00:00Taxi drivers are one of the groups that traverse the nation's roads multiple times within a day.
00:05So whether it is traffic or other issues affecting the road networks across the country, they face it head on.
00:11In light of the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal plan, they too have their wish list.
00:17What are some of the things that you are looking forward to seeing in the budget?
00:20Food prices go down. That is one. I need to get my back pay monies. Two.
00:28He was previously employed at the Degomartin Borough Corporation.
00:33Clint Devenish, who operates the Arema to Port of Spain, Rue, tells us where he'd like to see some more attention given.
00:40I'm hoping that they don't raise the gas. I'm hoping for better road conditions.
00:46And I'm hoping for a lot of different things as well, you know, but basically those two, seeing as a taxi driver.
00:54When gas goes up, everything goes up automatically. So I'm hoping it doesn't because, I mean, it will be a reason for the reason for food products, you know, a reason for mostly everything.
01:04Dave Douglas is on the same route. He hopes for a decrease in the fuel price and the condition of the roads is something he'd like to see addressed.
01:12I mean, I have a new bus and I already have busted shocks on the road, one shock. I've already damaged my crate lamp and this bus is only four months old.
01:22So for me and for us, the improvement of the road in Trinidad and Tobago is significant.
01:27And I work on the highway for the Spinarima to think of meeting a pothole on the highway.
01:32But one Jaguanus taxi driver tells us it could cost them more than parts replacement.
01:36The roads want some proper pavement, too many potholes and license officers and them don't understand.
01:46When the road bad, we had to spend more money to fix.
01:50Meanwhile, Douglas points to the recent layoffs, which, according to him, are also being felt by taxi drivers.
01:57Like we have one department that always travels on the highway.
02:00The entire department is laid off and there's a whole bunch of passengers gone.
02:04So we see a rippling effect when people are unemployed, that there's less travel in public and therefore we have less passengers during the course of the day.
02:15We make less and we could spend less.
02:17If something could be done to improve the employment situation so that, I mean, everyone will benefit.
02:24Increasing the age limit for imported vehicles is another initiative he will welcome.
02:29And he says he isn't the only one, as it will give more people the opportunity to get vehicles at better prices.
02:36But there are those who are concerned that it will only exacerbate the traffic problems.
02:40On a daily basis, from here, between the hours of, say, half past two to six, sometimes seven, eight, we have congestion or traffic.
02:49You understand?
02:50So importation of vehicles, I wouldn't support that.
02:54And there is a plug for pensioners, as Lisa Tiwari Ricketts believes, that $3,500 monthly is inadequate.
03:02If you're giving $3,500 an apartment, it's roughly about $3,000.
03:07You'll have with just five, you know.
03:09As for what the government can do to create revenue generation, an important factor, if it is to decrease deficit,
03:17which at the mid-year mark increased from over $5 billion to in the vicinity of $9 billion.
03:24I always had a strong stance, even when I was in the military, for agriculture and diversification with the vision that the den Patrick Manning had with diversifying the economy.
03:38However, from that point to now, everything went backwards.
03:43If you could develop a lot more of these sporting facilities that would develop sports tourism in Trinidad and Tobago,
03:51so we could have a lot of sporting agendas that would bring in foreign competitors and therefore bring in foreign exchange.
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