Commuters, cabbies clash over AC in taxis

Commuters are turning up the heat on public passenger vehicle operators who they say are refusing to switch on their air-conditioning (AC) as they load their vehicles.

For Spanish Town resident Sharon, the issue is particularly frustrating after she has to walk approximately 10 minutes from work just to catch a taxi.

“By the time me reach home, me so exhausted from the heat. Like, the heat exhaustion is unbearable,” she said. “Is a hard task fi just turn on the AC when you a load the vehicle? When you’re driving, you roll down the window, then breeze blow and you get likkle breeze and cool down your system. If a even that. But you’re not turning it on at all and we in this hot, hot vehicle. Them something deh will kill you.”

She recalled one encounter when she asked a taxi operator to turn on the AC.

“Him go ask me if me have more money for gas. Tell me how that makes sense?” she recalled.

“We are your passengers. We’re the ones that’s making you make whatever money that you make at the end of the day, whether it’s your vehicle or you have to give the boss the money. Like, it’s us that you depend on for your basic living,” she said.

But one taxi operator in the Spanish Town area has little sympathy for the complaints. He told THE STAR that operating a taxi is already an expensive business and passengers who want the added comfort of AC should be prepared to pay for it.

“If dem want AC, dem go take Uber or inDrive,” he said. “If dem want AC, talk to dem Government to raise the taxi fare.”

The operator argued that passengers do not understand how difficult it is for drivers to earn an honest living while trying to stretch their fuel throughout the working day. His comments come as motorists continue to contend with high fuel costs. Petrojam’s latest pricing schedule, which took effect on August 20, listed 87-octane gasolene at a billing price of $205.80 per litre, up $1.43, while 90-octane stood at $213.48 per litre, an increase of 25 cents. Automotive diesel was listed at $233.50 per litre and ultra-low-sulphur diesel at $253.59, with both increasing by $4.50 per litre.

However, fellow taxi operator Ronald Barry is not buying the argument that passengers must sweat so drivers can save on fuel. Barry said that he runs his AC while his vehicle is loading, keeps it on while transporting passengers and generally uses it throughout his working day. He said he has not noticed the practice significantly affecting his fuel consumption or earnings. He said he knows operators who deliberately avoid using their AC to cut costs, while others simply do not believe passengers should be afforded that comfort. Barry described the practice as unfair.

“Sometimes babymother come in there with baby. Sometimes old people can barely move and them come in there. Mi don’t know how far them a walk from,” he said. Barry said he often sees the exhaustion on passengers’ faces and cannot, in good conscience, leave them sitting in a hot vehicle when he can provide some relief.

“Come on, man. A basic human decency. The time hot and it hot bad. If yuh lock off the AC fi too long, is like the sun a cut through the car roof fi come fi yuh.”

Barry acknowledged that taxi operators have expenses, but said the cost of fuel should not be used as justification for subjecting passengers to uncomfortable conditions.