MONTEGO BAY, St James — Taxi operator Adrian Johnson is adamant that Hurricane Melissa will not break him despite leaving him with a drastically reduced daily earnings and damage to his house.

Before the Category 5 storm Johnson had a core group of clients whose children he ferried to and from school each day. To fill the rest of the day, he would take chartered jobs and care for his autistic son.

Now with schools out and fierce competition for a shrunken pool of passengers, Johnson estimates that his income has declined by more than 50 per cent.

He told the Jamaica Observer that Jamaica Union of Travellers Association (JUTA) operators, who usually cater to tourists, and an increasing number of robot taxis are squeezing licensed route taxis out of the market.

“The road tight [with] most of the guys who drive JUTA now back on our route juggling,” charged Johnson.

We find out that more robot [taxis] appear on the road and less people a travel. So wi income cut, like cut in more than half too,” added Johnson.

He said he has had to resort to plying the Hendon/Norwood route instead of just focusing on his school pick-ups so he understands why others have adjusted their behaviour as well.

“We just have to wait it out because me can’t tell di robot dem fi come off di road or the JUTA man them to go back. Everybody haffi eat. Everybody have a family,” Johnson said pragmatically.

He spoke of a challenge getting gas — though that has eased somewhat — and car parts as some of those stores are still shuttered. So too are a number of businesses whose staff would have normally needed transportation.

With most people hurrying to get home before dark, there is a small window of opportunity for taxi operators to earn.

“By time you wake up and come a road 5:30 or six o’clock, by 10 o’clock di road dead. Nobody not moving again till three, four o’clock [in the evening], and everybody in a hurry to go home before night. No night life, nobody doing any extra travelling right now so the road dead, income cut,” said Johnson.

Stressing that Hurricane Melissa was a monster at Category 5 level, Johnson told the Observer there was nothing to do except make the best of a difficult situation until life goes back to normal.

Like many others in south-western parishes, his house was damaged, and, like many others, he is downplaying his discomfort because he knows other Jamaicans in the worst-affected areas are facing worse.

“I have a lot of damage but comparing to some place me see from down a Westmoreland, and those places, mi give God thanks. For at least mi can spread mi blanket on mi floor and sleep. And me can live without [air conditioning] fi couple months; mi never born in it,” he said with a wry chuckle. “We have to cope because the storm wasn’t normal,” declared Johnson.