De­spite ex­pec­ta­tions that taxi dri­vers would re­duce fares fol­low­ing the re­cent fu­el price cut, taxi as­so­ci­a­tions say com­muters shouldn’t ex­pect any change. T&T Taxi Dri­vers’ Net­work pres­i­dent Adri­an Acos­ta said yes­ter­day that on­ly a small num­ber of dri­vers use Su­per gaso­line, which was re­duced by one dol­lar per litre ef­fec­tive Oc­to­ber 13.

He said most taxis op­er­ate on diesel or pre­mi­um fu­els, and dri­vers con­tin­ue to face high op­er­at­ing ex­pens­es.

“The ve­hi­cles that are com­ing now, which we used to work taxi, are more pre­mi­um-ori­ent­ed, so not much taxi dri­vers use su­per. I don’t think any as­so­ci­a­tion is go­ing to drop their price be­cause of the dol­lar re­duc­tion. There is still a lot of wear and tear that dri­vers face on a dai­ly ba­sis be­cause of the bad roads.”

Acos­ta said they were hope­ful that Pre­mi­um and diesel prices would al­so have been ad­just­ed down­wards.

Bar­rack­pore to San Fer­nan­do Taxi As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Ravi Ram­s­ingh said they wel­comed the re­duc­tion in Su­per prices, but said it was not enough to war­rant a drop in fare.

“Is just a dol­lar when you look at it. It don’t make much of a dif­fer­ence, but we wel­come it be­cause sev­en times they raise gas be­fore, the pre­vi­ous gov­ern­ment. Who us­ing the Su­per gas will save a lit­tle, not much, be­cause when you go to the gro­cery, prices re­main the same,” he said.

Pe­nal/Debe dri­ver Bob­by Ram­nath said au­to parts prices re­main the same.

“We used to buy a head and block for $700; now it is $3,000. That is a big jump, so gas is not the on­ly fac­tor that car is run with,” he said.

Pres­i­dents of the San Fer­nan­do and Ch­agua­nas Taxi As­so­ci­a­tions John David and Kevon Philbert shared sim­i­lar views. 

In re­sponse to Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dave Tan­coo’s an­nounce­ment, some mem­bers of the pub­lic had hoped taxi fares would fol­low suit.

How­ev­er, com­muter Mar­lon Em­mons, sup­port­ed the dri­vers’ stance.

“Con­sid­er­ing the in­fla­tion rate and every­thing, I don’t think they have to re­duce fares. The val­ue of the dol­lar is al­ready tight, and peo­ple are just try­ing to stay afloat. But gen­er­al­ly, it’s a great in­cen­tive to start the new year,” he said.

Sascha Wil­son