Meeting with them…
ALL vehicles in taxi services must have a uniform colour along with their respective logos by next year August, President Bharrat Jagdeo decreed yesterday.

President Bharrat Jagdeo addressing the taxi service providers

He made the announcement when he met with the drivers, dispatchers and owners countrywide, at a highly interactive session in the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

Present, too, were Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad and Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee.

President Jagdeo said several recommendations were made but only what he stipulated will be compulsory to help improve the industry and ensure the safety of drivers and passengers, as well.

The Head of State anticipated that the demand for the services will grow tremendously in keeping with the outlook for the economy and, particularly, for the development of the tourism industry.

“We think, with the serious focus that Guyana is getting internationally, the changed image of the country, from one that is constantly seeking debt relief to one that can pay its own way now, a country whose macro-fundamentals have improved tremendously, a country that is in the forefront of climate change debate and with a renewed image from the old Jonestown days and, because of the synergies between what we are trying to do through the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and tourism, we think that there will be a spin-off benefit and that you will see a growth in that particular industry, a rapid growth in the future,” he stated.

A question is asked at the meeting.

President Jagdeo said the industry has to prepare itself for the growth and unless it is done, the country will be lagging behind its counterparts in the region.

He said, for sometime now, several persons have been engaged in looking at ways to improve the service and came up with several suggestions for the service to be delivered at the level that would take cognisance of the growing trend.

President Jagdeo said among the recommendations were that people have to make some changes to their assets; a glass barrier between the front seat and back seat to isolate the driver from passengers; a tracking device in the vehicle so, if anything was to go wrong, it could be tracked easily; a metered service rather than rate for routes and some standard uniform for taxi drivers.

Tremendous cost
He said: “In my discussions with most of the people that came up with these suggestions, I said to them I want to have the service improved but I don’t want it to bring too much burden on the providers, because there will be a tremendous cost to doing all of these things.” .

The President added: “I want to suggest that we do two things, we have something that is compulsory and that will be a requirement for all the providers of the service and your future licensing will be dependent on you complying with that or those conditions and that the others are voluntary, people will decide if they want to do them.”

However, he reiterated that the uniformity of all the vehicles should be compulsory explaining “that you can easily identify what a taxi is and, therefore, we are going to be making that a requirement.”

He said: “I am giving you enough time, hopefully, to make the adjustments that, by some time next year, we expect that all the cabs would have a uniform colour with, of course, your company’s logo appropriately placed.”

Mr. Jagdeo said that would allow people to identify the cabs and also be helpful to the security forces enhancing the safety of the drivers and passengers coming into the country.

“Because they would know who to go with and who not to go with, because the cabs that are of a uniform colour, I think most people, right across the world, tend to go with those rather than to go with people who are getting some business on the side,” he offered.

President Jagdeo said, apart from the set requirements, all the other suggestions, at this stage, will be treated as voluntary.

“I think those things should be left to the owners themselves to decide if they want to do. So, of the several recommendations that came to me, I am just going to make one a compulsory and I think it will help the industry tremendously,” he asserted.

He promised that the licensing and radio fees for those taxi services would be waived for two years and to look at other ways to help them lower the cost of the transition.

Valuable service
President Jagdeo said it is important to meet with the taxi services acknowledging that they render a very valuable service to the country and should succeed.

“The outside date should be August of next year,” he proposed, stating that the colour and size of the logos will be determined jointly between the taxi services and the Ministry of Home Affairs, to make a huge difference.

During the exchanges several issues were raised but the move towards uniformity was endorsed by most of the service providers and a team was identified to continue dialogue with the Ministries of Home Affairs and Tourism.

A taxi driver who operates from Cheddi Jagan International Airport voiced some concerns, including about private cars luring passengers and payment of fees without anything being done for the welfare of the operators.

In response, President Jagdeo undertook to meet with the airport authority to discuss the issues.

Other suggestions included for the proper screening and training of persons acquiring hire car licences and he agreed that is absolutely necessary.

“This should be an ongoing thing within the Police Force, because, if you are going to entrust someone with other people’s lives, then you might as well ensure that it is the right person that you are giving that responsibility to and I hope that Home Affairs will pay much more serious attention to this and develop a system for doing it,” the President said.

“This is very important if we are going to look at quality and safety issues,” he agreed.

Complaints were also made about Police harassment, including by traffic ranks at major events and President Jagdeo noted that the uniformity of taxi services will help identify them.

The Head of State also said it is important to look at the issues and see how the relationship between service providers and the Police can be improved.

It was suggested, as well, that taxi drivers should be more educated about Guyana as they interact with a lot of tourists and President Jagdeo said he is willing to allocate resources towards an education programme for taxi drivers to improve themselves and learn different things about the country.

Training of taxi drivers in customer service and care and first aid were underscored and Prashad pointed out that his ministry and Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) have always had an excellent relationship with service providers including the taxi services and alluded to the training seminar held last week for taxi services, where a code of ethics was introduced.

In light of this, the President requested a meeting to address the service providers on some matters and issues and interact with them about the future of this industry, Prashad said.