Maxi drivers protest at City Gate

MAXI Taxi Association president Linus Phillip assured there would be no further disruptions to the service of the maxi taxis at City Gate after their protest action slowed down proceedings for commuters on Friday morning.

In a conversation with Newsday, Linus said the disruption felt mostly by commuters who were trying to get into the capital using the City Gate transport hub in Port of Spain, would not occur in the afternoon after talks were held with education minister that morning.

Phillip said maxi-taxi operators were struggling with City Gate's infrastructure issues and some drivers were complaining about not being paid for transporting children to school for the Ministry of Education.

Newsday understands that about 300 drivers were owed about $10 million in fees for services rendered in September and October. Drivers threatened to cripple transportation if they were not paid.

In a release sent to the media the Ministry of Education said they made payments totalling to $4.7 million over the past three days.

“Payment for the first fortnight in September 2019 totalling approximately $1.8 million was made to the PTSC on November 21, 2019,” the ministry said via the release.

“A second payment of $1.8 million was also paid to the PTSC on November 21, 2019. A third cheque of more than $1 million was handed over to the PTSC on Friday morning.

“Currently, the Ministry is processing payments for the period October 14 to October 25, 2019. These invoices were received on November 18, 2019 and we are working assiduously to effect payments to the service providers.”

Linus said drivers might not see the money in their bank accounts until early next week.

He said several of the infrastructural issues – like pot holes emerging at the drop-off point – were managerial issues and there had not been a manager at City Gate since 2010.

“If you have proper management, some of the problems, like cleaning, would not be a problem. Pot holes will happen, but when you see a small pothole and you don’t deal with it, it will become a big one. What we are having here is small problems that are turning into big ones.”

Linus however said talks with the education minister were “fruitful.”

Some commuters expressed concern about what would happen with the maxi taxis on Friday afternoon, saying the protest inconvenienced them.

One commuter said “We had to walk from the (Central) market to City Gate. It made me late for work. Several people seemed annoyed. The drivers seemed disgruntled. One man walked in front a maxi slowly while it was trying to get in city gate. The maxi honked his horn for him to get out of the way but he didn’t and the maxi had to follow him all the way into city gate.”

Another commuter did not see a problem with the protest. He said, apart from having to walk from the market to City Gate, there was no change in the service.

Phillip said the protest action was necessary to highlight the issues which the maxi-taxi drivers face.

“The commuters had a longer walk, but we did take them to town. No one is having trouble for transportation this morning (Friday).”

“We tried to minimise the discomfort but we needed to make a statement.”