Un-fare rates

A Sunday Gleaner undercover investigation has unearthed that a high percentage of taxi operators are breaking the law by overcharging commuters on a number of routes across the island.

During the probe that included eight taxi routes across seven parishes – Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, St James, Portland, St Mary and St Thomas –over several days, many taxi operators were caught on our covert cameras overcharging their passengers.

Of the 47 taxi trips included in our survey, 35 rides, or 75 per cent, resulted in members of our investigative team being charged in excess of the fares mandated by the Transport Authority, which regulates the island’s public transportation system.

On one route in St James, an investigative reporter was charged $500 by the route taxi operator, nearly three times the legal fare of $180.

On Thursday, when presented with The Sunday Gleaner’s findings, Merdina Callum, acting corporate communications manager at the Transport Authority, was visibly disheartened, but pledged to tackle the overcharging scourge.

“I’m disturbed, but not daunted. That percentage is too high. It is alarming, but we will fix the problem,” Callum told our news team. “We have to protect the consumers. The system really needs cleaning up. There’s always an issue of overcharging and the fare not being enough. It is systemic. We have to think about how to stem this scourge.”

The Sunday Gleaner probe also uncovered a number of errors regarding routes and fares on the Transport Authority’s website, which is supposed to be the official guide on correct pricing. In a number of instances, two different fares are listed for the same route in separate sections on the website.

When pointed out, Callum admitted that there were errors of fact on the Transport Authority’s website.

“This is major. This cannot be. It means we have to go through with a fine-tooth comb and check everything and have it corrected,” she said.

But it gets worse.

On a section of the website captioned ‘Routes and Fares’, the Transport Authority lists Waltham Park Road to downtown Kingston as one of the routes under its purview in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR). But, in another section showing the August 2021 fare increases, the Waltham Park Road to downtown Kingston route is omitted.

When The Sunday Gleaner inquired about the discrepancy, the Transport Authority advised that the route falls under the ambit of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and should not be on its website, which shows the fare being $110.

When contacted, Cecil Thoms, corporate communications manager at the JUTC, said the fare on the Waltham Park Road to downtown Kingston sub-franchise has never been $110.

Following multiple consultations with the Transport Authority, The Sunday Gleaner was finally able to confirm the correct routes and fares.

According to Callum, after the increase in fares last August, the new rates were manually updated on the website, possibly causing the errors.

INCREASE IN COMPLAINTS

In the meantime, Callum said the Transport Authority has noticed an increase in complaints from passengers about being overcharged.

Between August 2021 and March 2022, the public made 160 reports of overcharging to the regulator, which Callum says also conducts undercover operations to identify, warn and prosecute offending taxi operators.

A Fare Overcharge Report by the Transport Authority showed that it conducted 45 operations/investigations between August 16, 2021, when the latest increase took effect, and March 16 this year. Some 331 warnings were issued to operators in the KMTR, 40 in its southern region, and 25 in the western region.

“Warnings were issued in all cases, as the passengers refused to give a police statement, and there can be no prosecution without a witness statement,” the report said.

It added: “In operations conducted March 7-16, 2022, forty-five (45) vehicles were observed operating as route taxis in the space. Thirty (30) were hackney carriages operating as route taxis; 14 were issued with summonses for prosecution for operating contrary to their licence. Fifteen (15) were white plates without road licence to operate as PPV (public passenger vehicle) – this was based on covert operations.”

Callum said that inspectors used their discretion to determine which operators were warned versus those who were prosecuted.

“What you probably will find is that they’ll probably issue a warning to one person two, three times, and it now becomes untenable, … so we are going to serve you a summons. We are really trying to have a relationship with our operators, so we are not taking this draconian [approach] where, as we catch you, you get a summons.”

A zero-tolerance approach and a move to prosecute all offenders, the acting corporate communications manager, would be way more costly.

“It comes down to going to court. It cost you more to go to court and then the fee is so little bit that they go back to doing it,” she said.

However, Callum told The Sunday Gleaner that the updated Road Traffic Act should have stiffer penalties for such breaches.

UNAWARE OF CORRECT FARE

While at the Transport Authority’s 107 Maxfield Avenue, St Andrew, offices last week, The Sunday Gleaner caught up with Raymond Bynes, president of the All Island United Route Taxi Association, which represents operators in Kingston and St Andrew.

He is also the owner of a route taxi that operates on the Half-Way Tree to Maxfield Avenue route, which he says charges passengers $120 per trip, after initially positing that the correct fare was $135.

The fare set by the Transport Authority for that route is $110. And the Transport Authority advised that a fare table with the August 2021 new rates, which was published in The Sunday Gleaner, was also sent to the various taxi associations.

However, Bynes said he did not receive that bulletin, adding that he was not aware that passengers were being overcharged on the Half-Way Tree to Maxfield route when informed of our findings.

“I am not aware of it and if you go back into history, there was a $120 fare that was applied to the Maxfield taxis before this 15 per cent added on by Mr Montague,” he said, referring to former Transport Minister Robert Montague.

It appeared Bynes believed that the rate increase granted to the JUTC and its sub-franchise holders in 2014 was to be applied to all public passenger operators.

The JUTC communications boss told The Sunday Gleaner that at that time, the fare to be charged by JUTC buses and its sub-franchise holders for that route was increased from $100 to $120.

“What we really need is a clarification on the fare across the board, period. And, then everything would be straightened out,” Bynes said.

Taxi operators have been calling for a further fare increase, especially in light of the constant increase of petroleum. The recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia has further exacerbated the problem.

Last month, newly appointed Minister of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw stated that there will be an increase in bus and taxi fares in the “near future”, at the same time warning PPV operators to desist from increasing fares independently.

Responding at the time to reports of numerous complaints from commuters about being overcharged, Shaw said, “We cannot allow for that. It is illegal and will not be tolerated. The same crunch that you are feeling, the entire economy is feeling, in particular persons who depend on public transportation on a daily basis. The Transport Authority and the police will be doubling efforts to clamp down on overcharging.”

The minister said daily reports have been received about price gouging and licence plates and badge numbers of operators who indulge in the illegal act have been submitted.

The Sunday Gleaner was unable to get a comment from Shaw on the findings of our probe, as yesterday several calls to his phones failed.

Commuters are encouraged to report overcharging to the Transport Authority at 888-991-5687 or WhatsApp 876-551-8196.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

SUNDAY GLEANER FINDINGS

ROUTE APPROVED ACTUAL NO. OF

FARE CHARGE TRIPS

Half-Way Tree – Maxfield Avenue $110 $120 2

**Waltham Park Road – Downtown Kgn $110 $150 4

Greater Portmore – Portmore Mall $140 $140 2

Westchester – Portmore Mall $115 $120/$150*

Ironshore – Montego Bay $140 $180/$500* 5

Yallahs – Morant Bay $200 $200 10

Boston – Port Antonio $180 $200 10

Buff Bay – Annotto Bay $185 $190/$200 10

*Fares charged ‘after hours’

**JUTC sub-franchise

N.B.: Children, students (in uniform), physically disabled and senior citizens should pay half the fare set by the Transport Authority (TA) for each of its routes.