Maxi Taxi and taxi drivers in T&T are saying a firm and resounding no to any Rapid Rail system in T&T, whether it comes from the UNC or the PNM, as they say it makes no sense and will only result in a financial burden on tax-payers and a major loss of income for drivers.
“I don’t want it. I don’t see anything good coming from it for me, said driver for 20 years Randy Ramsoondhar.
Ramsoondhar has driven thousands of passengers along the 30 kilometres between San Fernando and Chaguanas and knows the exhaustion caused by hours spent in traffic.
In an interview yesterday, he said he knew something needed to be done about the congestion caused by the thousand of cars being added to the nations roads each year.
A rapid rail, he said, was not the answer.
The Rapid Rail proposal was a plan of the PNM when they were in Government in 2007.
Political leader of the PNM Dr Keith Rowley has stated his intention to bring back the plan, as part of the party’s vision for the country’s transportation industry.
This week, he accused the People’s Partnership Government of having its own plan for a rapid rail system.
Regardless of where the plan comes from, maxi-taxi drivers yesterday said they wanted no part of it.
There are over 5,000 maxi-taxis operating on the nations road daily.
Those maxi-taxis feed into a downstream industry of mechanics, straighteners, painters, air-conditioning technicians and auto-repair shops.
The maxi-taxis also operate with an expectation of taking thousands of passengers to and from their destination daily.
Any decrease in passengers can only negatively affect multiple business in T&T.
“All the maxi-taxi drivers see this rapid rail project as a negative thing,” said president of the Association of Maxi-Taxi drivers of T&T, Ian Hewitt.
“If this rapid rail becomes a reality, we are going to be pushed out to fight up with the taxis and the illegal vehicles because how else are we going to make money?”
Hewitt said no entity had had serious discussions with the drivers, whose entire families would be affected by a move toward a rapid rail system.
“It’s going to affect the income of small businesses, but it is also going to affect profits at Neal and Massy, Diamond Motors and Toyota when we can’t afford to purchase,” Hewitt said.
Further, Hewitt said he could not understand how a rapid rail system would help decrease traffic He echoed statements made by transport engineer Dr Rae Furlonge saying, “the rapid rail is not a traffic measure, it is a transportation measure.”
The proposed rapid rail project wouldn’t be the first time a train system has been active in T&T.
In 1846, the railroad covered about 173 km and the train line ran from Port-of-Spain to Arima then the railways were extended to Couva in 1880, San Fernando in 1882, followed by Tabaquite, Siparia and Rio Claro.
After the railway closed, government at the time, encouraged citizens to begin work in the maxi taxi industry to aid with public transport.
President of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Association Linus Phillip said in 2005 the People’s National Movement (PNM) encouraged drivers to buy Maxi Taxis by offering a rebate.
The Route 2 association represents the biggest group of maxi taxis in
“After we spent $605,000 on a maxi taxi, they will have to tell us what they want us to do.
“And that’s a problem. Nobody comes to us and tells us anything. We have been, some of us, transporting people across the country for the past 30 years,” Phillip said.
He said bringing an alternate route without having discussions with drivers was an “absolute disrespect.”
“Neither the PNM or the UNC (United National Congress) had serious discussions with us.”
The drivers had concerns not just for their employment but as citizens, the main concern being, where will money come from to construct what is sure to be a billion dollar project.
The other concern is whether, once constructed, the rapid rail would need to be heavily subsidised by Government, much like the Water Taxi service, which saw a loss of $41 million in 2015.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz said the Government had looked at plans for a light rail transit system but had not proceeded with any.
“When we came into Government we received many unsolicited proposals, including those for a rail transit system. One of them was a proposal to build the light rail system using private sector funds. The cabinet looked at them.
“We had the ministry of finance look at the proposals but we did not go further,” Cadiz said.
He said the People’s Partnership Government was now looking at a mass transit system, which would use all the different modes of transportation, including maxi taxi drivers to create a more efficient transit system.
“We wanted to ensure that all communities benefit.”
—With reporting by Brianna Browne