Taxi operators give staggered fare hike a bumpy ride

THE Government’s announcement on Tuesday of a staggered fare increase for taxi operators was greeted with a mixture of acceptance, displeasure, and derision, particularly by public passenger vehicle (PPV) drivers who said that surging operating expenses had already forced them to charge commuters above the approved rates.

“We take fare increase two times already without anybody giving us increase,” said a hackney carriage operator on the Half-Way-Tree to Spanish Town route who identified himself only as Shortman.

At the same time he questioned his collegues’ agitaton for a fare hike.

“Some of them want increase but I don’t see what the increase is about right now because most of them aren’t collecting the recommended [fare]; everybody [collecting more] so what are you bawling for an increase for?”

Another hackney operator on the same route, Junior, explained: “When we were supposed to get the 16 per cent, the last increase, they didn’t give it to us, they put it on pause, but the driver[s] already gone ahead and put it on it.”

The long-delayed 16 per cent rate increase was officially approved in two batches of eight per cent over June and July 2026.

Making the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz noted that the implementation of the first eight per cent took effect on Tuesday, June 2, while the other eight per cent will take effect on July 1.

The decision followed a meeting with Vaz, PPV operators and Finance Minister Fayval Williams last month at the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre in St Andrew where Vaz highlighted that the Government approved a 35 per cent fare increase in October 2023, but only a 19 per cent hike was implemented.

He said that an additional 16 per cent was scheduled for implementation in April 2024 but due to subsequent adverse economic events the fare adjustment was not made.

At the time, Vaz announced that the matter would be taken to Cabinet to decide whether the increase would be implemented in a phased approach or all at once, but that suggestion was strongly dismissed by operators.

On Tuesday, he explained that the Government opted for the phased fare increase “to balance the economic realities facing PPV operators with the need to minimise the immediate impact on commuters”.

Vaz said that under the proposed June adjustments, the route taxi fare between St Ann and Ocho Rios will increase from $200 to $220, while the fare between Eltham Park and Spanish Town will move from $160 to $170. For rural stage carriage services, the Ocho Rios to Kingston fare will increase from $560 to $610 and the Mandeville to May Pen fare will move from $290 to $310.

Following the July adjustments, the St Ann’s Bay to Ocho Rios route taxi fare will increase from $220 to $240, while the Eltham Park to Spanish Town fare will rise from $170 to $190. The rural stage carriage fare between Ocho Rios and Kingston will increase from $610 to $660 and the Mandeville to May Pen fare will move from $310 to $330.

In response, Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS) President Egerton Newman told the Jamaica Observer that although the announcement was accepted, members of the association are not satisfied.

“Our expression at the last meeting for a straight 16 per cent instead of a half and half remains today, but the minister seemed to us that he has his hands tied and therefore he made the announcement of eight per cent now, eight per cent at the first of July. We think it could be done once; you could make the announcement now and make it effective in 29 days’ time… and we would understand,” Newman said.

“What you are going to see on the road is that persons are going to charge an extra $10 in the Corporate Area and maybe a $20 or $30 in the rural areas. After waiting three years and now just getting $10 it doesn’t cut it,” he said

Leon Patterson, president of the Independent Taxi Association, pointed to what he said was an established two-year agreement of a fare review, arguing that two years have passed since the last fare increase and the operators due for another increase.

“Based on the length of time that it took for us to get it, inflation has already taken away that 16 per cent. What we have to do now is accept the 16 per cent and we move forward to prepare a submission for a another fare increase because what the 16 per cent is, is just an adjustment to the fare structure that was granted two years ago, so we are just getting what was granted two years ago,” he said.

President of the Southern Taxi Association in St Elizabeth Charles Powell told the Observer that his concern with the two-phase approach is the possibility of passengers facing a 16 per cent increase ahead of July.

“I don’t really accept the two part, but since as it is 30 days, let us go with it because it cannot change. From my standpoint, knowing the operators out there they are not going to take it in two parts, they are going to take it in one… It is not like a company, it is a one-to-one, and so you will find them operate like that,” Powell said.

Vaz, however, cautioned operators against overcharging commuters.

“I don’t want those persons who have raised their fares arbitrarily and illegally already to now do another fare increase on this Government’s announced increase. If you do so, you are going to feel the brunt of the law and the regulations from Transport Authority and from the Jamaica Constabulary Force,” Vaz said.

“I’m making an appeal today: Anybody that sees this happening, you have enough ways and means to communicate by WhatsApp [or] by calling the hotline number, any methodology that you want to use, because we are not going to be able to enforce it without the help of the citizens of this country. So I say that as a warning and hope that it will be listened to and adhered to,” he said.