OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Taxi operators told a public consultation here, Thursday, that they were prepared to accept a 40 per cent fare increase, noting that inflation had eaten away at their earnings since the last hike granted in 2010.

Speaking at the public consultation hosted by the Transport Authority at the Ocho Rios Baptist Church, Dion Chance, president of the National Council of Taxi Association, said that in the last four years, their operating costs have increased by more than 50 per cent.

He said that the cost of petrol has increased by more than 70 per cent since 2009, while operators have to deal with the rising cost of insurance coverage. He said, too, that some operators were finding it difficult to replace service parts.

Chance said the ideal increase at this time would be 50 per cent; however, with a wage freeze for government employees and with the harsh economic climate, transport operators would at this time take 40 per cent.

“A fare increase is important at this time to prevent a collapse of the public transport sector; if we don’t get an increase we will not be able to continue to provide the service that we provide,” Chance told the Ocho Rios forum, which was attended by taxi operators from St Ann.

“Taxi operators are responsible for the transportation of the majority of the workforce in rural Jamaica,” he pointed out. “If the service is not there the wheels of production will slowly grind to a halt and, as a result, the GDP of the country will be affected,” he added.

Chance, at the first consultation in Mandeville, Manchester, on Monday said soaring costs were killing the industry.

“When an operator goes out for the year, and you look at what he makes, it may look like a pretty sum of money. But when you go back and check the expenditures you will realise that it works out to just about nothing. It is difficult at this time and it’s hard,” Chance said in Mandeville on Monday.

“While we realise that the entire economic situation is difficult, when you are in business you have to look at it from a perspective of survival as (an) operator of a business. We have also taken into consideration the plight of the public within the amount that we are asking for,” he told the consultation held at the Mandeville Hotel.

Route Taxi Association of Jamaica President Sophia Campbell, addressing the Mandeville consultation, said that some PPV operators had resorted to risky and illegal practices such as speeding and overloading in order to make ends meet.

“It is the lowest taxi work has ever been,” 60-year-old Kermit Johnson, a taxi operator of 25 years, told the Mandeville consultation.

Commuters who attended the Ocho Rios forum on Thursday said they agreed that the operators needed an increase; however, they said the percentage increase being sought was too high.

One woman proposed a 30 per cent increase instead.

Ian Dunkley, a member of the public who attended at the Mandeville consultation, argued that some of the expenses incurred by public passenger vehicles were “self-inflicted” as a result of poor treatment of their vehicles.

“Taxi drivers should realise that they were service providers on par with the National Water Commission, the Jamaica Public Service, and telecommunications providers, Flow, Digicel and LIME, and behave as such,” said Dunkley. “Taxi work must not be seen as a hustler’s paradise; it must be regulated,” he added.

In the meantime, taxi operator Lenworth James told the Ocho Rios meeting that the Government should look at increasing the minimum wage so that persons would be better able to deal with the fare hike, which he said is well needed by the taxi operators.

Thursday’s meeting was a part of a series of public consultations being hosted by the Transport Authority and the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing to help in arriving at a decision on a fare increase for public transport operators.

Donald Foster, managing director of the Transport Authority, said Transport Minister Omar Davis has indicated that there would be an increase in taxi fares before the start of the next school year in September. He said the findings and recommendation from the series of consultations across the island would be used to guide the decision on the percentage increase to be granted.

— Additional reporting by Alicia Sutherland