ITH tourist arrivals plummeting, the taxi industry on Saipan has been directly affected and revenue has been declining steadily over the years.
“When the tourism numbers go down, we go down like all the other businesses that are dependent on tourism and that has been happening for the past years,” said Saipan City Taxi Association founder Rabby Syed, a taxi driver for the past 10 years now.
He said one of the factors why the tourist numbers continue to drop is because the CNMI lacks the product to market itself in Japan, Korea and other countries.
He said the ailing global economy is not the reason for the decreasing numbers in the local tourism industry.
“The reason is we don’t have the products to offer to the tourists, so they would rather go to Guam, Hawaii or other places to spend their vacation and their money,” Syed said.
He said this is one factor that the administration and the Marianas Visitors Authority must look into.
“The government is spending thousands of dollars each year promoting the CNMI to other countries, but they have not really looked at what the tourists’ needs are,” he said.
As a family-oriented destination, Syed said Saipan does not even have entertainment facilities for children.
“As taxi drivers, we know lots of families with children come here, but there’s nothing to occupy the children’s times,” he said.
“The administration lacks something that we taxi drivers have — the chance and access to talk directly with the tourists,” Syed added.
Voices from the other side
Operating along with the legal taxis are the illegal taxis that cater to the transportation needs of mostly resident passengers.
One phone call is all it takes, a 5-15 minute wait, depending on where the illegal taxi is stationed, and transportation is available to deliver you to your destination at a much lower rate than the legal taxis.
The flag down rates for the legal taxis is $2.50 for the first five miles, and 75 cents for every succeeding quarter mile. This translates to about $20 fare rate from Garapan to the airport, but Syed said they are giving 50 percent discount based on the rate meter to local passengers.
While legal taxis are mainly tourist-oriented, the illegal taxi operators are serving mostly resident clients.
Illegal taxis offer much lower fare rates, such as a flat $3 rate from Dandan to Garapan and offer promotions where regular customers are given cards that the drivers will mark out each time you call them for a ride. Some taxi companies offer the sixth or eighth ride free and you will be given another card to fill up.
Not a threat
Syed said illegal taxis are not a threat to the operations of the legal taxis, but they should also be regulated.
“We are not just taxi drivers. We are tour aides who can do a lot to promote the CNMI to the world,” he added.
He said taxi drivers should follow certain standards as front liners in the tourism industry such as being well-groomed, well-informed and trained in customer relations.
“As taxi drivers, we have access and direct contact with the tourists, and we are the first point of contact as soon as they arrive at the airport so it is important that each taxi driver knows what his duties and responsibilities are,” Syed said.
Industry challenges
Both legal and illegal taxi operators face similar challenges from passengers who sometimes refuse to pay them.
Several taxi drivers said some passengers would ask them to wait outside while the passenger gets money from their house but after waiting for a long time, the drivers would not see their passengers again.
“It happens all the time. People, men or women, young or old, will call to pick them up, deliver them to some remote house and never pay us. Sometimes they even tell us to go to court if we insist on asking for the fare,” the drivers said.
Syed said the administration should look at the taxi industry as a partner to boost the tourism industry.
