Taxi association isolating operators who refuse to join?
BVI News photo
Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn has launched a blistering attack on airport and government officials over what he described as the unfair and unlawful treatment of licensed taxi operators at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.
Penn told the House of Assembly that he raised concerns with the BVI Airports Authority about how the taxi association is being managed, particularly the treatment of operators who choose not to join the association.
According to Penn, licensed taxi operators who opt out of the association are being forced to drop off and pick up passengers in the airport parking lot rather than at the terminal frontage.
He argued that this practice directly contradicts the Taxi Ordinance, which prescribes an annual security fee of $35 for operators. Instead, Penn said taxi drivers are being required to pay as much as $180 per month to obtain a pass that allows them to operate at the front of the airport.
“That’s $180 a month they’re being forced to pay,” Penn said, questioning the legality of the arrangement.
During the discussion, Penn said he specifically pressed the airport’s director on whether livery operators — particularly those transporting large volumes of visitors for companies such as The Moorings and Sunsail — were being treated the same way. He was reportedly told they were not. However, Penn said a subsequent visit to the airport contradicted that claim.
“I went to the airport and, as God would have it, I saw the taxi operator for The Moorings and Sunsail dropping off his passengers in the parking lot,” Penn said, adding that he recorded a video as evidence.
This is wrong
Penn told the Works Minister, who holds portfolio responsibility, that the situation is wrong and must be fixed.
“Minister, how could you let that happen under your watch?” Penn questioned.
He stressed that any person licensed to operate a taxi in the territory has a legal right to obtain a pass and access the airport in accordance with the ordinance. While he acknowledged that dispatching rules could differ, he insisted operators should not be forced to join an association to do business at a government-owned facility.
“Don’t force me to join an association in order to do business with one of the government’s public resources when I am a regulated entity,” Penn said.
He also questioned how such costs could be justified for large operators, citing families and businesses that own multiple buses serving major charter yacht companies. Penn said requiring them to pay more than $2,000 per month to drop passengers at the terminal is “cost prohibitive” and unsupported by law.
Penn warned that the policy not only harms long-standing taxi operators — some with 40 or 50 years of service — but also damages the visitor experience.
Forcing passengers to haul luggage across a parking lot, he said, creates frustration and leaves visitors with a negative impression of the territory.
“I’m not going to rest on this until it’s addressed,” Penn declared, insisting the matter be urgently corrected.
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I’m sure there are other pressing issues to look at than entitled taxi men and visitors having to carry there luggage across the parking lot like us locals
Resistance to change is a real thing. The airport is a business despite being owned by the government. In all airports there is usually one group providing taxi services to ensure quality of service. I wish our people would just do some research. This is the price of development people. Think Think Think….
The taxi drivers have too much power in this country. We have no decent public transport (I’m sure because it would be impacting the taxi associations profits too much) and something needs to change. People drink and drive here because there’s no easy alternative. The system here needs to be changed:
– reasonable taxis fees for residents, and not to be based on the number of people in the taxi (it literally costs nothing more for multiple people in the taxi)
– more accessible options. A taxi requesting app. Ability to pay by card.
Or better yet, just give us a public transport option. I can’t believe this isn’t available.
This is to pit pressure on expatriates who became belongers and have a taxi license
Take a census and see those who
Operate in the Association and those who do so
Privately
That is the fact
The level of evil and badmindness especially with some of them who call themselves Christians in the Association is appalling . It is a rat race .?
The unfairness done under subtle covering is unbelievable!!’n
Is this news?
Time for uber.
What is the point of this? Spoiled for ACI drivers acting up and that make it to the House? Haha
I don’t understand why this is not being looked into. It is a very serious issue. Persons should be dropped at the curb with their luggage to comfortably roll directly into the airport. Anything else is utter nonsense. And why bloggers think we should be treated this way, as well as our guests is astounding. Is it that Hon. Walwyn didn’t bring up the issue so it is a non-issue? Please, get out of here with that. Everybody, including Jane, Jack and Johnny should be able to roll through the airport, drop off their passenger at the curb like in all civilized societies and leave and keep on trucking. There should be police officers monitoring that drop offs are just 2/3 minutes tops, enough time for unloading of luggage and a hug or payment in cases of taxis. And come on, Taxis filled with passengers are being forced to park in the parking lot to discharge bus loads of travellers is alright with us? Can’t be?
Is it the messenger? Well, Hon. Penn, good looking out and I am not a taxi driver nor do I want to be one. It seems only Hon. Walwyn can raise issues now in the HOA and make sense in our bloggers eyes. Well, let me raise this with him, even though I do not have a law degree: “He is appearing desperate, untimely and stupid in his political manuevers. For like the old people said, to both him and Hon. Turnbull, “Hurry dog eat raw pork.” Let it cook. There is a time for everything under the sun. Not so smart those two guys, not so smart at all. But they will have to live with the consequences of their actions. I wouldn’t vote for either of them.