I love route taxis

[Accompong]

My take on this is "I 'like' Route Taxis as a necessity" but I 'love' a charter ride for the flexibility and comfort"

I live in the middle of nowhere in Jamaica. There are few vehicles anyways and the majority of them that ply the routes are "robots" (white plate personal cars used as a route taxi). The drivers live in or near my community so they are not the reckless taxi drivers you see in most places. If you need a bag of cement, you just ask the driver to pick it up and you pay for it + the taxi fare (or maybe a likkle more) so you don't have to go along to purchase it.

It costs me $500j to take a route taxi to Santa Cruz and back from my house. It costs me $2000J to do the same with a charter. If I need to shop at the market, hardware store, chemical store, etc. I have to walk all over and carry my purchases with me. A charter is there with me and makes it a whole lot better.

Just my take on this.

Peace and Guidance

Route Taxis are the best! They make me feel so mobile, they are cheap and I like to squeeze in with a bunch of strangers and enjoy the ride. It is nice to have someone who is always there for you and never passes you up when you need a ride. Thanks be for route taxis!

[Rob]

Iteachdetroit,

I assume from your name that you are indeed a teacher, that you know that we always can learn new things and the power of knowledge.

Late last year, a couple of extremely well traveled and experienced visitors to Negril were robbed in what they thought was a "normal" route taxi. As it has turned out, it was a stolen taxi and the driver and passenger were up to no good. Here is a link to one of the two threads that were running at that time. Please read it in detail -there is some useful advice being posted.

http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...put#post112959

Essentially, only you can make the decision if the pocket change you save is worth the safety risk. With many thing we do in life we are essentially making safety risk decisions. Should I drive to work going this route or that route? Should I buy this medication or wait out the illness? Was that sushi made by a competent chef? But the risks can be minimized.

By taking down the phone numbers of the drivers listed in our transportation section (we personally know all of them) and having them handy and giving them a call while you are taking the last couple sips of your cold drink is every bit as convenient as a route taxi. Sure it will cost you a dollar or two more - but how much is peace of mind and safety worth to you? You wont have the joy of having random strangers possibly sit on your lap, but such is life. There are trade offs.

I will sum this up as I did that last thread with these words I wrote to a different poster:

"While you say no disrespect is intended, it seems that your previous comment in this thread lends one to believe that I have an ulterior motive. Believe what you want and travel how you want. But to answer your question, I have heard of too many incidents around the island involving tourists, even though one is still too many.

Negril is a rather small town with a population hovering around 5000 and receives lesser numbers of visitors to the island than MoBay or Ocho Rios, so the number of incidents here are relatively small. But there have been incidents reported all around the island, in Hanover (not Negril), several in St James, a few more in the north coast areas and of course Kingston.

There are visitors to Negril who everyday rent scooters and feel perfectly safe and "in no danger" as you state you feel about the route taxis. There are scooter rentals all over Negril and tourists do rent them. But this month alone we have seen and talked to 4 sets of visitors who gotten serious cases of road rash which put an obvious damper on their vacation. All professed to have rented them in the past and knew the "runnings" and yet they ended up hurt. Bad things can happen to good people.

As I have stated, the majority of route taxi operators are hard working, honest and decent drivers trying to make a living. But you, as a visitor, do not have the years and years of daily experience with the route taxi system that all Jamaicans living here have - it is second nature to them. They instinctively know which taxis to use and not to get in, they were taught this as a child. There is no visitor to the island that has that same ability, and sometimes that even fails experienced Jamaicans.

So, by all means, go ahead and think you are in no danger at all using random route taxis. They are not allowed to refuse you, it is against the law. But would you have known not to get into the Lilliput route taxi? Would you have even noticed the Lilliput wording and known what it meant?

There is a system that has been put in place by the Jamaican government and JTB to directly serve the needs of those visitors to our beautiful island.

I can no more recommend that visitors use the route taxi system, which was designed with the local populace in mind than I can recommend walking through the unlit areas of the beach at night.

It is simply not wise advice."

[Hussyband]

Glad you like them! Enjoy.

I liked em too.

At least these threads remind me I am not the only idiot in the world. But, I am smart enough to learn from my mistakes and the advice of others.

[smith744]

Glad you like them! Enjoy.

I liked em too.

At least these threads remind me I am not the only idiot in the world. But, I am smart enough to learn from my mistakes and the advice of others.

.

I guess it could happen, but after our experience, we used chartered taxis suggested by the hotel, and in November, will be using board sponsors.

:-) <<<<:: BIG-smiley
.
.
so,
you going BACK in November, after your *experience* eh

Great..!!!...

.
.
Jamaica is weird na tru
like a wicked drug
.
.
nevertheless,
after you *experience*,
after Kahuna's *experience*
and a few other thing-ys
I'm modify-ing my zeal-latnous route-taxis stance, and few other thing-ys as well.

over the years,
as I assumed my fly-on-the-wall posture, I've seen my fellow vacationing-Ja-travelers doing *things* that are PERFECT-ly OK & Kosher for IN-foreign, but not-gwan-work in Jamaica.

me-too,
have been in some *tricky* situations, but they never escalated to a super-negative state. In a way, me-lucky. Plus, I'm a likkle fortunate that I have a pretty-good ghetto-radar that slaps me back to my senses when I stupidly begin drift-over to the from-foreign-side.

Bottom-Line:::>> Left dem route-taxis alone, unless you've done a LOT of due diligence ---- for example, get a now-LIVING on-island, now-LIVING In-Negril Jamaican route-taxi How-To instructor to ride witcha for 'bout 10-15 rides.

Times have changed in Negril. It AIN'T 1960, 1970, 1980, 19-whatever --- 'tis a new day, with a new *crew*

mi-personally,
have been very lucky & bless-ed:::::::: I've been foolin' around in Negril & Lucea (especially) so long, that this trip I realized I *know* (by sight) almost every-body. ....... have known a bunch of folks way-back when they were sperm cells. ...... this trip something that freaked me out EVERY day was the number of people who KNEW me...!!..

my point:::>>> for me, route taxis are cool ... the process, procedure, protocols, etc etc is too-too simple (to me). But as I reach-back in my memory bank I'm reminded that I-too fumbled around a LOT in the early-learning-stages.

and am STILL fumble-ing (a likkle) <<<<::: an UNDER-statement

this trip,
on more than one occasion
I & my cocky-self was doing *something(s)* that prompted my Lucea-mentor to say:::>>> "..Bill....YOU be careful ... blah blah blah.." [[[always uttered with a stern expression]]]


I've learned that when a Ja-person such as dem, tell me something, then I BETTER dew-wheat.

bottom-line:::>> be careful.

lef dem route taxis alone.
...unless you've got a certificate-of-course-completion

[Kiknback]

.

bottom-line:::>> be careful.

lef dem route taxis alone.
...unless you've got a certificate-of-course-completion

I think that is the best advice I have heard on the topic.

[shalon]

Ok....i love them!!!! I got addicted to taking them once i learned how they operate.i think it is an incredible way of transportation& i love to mingle with the jamaican folks!!! I have had many a good rides in them & will continue 2 in my very near vacation......the best rides in them are the long country rides.........like grange hill to negril.....negril to lucea.........lucea to grange hill.....gawwwwwwwd i miss home.......mi soon come back home..... Hey smith744....."aint country sweet???"......theres a natural mystic blowing thru da air,,,,,tru dat!!!!!

[smith744]

Hey smith744....."aint country sweet???"......theres a natural mystic blowing thru da air,,,,,tru dat!!!!!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

HUSH your mouth, my-youth..!!!..
...let's keep dat info to our-selves

*country* AIN'T designed/set-up for tourist/foreigners
.................dat '.country-sweet.' chat could/would mash-up tings

:-)

[Mike_D]

I agree with booger - taking a route taxi was fun once or twice, but it's definitely worth a a couple extra bucks to have a private ride with my lady and not have to transfer to a different car at the roundabout. Or better yet, call a trusted driver so that you can get picked up at your hotel and not have to stand on the side of the road.

[Dana1]

I agree with booger - taking a route taxi was fun once or twice, but it's definitely worth a a couple extra bucks to have a private ride with my lady and not have to transfer to a different car at the roundabout. Or better yet, call a trusted driver so that you can get picked up at your hotel and not have to stand on the side of the road.

I don't quite understand the "chartering" a route taxi thing....I mean if you're still using a route taxi except not picking up other passengers, could the same situation not happen as it did in Hussyband's experience? You still don't know anything about the driver. How does this make your ride any safer?

[Hussyband]

I guess it could happen, but after our experience, we used chartered taxis suggested by the hotel, and in November, will be using board sponsors.