I love route taxis

[Blake]

Blake,
I now feel the same about the visitors using unfamiliar route taxis as more incidents occurred last year and one exact example from Negril veterans has been relayed here for all to learn from. It is not fear mongering, it is more of a case of a common sense safety issue. For visitors, I no longer can feel comfortable advising them to use a system that they are not familiar with and that was not designed to transport them in the first place.

Perhaps it's time for Negril to consider improving the transit system in place then, if the only SAFE solution for visitors is to take private cabs, that's not a solution, it's a bandaid and results in only a few "reliable" cab drivers being used.

Can the system be improved? Of course it can. Can standard rates be set and enforced for charter drivers? Possibly but very unlikely since Jamaica is one of the most capitalistic societies on the planet. Will there be a true mass transit system set up for Negril in the future? Of course there will be. But until that happens, just as until the unlit areas of the beach are lit up at night, I cannot responsibly recommend that visitors to our island use a route taxi system of which they have little or no knowledge.

Why is it so hard to have set prices for the services rendered? I would NEVER run a business where I was not upfront with my customers about the prices for services/products rendered. If cab drivers want to be taken seriously they need to set prices that are easy for customers to understand instead of hoping that the customer doesn't want to negotiate their "stated" rates.

Blake - now a question for you - how many, what percentage of visitors to Negril would read and know what the "Lilliput" marking on the route taxi meant and would know not to use that route taxi? The percentage of Jamaicans in Negril who would know not to get into that route taxi would be very close to 100%. If you feel the percentage of visitors would be rather small, then you know the reason why I do not feel comfortable recommending visitors using the route taxi system.

I would say about the same percentage of people visiting the DC area region that are familiar with the taxi cab system, zones,bus systems, or whatever mode of transportation they choose to use.

YES, there are risks associated with each transportation system, that doesn't mean they should be considered UNSAFE to use by visitors. People get mugged on buses in the US, that doesn't mean I won't advocate taking a bus because the inherent risk is minimal once you put it in perspective of the number of people using said transportation systems.

In my opinion you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater by saying route taxis aren't safe based on "incidents" that are newsworthy, they're newsworthy because they are NOT an everyday occurrence.

Please consider it logically, even if every single person visiting Negril uses private cabs it will just "force" the bad apples to change how they operate, instead of being robbed in a cab they'll be robbed waiting for the cab.

The "Lilliput" cab was most likely stolen, even if it was a Negril cab locals or visitors would not necessarily be safe knowing where the cab is from.

How many incidents would you say have occurred on the entire island in the past year out of the 3 millions of visitors to Jamaica?