A dispute has emerged between the Ministry of Transport and the Bahamas Taxi Union and a group of taxi drivers seeking to promote the offering of credit card payment services to visitors using taxis in The Bahamas.
John McPhee, owner of Bahamas Taxi, said that two and a half years into offering the ability to pay by credit card to his customers, he has found that the service has been very popular among those who have used it. However, the same cannot be said for his and other drivers' efforts to promote the service to visitors.
According to McPhee, attempts by taxi drivers who have invested in this system to highlight the existence of the credit-card-based taxi services to visitors at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) by means of hand-held signs at the airport, as well as efforts to call for more permanent signage that would advise guests that their services exist, have been thwarted by the Bahamas Taxi Union and the Ministry of Transport.
McPhee suggested the move was anti-progressive and political, allowing the union to sway policy on this front in order to benefit the cash-based taxi drivers in place of the customers who were seeking this service.
However, a government official has responded by arguing that the credit card taxis were asking for signage which would have left the airport "cluttered" and have countered what the Ministry of Transport has hired individuals who, when giving ground transport advice to incoming visitors, will advise them of the credit-card-based taxi services.
According to McPhee, around "1 in 150" taxis offers the credit card based payment service, which is particularly appealing to visitors who may be more used to using credit-based payment in their own countries, and in particular, corporate visitors who may be using corporate credit cards to charge business-related costs back to their company.
In order to implement the credit card service, taxi drivers must obtain a business license and get a merchant account from a local bank, in addition to the necessary equipment for their vehicles.
"When we first started my concept was that when you walk out of the airport to have a sign placed that would allow people to know they know they now have the choice to pay by cash or credit card," said McPhee.
"However, no one was willing to partner with us to allow any signage to be placed, or for us to hold our own signs.
"Notwithstanding the recent reports on Mastercard and American Express talking about their growth in The Bahamas market we've had a very, very, difficult time with the Ministry of Transport getting the information out to the visitors.
"The Ministry of Transport got together and made it official that we should not be visible and the only time customers should know about us if they get in our car and they find out that we offer the service that way."
Phillip Turner, Controller of the Road Traffic, to whom this newspaper was directed for comment by Minister of Transport, Glenys Hanna-Martin, said that the ministry was keen to see the "clutter" of signs at the exit of the airport kept to a minimum.
He added that there is a long-established "call-up" system that allows taxi drivers to queue for customers at the airport, and it was not felt that there was a need to alter this system for the benefit of the credit card-based drivers.
"There has been tremendous opposition from taxi drivers to this group of people who want to be treated separate and apart and outside of the existing system," he said.
"The position is this: there is one line and drivers put their numbers on the board and if someone wants that service someone will be called out of the line to provide that service.
"With respect to holding the separate sign outside the door we wanted to minimize signs altogether. It is tacky and not advised by airport authority with such a new airport that there were sufficient signs to arriving visitors. Additionally the government has hired people called 'Starters' who will provide information at the door about ground transportation."
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