Sinanan: Revision of taxi badge process in the works

WORKS and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said his ministry is revisiting the requirements to acquire a taxi badge as well as the length of time the process takes.

He encouraged everyone who wants to operate a vehicle for hire to go through the legal process.

Following the death of Ashanti Riley last week, the issue of PH taxis and transportation has again arisen.

While they are illegal, many people use PH taxis because of their availability where licensed taxis are not available, because of the route, the time of day, or other factors. Sinanan said the government does not control PH taxis.

“The government has a regulatory system for taxis or any vehicle for hire which is that you have to go and apply for a taxi badge and that allows you, with all the checks and balances to assure that you are a person of a character to be able to transport people from one point to the next, so there is a system in place for that. I cannot speak about PH drivers because PH drivers are not regulated. That is an issue that is outside of the law and the police will have to speak about that, because that is an enforcement matter.”

He said government is working towards improving aspects of the transportation system, including working with the PTSC to get to a higher standard and were working with the maxi-taxi associations on a new line of maxi-taxi routes.

“We also have before the Cabinet the National Transportation plan which has been long overdue and it is being given attention where we will develop, once and for all, a transportation plan for TT, which includes the air, sea and land transportation issues.”