Cruise boom bypasses taxis; drivers call for more work
Bridgetown Port taxi operators said Monday that transfer passengers and smaller vessels do not generate enough business despite a rise in cruise ship arrivals.
According to Stephen Clarke, president of Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-operative Society Ltd., the port can accommodate up to five ships daily, but this does not result in increased income for his members.
He said that with five cruise ships but only one big ship and four small ships, 5,000 people could be on board.
Barbados anticipates 698,580 passengers from 398 cruise calls in the 2024/2025 winter season.
But Clarke noted that several ships docking at the port are transfer ships, which rarely use taxis.
“I don’t want people to say that having five cruise ships in today means a lot of work. It’s not. Cruise ships are tiny. Saturday saw five cruise ships, four of which were transfer ships. Clarke explained that port taxi operators don’t get much transfer work.
American cruise ships bring most taxi drivers business, he said. Without regular American ships to Barbados, we won’t get much work. European ships are arriving, but the agent transfers them, not the taxi driver.”
The Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-op Society president said, “People fly home from Barbados after getting off the cruise ship. Our taxi drivers don’t see much of that work. We get some but not most.”
Clarke reported an increase in European ship transfers.
“We’ve seen more European ships than American ships recently. They don’t transfer for American ships coming here. Most of the work will reach us. However, European ships mostly transfer.”
We had a 3,500-person cruise ship on Friday, it affected taxi operators. Half of them will transfer. Cut 3,500 in half to get 1,750. 1,750 passengers divided by Barbados means little work for our drivers.”
Since taxi drivers must accept whatever the industry offers, Clarke is optimistic that business will improve for Christmas and New Year.
We had a poor November compared to previous years. We hope work improves in December or January.”
