Taxi president warns of industry face-off

Taxi president warns of industry face-off
Bahamas Taxicab Union president Wesley Ferguson
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Bahamas Taxicab Union president Wesley Ferguson yesterday warned of another face-off between taxi drivers and Transport and Local government Minister Renward if he fails to ‘aggressively’ to address issues plaguing the industry.
“Taxi drivers are being put out of work,” Ferguson told Eyewitness News Online.
“That’s a reality, it’s happening now. We are sending a demand letter to Minister Wells to move aggressively on our issues. If he doesn’t do anything the taxi drivers will meet in full force at his office the day after Thanksgiving so he can tell them himself what’s going on because the union has been left in the dark.”
Last week, Ferguson  urged  the government to effectively maintain the decades long practice of leasing taxi plates, describing the issue as a ‘quagmire’ which will prove too cumbersome for the government to address.
Ferguson told Eyewitness News at the time that he took issue with recent statements by Transport and Local Government Minister Renward Wells, who suggested government would not only hold firm to its plans to lift the moratorium on taxi plates, but also end the practice of leasing them.
Ferguson has also questioned the work of a Cabinet sub-committee consisting of six ministers tasked to make recommendations regarding issues pertaining to recalling of all plates, inactive plates, renewal of franchises, and plates in estates.
Wells recently stated that the leasing of taxi plates is an illegal practice which the government intends to crackdown on.
Yesterday, Ferguson said: “We want to find out what exactly their determinations were. The union has been left in the dark. We have no information.
“The SUVs and town cars are still on the streets,  and the SD plates are still the same color as taxi plates. The jury is still out on what role the union has to play.”