Taxi Rates

[Rob]

To clarify a few points...

While I'm not familiar with the whole route taxi history - remember when I first started coming to Negril there were way fewer cars on the road in general - I always looked at like a public transportation type thing - not something that was "designed" for locals as opposed to chartered taxis for tourists. Its just that not many tourists knew about route taxis and like me, who at that time was vacationing in Negril for 2-3 weeks, was turned on to the system by a friend who was a resident of Negril.

The route taxi system IS a public transportation system. It was designed to allow the residents of the island to have an inexpensive yet efficient means of getting to and from work, the stores, etc. It was not created with the ever expanding tourist trade in mind. There was a secondary system created to serve the tourist industry, the charter taxi services.

I've seen and been in many EMPTY route taxis that would be sitting idle if it weren't for the "tourist". The only time you usually see taxis filled with locals are early in the morning and late in the afternoon....the rest of the day, those drivers need to rely on us "tourists" to earn any fares.

This may be your perception, but it is not the truth in the situation. Route taxis dont "sit idle" - they are constantly driving their route - thus the name "route taxi". Route taxis have their route clearly painted on the side of the vehicle. There are only so many route taxis to serve each route so as not to make it unfair for any of the drivers.

Route taxis can be full anytime of the day. By their nature, people hop on and hop off where they want. If a route taxi is turning around to head back the other way on their route, they may wait just a moment or two to see if anyone at the end of the route needs a ride. But if no one comes in a couple minutes, they will then head off on their designated route. If you see someone waiting for a full load before venturing off - they may be a long distance route taxi (such as Negril to Sav) or just a charter taxi capitalizing on the route - which is frowned upon by the true route taxi operators. No route taxi operator relies on tourists, they will accept their fare, but they do not rely on them.

I take the route taxis and pay the same as anyone else. If I tip, I let them know that I do know the proper fare. Yes, we who travel are financially better off than many Jamaicans BUT let us not perpetuate the myth of the RICH FOREIGNER who deserves to be ripped off or fleeced.

This seems to be adding a whole unnecessary element to what is actually a very simple concept. EVERYONE pays the same in a route taxi. There is never any reason to tip - residents do not tip for this standard service. So, in reality, by tipping a route taxi operator you may be inadvertently perpetuating the myth of the rich foreigner spoken of above.

The husband and I were wanting to try route taxis next trip and I had a hard time swallowing that by using them we were somehow cheating a resident out of a ride. Honestly this thread made me really uncomfortable but the less money I spend on rides the more money I spend at vendors on the beach. Damned If I do Damned If I don't. I try hard to spend cash with Jamicans not with middle eastern shop owners.

This also strikes me as an interesting comment. The charter taxi operator is equally Jamaican as the beach vendor - why is paying for the services of one over the other better? And to point out a simple fact, the charter taxi operator has a much higher overhead regarding vehicle payments, maintenance, gas, insurance, licenses, etc., than does the beach vendor. And please remember, that beach vendor is probably wanting to get home as soon as possible and they will be using the route taxi system.

I haven't used the route system before, but I am considering it. To me, it is a form of public transportation akin to the urban bus systems or rails. My family has exclusively used the charter taxis and we took a fleecing. I promise we paid more than we ever did in NOLA, NYC, Miami, etc.! There are obviously many route taxis and I can't see how tourists would take over and keep Jamaicans from having rides. SweetSue nailed it with the term paternalism. I view using the route taxis as contributing to the local economy.

In the larger cities in Jamaica, you will see urban bus systems used for public transportation. For the more rural areas, the route taxi system is used instead as a large scale bus system would be impractical. Simple economics. If you "take a fleecing" on charter taxis, please be aware that you should always negotiate a rate in advance for the charter taxi. If you agree to the price in advance, how could that possibly be a fleecing? If you didnt negotiate a price in advance, now you know to do so and that will eliminate any fleecing issue.

My husband and I recently took our first non all inclusive trip to Negril in December. We stayed on the beach and the very first time trying to go to the cliffs for dinner totally turned us off from making a second trip. Taxi driver who pulled up to us at CCLP wanted US$25. for 2 of us. After reading this board and hearing that we should not pay that much for a taxi we turned him down. Unfortunately we then walked out to the road and used a white plate without realizing it until we got in for our ride back to CCLP after dinner. Round trip was $15. The whole thing just seemed too confusing and stressful to even bother trying it again so the other 8 nights we just dined within walking distance of our hotel or at our hotel. Wouldn't it benefit the businesses on both the beach and cliffs if there was a standard price for beach hotel to cliff restaurant without having to haggle or pay a ridiculous price? We would have certainly made more trips to the cliffs. The point of vacation is to "destress". Not get stressed.

This addresses a great issue that should be discussed a bit more, as route taxis can be stressful in their own way. A uniform pricing has been discussed for years here in Negril, we have taken part in many meetings with the local business owners and discussed this very issue. To be honest, I personally dont see any workable solution to this in the short term, all options have been put on the plate, and there have been downsides to each of the options mentioned. Until the time that a uniform pricing for charter services have been arranged, here is a good way to deal with the situation mentioned above. When you encounter any charter taxi, it is up to the driver to accept your offer or not. If they suggest $25, and you only want to pay $15 - let them know. If they dont accept it, then wait on the next charter driver who will probably be along any second. As a general rule of thumb, if you are inside the resort grounds, you are going to be paying more than if you are picked up on the road. Door to door charter service charges more than road pick ups and drop offs.

But that is the system - route taxis are a system that starts on the street level and gets developed by the people.

This is not accurate. The route taxi system was created by the government in order to address the public transportation needs of the local populace. They are assigned specific routes that they are to adhere to, and charge a set fee for that route. There are a limited number of route taxis assigned to each route so that each driver makes enough to continue operating and making sure the needs of the residents are served.

Living here, both Lisa and I know this whole situation intimately. There are many dynamics involved. I will only cover a few of them, so here goes:

The following example is to provide some simple rational for using charter taxis. Lets say a couple is heading from CCLP to 3-Dives for dinner. A route taxi would currently cost js$200 per person and can involve two separate taxis - one on the beach road and one up the West End and could involve many other stops with passengers getting in and out of the taxis. The cost would be js$400 for the couple or just about us$5 for a one way trip for the couple.

In order to prevent the issues of the multiple taxis, and the various stops with other passengers entering and leaving the vehicle, a charter taxi can be negotiated. Offering a charter us$5 for the trip would obviously be on the low side, since the route taxi can make more money as they can fit up to 5 passengers in the vehicle. So I would start the offer to the charter taxi driver at around us$10 for that approximately 6 mile trip. If you pay us$15 - it is not out of line and there is no fleecing involved, it is a fair deal. You are paying not to have to change taxis, not to make other stops and not to have other passengers in the vehicle. It is a spot to spot private ride.

The example of the mother getting off her job and wanting to get home happens thousands of times a day in Negril. And the reality behind the situation is not always apparent to visitors to the island. The example happens more often than a visitor may think.

And finally, living here we do have a different take on the route taxi. Since we operate a vehicle here, we both feel a bit uncomfortable when we have to take a route taxi and pay the operator that very low rate for their service. We know the cost of operating a vehicle, the route taxi rate seems incredibly low. But once again, the route taxi system was designed to provide affordable transportation for the local population so the rate needs to be low otherwise no one could afford it.