Quote Originally Posted by Blake View Post
If you need a flat answer, probably 0% because it's irrelevant, the Lilliput route taxi could have been a stolen taxi, it could have been a stolen red plate taxi, it shouldn't make a difference what the plates of the route taxi say. If they're not being regulated enough to provide SAFE transportation for visitors yet they're safe for locals, then something needs to be done.

Sorry but if the only safe transportation you're advocating is private taxis in negril, then tourism is going to suffer considerably.

I for one view isolated incidents as being isolated incidents, if it's as big of a problem as you're making it out to be then there needs to be considerable changes.
"probably 0% because it's irrelevant"? Why is that not relevant? First of all the plates of a route taxi don't say Lilliput the route designation on the side of the vehicle (and sometimes elsewhere) say "To and From locations and Via if a larger town or stop is located somewhere between" as the plates are just Red in Color with numbers. You can have a vehicle that says Lilliput on the side that is no longer a Red Plate because the vehicle was sold to a private party that uses it as a private "White Plate" vehicle.

A local person who was taking a Route Taxi first looks for a Red Plate and probably assumes that if it is a Red Plate then it should be going on that designated route and then check to see if the to and from destinations encompass where they pick it up at. If a Red Plate pulled up and to a local on Norman Manley Blvd and it said Lilliput on the side, they probably wouldn't enter the vehicle. I think that is what Rob means and, yes that is relevant to the discussion.

I don't think anyone would argue that there needs to be considerable changes if tourists want to use this system on a regular basis. It was designed for local use and works quite well in most areas of Jamaica. If you are outside the "tourist areas" you rarely see a tourist riding in a Route Taxi anyways.

When a criminal wants to perpetrate a crime on a tourist they obviously would want to take a rural (Lilliput) taxi into a tourist area like Negril to do so. Kind of like a duck hunter wouldn't go to the desert to hunt ducks would they? Of course not. They would go to the lakes where the ducks are.

Peace and Guidance