‘I don’t blame the taxi drivers’ Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

A number of commuters, though unable to carry out most of their normal functions due to their inability to get around, are in support of the islandwide strike by taxi operators.

They believe that the Government knew well in advance that the protest was coming and could have prevented it from happening.

“The Government is at all fault in this one. If they had cared about us, they would have listened to the cry of the taximen before it reached this stage,” Mitzi Lennon told Loop News on Monday.

Lennon, a nurse from Manchester, had to make alternative preparations to get her children to school Monday morning and will have to take time off work to take them home in the evening.

“Yes, taximen make mistakes; they may forget to pay or don’t have the money to pay for the tickets they get. We like to say that they are indisciplined, but many times they get tickets while helping out passengers and some of the police write tickets for an exorbitant amount of monies,” she said.

A group of transport operators hold placards in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew on Monday after withdrawing their services as they call for a traffic ticket amnesty from the authorities.

Sixty-seven-year-old Bethune Weeks, who is in Greater Portmore, also supports the action taken by the transport operators.

“The government could have asked the taxi drivers to stay their hands and work something out long time, but everybody is playing hardnose,” she said.

The retiree, whose appearance belies her age, said that she is fit and will walk to do what she has to get done on Monday.

“I’m at the ATM as you see, when I’m done, I will walk to where I need to do my other chores and try to get things done before the sun gets too hot. I don’t blame the taxi drivers,” she said.

In Portmore, St Catherine, some people who were at bus stops for a few hours returned home.

“I’m going home. There is nothing I can do. I can’t get any vehicle, and the JUTC buses have not come either. I heard that the taxi drivers wanted some deadline to pay off their tickets but they didn’t get it, so this is what happened. I feel that they could give them the time like how they know that if the taxis came off the road it would have a bad effect on us,” a Convent of Mercy Academy ‘Alpha’ student told Loop News Monday morning.

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