Five St. Maarten taxi associations have proposed amending the tariffs (see related story) to acting Minster of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger-Marten. She will not take any decision until receiving pertinent advice.
Such adjustments are usually upwards, although that was not directly mentioned in the release. However, the stated goal is to bring them in line with the French side, where an increase is reportedly being negotiated.
Apart from synchronisation with the Northern half of the island, a minimum of US $10 within districts is requested. The latter certainly appears acceptable enough, because nobody should actually even get into a cab nowadays expecting to pay less, while having tariffs for display inside the vehicle on one instead of multiple pages seems like a reasonable suggestion too.
The minister said her predecessor “saturated the market” by increasing the number of licences from 385 to 521, leading to more competition. A new cap or moratorium are among the options.
Taxi drivers also asked to permanently abolish the “ride-sharing” initiative due to its impracticality. This means government must determine whether Uber and other similar services from companies abroad will continue to be barred without a viable local alternative.
Whether that’s in long-term best interest of the country and its tourism economy in particular is something to consider carefully.
