WITH no word yet on when the taxi base system will be reinstated, concerns over its return continue to plague operators.
Former Fiji Taxi Association assistant general secretary Mohammed Salim said consultations needed to be carried out with taxi drivers and industry stakeholders.
“The open rank system allowed every operator to pick up customers from anywhere and what was more important was that customers were being provided a service,” Mr Salim said.
“The problem right now is that we are more business-driven than service-driven. A taxi is a service.
“Having a base system will only benefit a certain group of people.”
Mr Salim said he was concerned that there had yet to be any consultations on the reinstatement of the taxi base system.
“We need to discuss this. There was a problem with the base system and there were issues as well with the zone taxi system.
“For Lautoka alone, giving out that large number of taxi permits for zone taxis was not right and in my opinion, too many drivers were given permits.
“And even though we have that big number of taxis in Lautoka, if you go to the supermarket on a Friday after 5.30pm, you will hardly find a taxi because they are stuck in traffic or drivers who don’t want to work late into the night were given permits.
“So, before any reinstatement is done, we should talk about and address our current problems.”
