President of the Anguilla Taxi Association, Elson Gumbs, told The Anguillian that some of the taxi-drivers think the rates are fair, while others are a bit displeased. “I think everybody has their displeasures but for me it is going to work,” the usually quiet taxi-man summed up the situation.

“Some of them are concerned that in certain areas the prices are a little high, but I do not see it the way they do,” he stated. I guess that as time goes on they will work out their differences and accept the rates.

Wendell Connor, one of the leading taxi-drivers, commented: “The idea of some of the prices being high is not the issue. What they are saying is that where they contend that the prices are high is not in the hotel area. There are more people going to the hotels than to The Valley. The rates for the town area have been a little up compared to those to the hotels. We expected the rates to the hotels to be higher for the tourists going there; and not for The Valley where only the local people travel.

“That is the light in which the rates are being looked at. The only concern we have is that, why should a taxi to The Valley be at such a high rate while the fares to the hotels are not very much more than what they were before?”

The taxi-drivers were speaking at a meeting with Chairman of the Anguilla Tourist Board, Barrister-at-Law, John Benjamin, who assisted them in setting up their Association and is continuing to help them in various other areas.

Mr. Benjamin said he agreed with Mr. Connor that it appears as though the increase in taxi rates had gone up more for travelling to the east than to the western end of the island. He observed, however, that the tariff to the west was already high and that the concept of the zoning rates was looking at the future.

“It took nine years for us to get an increase for taxi-drivers. In another nine years you will have hotels in the east and what are you going to do about that?” asked Mr. Benjamin. “Right now under discussion with government is the project with Savannah Bay and if that comes on, in nine years you are going to have the benefit there... So you are looking forward to a balance in taxi rates. I take the point that Connor is making …but I think if you look at the price the government has set, it is going to be much higher all around. The Taxi Association says it is much too high. I am pleased that the Taxi Association is taking the public in account and should be commended for not carrying up the prices too high in light of the high increase in gasoline.”

Asked what his function with the Taxi Association was, Mr. Benjamin replied: “When I became Chairman of the Tourist Board, I felt that the taxi-drivers were an important element in the industry. This is because they are in the frontline as the first persons who the tourists meet. They can either sell Anguilla or destroy the island by the comments they make. So I always felt that the taxi-drivers were an important element in the tourist industry and I started working with them from day one to create the Association and help them to work together to improve their lot. It is their livelihood and they have come together as a group in order to make it work for themselves and the island as a whole.”

Mr. Benjamin added: “I think we are getting somewhere now that we have an Association formed. We have a Board and we have members. We can never get all the members at one time because they are busy doing their own jobs. We got the Government to agree to a franchise and I think we are going to move forward.”

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