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CCNTV6
  • 6 weeks ago
Maxi taxi driver associations are looking to the upcoming October budget with clear priorities. They're calling for better water and toilet facilities at hubs, national insurance coverage for self-employed drivers, solutions to next-of-kin issues, and stronger action against unlicensed private taxi operators.

Nicole M Romany tells us more.
Transcript
00:00President of the Route 2 MaxiTaxi Association, Brenton Knights, says drivers are in urgent need of better working conditions.
00:09He tells us, of the six MaxiTaxi routes, only two currently have any facilities and just one operates successfully.
00:19He says they would like to see budget allocations for infrastructure to ensure properly functioning hubs,
00:25using the successful route as a template to upgrade all hubs and provide safe, hygienic conditions for drivers.
00:34Brenton Knights, Red Band needs management at CityGate. It needs a hub in Arima.
00:38Sandy Grande is totally a disaster in terms of there is no running water.
00:43There is no access to toilet facilities as a 24-hour service. That is totally, totally unacceptable.
00:49We have some people doing some work behind the scenes, but we're asking that now that the ministry has been split,
00:55that we hope that it will be more concentrated in terms of transportation for our sake and the traveling public.
01:04He says they are hopeful the current government will have the long-awaited next-of-kin policy put in place,
01:11whereby ownership of MaxiTaxis can be transferred to family members.
01:16But really the ultimate thing is a proper policy to show that, hey, this is the way we're going to go forward.
01:22But next-of-kin is really, really, really a serious situation.
01:26Just yesterday, I got a phone call that one of our comrades has passed,
01:30and I know that's going to fall in the caption of next-of-kin.
01:34Meanwhile, president of the Route 1 MaxiTaxi Association and head of the Association of MaxiTaxis, Ian Hewitt,
01:41is stressing the urgent need to regulate private taxi drivers.
01:45He says they are taking food out of the mouths of hard-working, legitimate taxi operators.
01:53In Trinidad, we call it white van and peach.
01:57Outside there, them fellas just call it pirate, they just call it all kind of thing.
02:01They call it all kind of thing.
02:02I am saying we have.
02:04I know coming down in front of a building and a man with a white van,
02:07picking up all the passengers going Maraval,
02:09and my Maxi men, my members up on Juke Street, empty, empty.
02:15This is not right.
02:16And you're going any out of the six routes and we have pirate ride through.
02:20Hewitt also offered suggestions for easing traffic congestion from San Fernando to Port of Spain.
02:26He says the Maxi associations have long called for a dedicated bus route
02:31between South Trinidad and the capital city and they believe it is still urgently needed.
02:37He adds that under the Patrick Manning administration,
02:41half a billion dollars was spent on infrastructure for the rapid rail system.
02:46Speaking to the morning edition, he says,
02:49the plans are still in place and he is urging the current government to put them to use.
02:55Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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