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Tuesday, January 30, 2007 – The clock is ticking for hundreds of
tourism taxi drivers expected to comply with new taxi license requirements by
the deadline - 2nd February, 2007.
Chief Transport Officer Annette Augustin says the Ministry of Communications and
Works, the responsible agent, is working with the Ministry of Tourism in a
process which begun with the training of tourism taxi drivers and owners,
followed by recommendations and submissions of applications.
“What we're doing presently, is trying to finalize the licensing process which
includes the inspection, and issuing of the new taxi plates to operators on
island. Initially we had a deadline of November 30th 2006, but under the
circumstances which the operators were operating at the time with a number of
cruise ships coming in, we decided to extend the deadline to the 2nd of
February.”
All associations inclusive of the National Taxi Union have been informed of the
new deadline.
Ms. Augustin says so far approximately 40 percent of operators have responded
and now the onus is on the remainder to comply with the relevant legislation.
“The legislation states that all tourism taxis operating on island must display
a blue taxi plate as opposed to what was originally being used which were red
taxi plates. The cost for the issuing of the two year tourism taxi license is
$350.00. There is also a cost of $100 for the plate itself.. In addition, there
is also a cost of $25.00 with regards to the Tourism Taxi Drivers License.”
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