Taxis light up the night
Waving a taxi in some of the darkest parts of the city can be frustrating, not to mention hard on the eyes. Not for long say taximen, who are planning to light your way. Jose Sanchez reports.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
It seems that the only way to identify a taxi is by its green plates and if it looks like an old station wagon. That, however, may soon be changing as some taxi operators are lighting up their cars.
Floyd Hamilton, Taxidriver
“Well I put on the lights from since the first week of November. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of improvement especially in the night. People see the yellow light coming from a distance and they already know that it’s official and they don’t have to take any chances, so they started flogging it down. I see a lot of improvement.”
The Minister of Tourism, Mark Espat, also believes that it’s time to upgrade the service.
Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism
“The whole development of the land taxi sector is an important on for us. We hope that later this year, we will start a special tourism training project that will involve training all sectors including land taxis. The identification of the taxi is very important to visitors and I suppose to Belizeans as well because it gives you a sense of security when you know that a particular symbol represents a taxi association. We’re used to the green plates, but I certainly think that we need to do something more significant, something that’s more identifiable.”
One of the taxi operators who has done everything to make his car easier to identify is Charles Perez of Charly’s Courier and Taxi Service, who has fashioned his taxi after the United States yellow cabs.
Charles Perez, Charly’s Courier Service
“I’ve noticed that most taxi’s in the states are identifiable. Either they’re yellow cabs or whatever, or they have the identification mark on the top. I decided that for me to be successful people need to know that a taxi is coming. Sometimes the light is so bright and there’s light coming from behind, so you won’t be able to say this is a taxi. It’s not until you get directly in front of the person that they would wave you down, then another taxi would come from behind and you lose. So be having that on top and luminating it, people are able to see in the day time that a taxi is coming and also at night.”
Anton Gordon, Taxidriver
“Well I have it on about six months since I started doing the business.”
Jose Sanchez
“Has there been any improvements in the type of jobs you get?”
Anton Gordon
“Of course because The light is international.”
Mark Espat
“There is a lot of work we need to do in that sector, not just in terms of identifying which vehicles are taxis. We also have to do a lot of work in training and in affording taxi operators the opportunity to upgrade the quality of their vehicles. Right now we are discussing a program with the Small Farmers and Business Bank, which we hope to get off the ground this year. That will allow individual taxis to be able to upgrade their vehicle, to be able to welcome tourists in a more professional way, and the only way we can do so is by providing training.”
But while the training and loans are being sorted out, technology has enabled taxi operators to be more accessible to their clients.
Anton Gordon
“Excuse me while I answer this phone. Hello…”
Jose Sanchez
“In addition to the lights taximen are also using cellphones to reach customers. So maybe the taxi service is improving in Belize. Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.”
