THE University of the West Indies (UWI) on Monday stepped up its security measures on the Mona campus, allowing only two taxi companies – JUTA and those operating under the newly formed umbrella group Corporate Area Taxi Association (CATA) – to enter the premises.

Passengers travelling in any other taxi will now have to be picked up or disembark at the campus gates.

“Once a person comes in what is purported to be a taxi they are let on campus and we cannot vouch for the security or safety of persons using these vehicles,” said deputy principal of the Mona campus, Joseph Pereira.

“With this company (CATA) we are sure the police have checked out everybody and so there is a better sense that what people are allowed to have access to on campus is likely to be safer,” he added.

Pereira said this new policy was also meant to address the growing indiscipline of taxi drivers on the university campus.

“We have found increasingly more and more taxis whose credentials were questionable and whose safety we were not sure of,” said the deputy principal.

“We have even had one or two incidents of students getting into these taxis and then having problems,” he added.

Pereira explained that they have also been experiencing difficulties with the taxis entering the campus who refused to observe traffic regulations such as parking and the way in which they sought to get passengers.

“All and all we felt the time had come to have a better control of taxis operating on the campus,” he said. He added that they have also put measures in place to prevent ‘white plate’ taxis from entering the campus.

The new taxi policy comes weeks before the start of the new academic year, but Pereira said he expected the students to be understanding of the new change.

“We have had discussions with students who are represented on the committee that takes these decisions and so we expect that people will understand that the new measure is in the best interests of their safety and security,” he said.

He explained that the CATA has been formed precisely to operate on the UWI campus and as such they have been cleared by the police.

“They formed themselves into an association when we advised them, quite some time ago, that we are going to have to institute some form of control of taxis,” he said.