San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello is planning to move the Port-of-Spain taxi stand to Kings Wharf, but while some commuters welcome the move, most of the taxi drivers are against it.
In an interview taxi driver, Mitch Hosein said relocating the taxi stand was unsafe for drivers.
“We do not cause congestion on the top of High Street. We operate in an orderly fashion so to put us on the Wharf where we could get robbed and maybe even killed is not fair to us,” Hosein said.
A representative of the Port of Spain to San Fernando Taxi Drivers Association who requested anonymity said they were concerned about the move.
“We need to have further discussions about this. It will not ease traffic on High Street and it will cause problems for us at the Wharf,” the official said.
President of the San Fernando to Point Fortin Taxi Drivers Association John David said the move to relocate should be advertised for seven days before being implemented.
The Point Fortin stand is on the Wharf and David said having the Port-of-Spain drivers there will add to the chaos.
Contacted for comment, Mayor Regrello said High Street was saturated with taxis and this was triggering congestion.
“We have the Marabella, La Romaine, Port-of-Spain, Couva, Williamsville, Whiteland, Chaguanas and Curepe taxi stand all in the same area at Library Corner. Businesspeople are complaining that they cannot get goods to offload. We are currently planning for Independence, Christmas, Divali and Carnival next year so we have to deal with the traffic congestion on High Street,” Regrello said.
He noted that either the Port-of-Spain taxis or the Chaguanas taxis will have to move but he said the Port-of-Spain taxi stand was favoured for a relocation because the water taxi and bus terminal for the main city was located at the Wharf.
Regrello said currently taxi drivers double park on either side of Harris Promenade and on High Street.
He also said the security concerns at the Wharf and was now willing to allow the taxis to work from High Street between 6 pm to 5 am.