Point Fortin, Siparia taxi drivers: No fare increase

THE Point Fortin/San Fernando and Siparia/San Fernando Taxi Drivers’ Associations are denying claims that they will be increasing fares from Monday.

Posts saying their fares would be raised have been spread on WhatsApp and Facebook.

A viral Whatsapp message which has been circulating since Saturday claimed the Siparia association was increasing its fare from $12 to $20 owing to the stay-at-home restrictions effective midnight on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, a viral Facebook post claimed the Point Fortin drivers would raise their fare from $15 to $30 for the same reason from Monday.

But drivers told Newsday on Sunday that neither of the posts is true.

Both posts led to outrage from commuters on social media, with many calling the drivers “greedy” and “unfair.”

But Siparia taxi driver Jan Rampersad said the association had “nothing to do with that.

“That’s fake news. We don’t have the authority to do that.

"That was something somebody put online for themselves as an individual. The association had no idea about that.”

He added, “People should be careful how they taking news off Facebook and social media. Get direct sources.”

One Point Fortin driver told Newsday the association met on Saturday, but no such decision was made.

“A lot of things came up. Remember the whole world going through this thing.

“It had a lot of argument about it, but we didn’t come up with anything. We didn’t agree on anything.

"The whole world under loss right now.”

But he said regardless of the association not agreeing to increase fares, some drivers may decide to charge commuters extra, “if they feel that is fair to them.

The restrictions require taxi drivers to carry only 50 per cent of their passenger capacity in efforts to reduce the spread of covid19 and to “flatten the curve.”

Only essential workers will go to work ofrom Tuesday, as hundreds of businesses shut their doors until April 15. Anyone who breaches the orders could face a $50,000 fine.

“We are an essential service. They (Government) just come up with something like that, cut we by half, and ain’t say anything about compensating us for the next half. And we still providing a service for them," the Point Fortin driver said.“We will comply, because we could get lock up or charged $50,000 if we go over the limit.”

Asked if they have been worried, being in such a high-risk job during a global pandemic, all the drivers said yes.

One said, “Every day we worried. Every single day that we come off the road and put passengers in our car and we don’t know who possibly has the virus.”

Another said taxi drivers should be classed as heroes at this time, as “We are risking our lives and our family’s lives right now, and we not being compensated for it.

"But they not seeing that side of it.”

They said the past two weeks have been slow for them, sometimes having to wait three to four hours before they’re have enough passengers for one trip.

When Newsday spoke with them on Sunday, they said they had been waiting over an hour to get a passenger.