PH fears

We also recall the recent murder of Brazil schoolgirl Rachael Ramkissoon, 16, in seeking alternative transport after missing her regular school bus, and recent claims at a Police Service town meeting in Morvant that a serial rapist is posing as a PH driver.

The fact is that once you are in a car you are virtually at the mercy of the driver, even as the Arouca victim managed to escape by throwing herself from the moving vehicle.

However, we must also guard against superficial, knee-jerk reactions.

Anyone reading the victim’s account of her fears of ending up in the grip of an alleged kidnaping ring will surely be moved to call for a curbing or even elimination of the PH trade, but does a crackdown amount to using a sledgehammer when in fact a surgeon’s scalpel would be more apt? This does not by any means take away from the deep fear that the Arouca woman may have felt on being taken off the route that led to where she was going. Her alertness is an example for all.

The PH trade in and of itself is not inherently evil, and we would like to think that the priority of most drivers is to make an honest dollar by providing a much-needed service to populations living in areas that are under-serviced by traditional and regulated modes of transport.

It is also a productive pursuit and a ready source of income to people otherwise disadvantaged by the likes of immigrant status and under-education.

So, how does one protect the travelling public, while allowing the laws of demand and supply to operate in the provision of local, off-route transport? It seems to us that the PH issue must be disaggregated.

Firstly, what are the disincentives to drivers registering as an “H” for hire taxi? Is it cost, bureaucracy, stigma, poor roadworthiness of vehicles, inability to comply with police certificates of good character and/or motor insurance provisions? Secondly, what is the legal “mischief ” arising from PH cars that must be remedied? While the recent debate over whether Uber can operate in TT lawfully is likely being driven by the Government’s concerns over the threat of lost revenues from this private service, the greater concern in the public’s mind over the Uber or “PH” phenomenon is surely passenger safety.

An overall clampdown on PH drivers could well provoke widespread alienation among precisely those people who are the eyes and ears of their local communities, even as the criminal element simply shifts its theatre of operations into another guise. A better idea might be the installation of CCTV cameras at every taxi/PH taxi hub to deter criminals.

This is not a new issue but one that rears up every few years, especially after an abduction. Former transport minister Jack Warner had proposed a sticker to identify approved PH cars, but that suggestion petered out. We recall that in 2010, PH drivers formed themselves into an Auxiliary Transport Association, but which was vigorously opposed, curiously enough, by at least one maxi-taxi association.

As of present it is up to the stranded individual traveller to use his/her discretion as to whether to set foot in a PH car. Most times the traveller is safely conveyed to their destination, but sadly there are sufficient criminals posing as drivers to continue to raise periodic alarm in the population.

While we offer some concerns and solutions, others such as the police, the public and the drivers themselves must engage to forge a proper way forward, including regulations governing the PH trade.