Hire car operators protest change in water taxi schedule

Sep 03, 2016 News

Hire car drivers operating from the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling picketed the Transport and Harbours Department after that entity rescheduled the times that water taxis will be operating across the Berbice River.

The protesting hire car drivers.

A notice was placed earlier in the week indicating that as from September 1, the speedboat service will operate from 06:00h until 09:00h and then again from 14:30 until 18:00h.
Previously the service operated between 06:00h and 18:00h.
Kirk Lagoudou, one of the drivers stated that the notice given was too short.
”They put up the notice Wednesday. They did not come and inform us in advance about the change or nothing. School near open and we have kids we have to send to school.”
According to Lagoudou, pensioners will be adversely affected with the new hours of operation since they are given a free cross. He noted that the mini buses charge a fee of $300 per trip while the water taxi fare is $120.
Meanwhile, operating from the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling is considered a profitable route for hire car drivers who charge $140 per trip around the town compared to a charge of $100 while operating from other parts of the town.
After the ferry service was scrapped, and the Berbice River Bridge was the only means of crossing the river, economic activity slowed down in the town, business in the vicinity of the stelling came to a standstill.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News