and Works, during the launch of the taxi service.

“We have seen those in operation. I know there are still some challenges in terms of the timing of buses, but we are working towards being able to address the inefficiencies that have existed by not only making sure we have adequate buses on the island, but also encouraging initiatives such as this from the private sector and the associations to ensure we are able to address the concerns of the travelling public as well.”

Bradshaw said she and the Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), Roy Raphael, have been having continuing discussions on tackling the concerns within the PSV industry.

The Zippy Taxi initiative, a collaboration between the AOPT and Hussar Motor Corporation, allows taxi operators or prospective transport entrepreneurs to lease the small EVs from the company to make short-haul trips.

Hussar’s president, Jerry Lalchan, said his company builds the cars overseas and imports and distributes them in Barbados under Wescan Import and Export Limited.

“We have partnered with the AOPT, not only to allow these little cars as a Zippy Taxi, but we are also going to start a leasing programme, so that a taxi driver can be his own businessman to lease one of our buses, so he can make a living for himself and make good money, as opposed to driving for somebody,” Lalchan told Barbados TODAY.

Raphael told the gathering that the electric Zippy Taxi would cut the operating costs of drivers because they would not have to spend “the little money they make from a challenging day’s work” on petrol and maintenance.

He said: “There are guys who would complain to me that they are on the job a whole day, and they could hardly get anyone to catch a taxi. So, we have spoken to Jerry and decided to come up with the initiative that would help persons. As you know, most taxi operators . . .  persons who get into their vehicles . . . if it would cost them $50 to go from the Warrens area to Sunset Crest—$20 of that goes to gas. With the electric vehicle, that would be very minimal.

“We may encounter some challenges, because of the taxi being a very small taxi, but we envision if you are going to be doing basically supermarket runs, and within The City area, we don’t need a very big taxi to do so.” (EJ)