Over 60 taxi operators who ply the Guys Hill, Linstead, and Redwood routes in St Catherine withdrew their services this morning to protest against deplorable road conditions. 

The protest forced commuters to walk long distances to reach their destinations.

The placard-bearing operators, who did not block roadways, expressed frustration with the state of the roads that they have to traverse.

The cabbies shared that the poor road conditions have led to their vehicles being damaged and that they are hard pressed to continue to bear the cost of repairs.

"The road a beat we bad, too much front end parts, we can't manage this," said one taxi driver.

He stated that he regularly spends $40,000 to fix the front end of his vehicle because the rough roads cause it to get damaged frequently.

The protest also saw support from some commuters who echoed the drivers' concerns.

They expressed frustration about the difficulty of getting taxis, especially at night.

According to the commuters, taxi drivers have become hesitant to operate at night out of fear of being robbed when they have to slow down significantly at the worst spots of the roads.

The police were on the scene and reported that the protest was incident-free.

- Ruddy Mathison

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