Taxi Operators and Golf Cart Rental at Odds in San Pedro

Tensions are heating up in San Pedro as taxi operators clash with golf cart rental businesses over customers at the island’s entry points. Taxi drivers are frustrated, claiming that golf cart rentals are poaching their customers and cutting into their income. On the other hand, rental operators argue they’re providing a more affordable service, even though their licenses say they should only operate from their offices. News Five’s Paul Lopez visited the island today to get the full story. Here’s what he discovered.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Surveillance cameras outside the municipal airport in San Pedro caught a group of men in a couple of heated brawls. These clashes are the latest flare-ups in the ongoing feud between taxi drivers and golf cart rental businesses.

 

Emir Vega, President, San Pedro Taxi Federation

“This started three years ago, we have been disputing on what is the taxi industry. We have been having controversies with golf cart rentals. The golf cart companies basically pick up at any port of entry, whether it is the airstrip, water taxis.”

 

Vega leads a taxi federation that includes ten associations and over two hundred members. He argues that golf cart rental companies are stationing their staff at entry points to snag customers, even though their trade licenses clearly state they should only operate from their registered offices.

 

Emir Vega

“They are doing soliciting, which is illegal, to start with. Whenever they come here, they try to sell a golf cart, when we know the trade license specified them to work from their office locations, specific locations. Then the taxi drivers we are a public service, and the ones expected to do the transportation for our visitors and local people, visitors to their different accommodations. We are to stay in a fight.”

 

According to Vega, it’s perfectly legal for golf cart rentals to pick up customers from entry points if they’ve prebooked. However, it’s against the rules for these companies to hang around and solicit customers on the spot. There’s also the issue of vehicle capacity. News Five has received several videos and images showing golf carts overloaded with luggage and passengers. In one case, a tourist’s luggage even fell off a cart! Meanwhile, taxi operators on the island use spacious mini vans that can comfortably carry both passengers and their belongings. One rental operator, speaking off the record, claimed they offer a much cheaper service than the taxis.

 

Emir Vega

“I can say they are taking the bread out of our table. All that is supposed to be our work they are taking over and sometimes when they do solicit and they cannot rent a golf cart they offer a taxi run to say ey I can take you for a five bucks. They can do that because they do not pay the fees that a taxi service pays.”

 

A visit to San Pedro Belize Express water taxi’s new location provided a firsthand look at the situation. Taxis line the streets here, while rental golf carts are scattered around the property. One enterprising operator has even set up shop right at the water taxi terminal. Mayor Wally Nunez says they are operating illegally from that location.

 

Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro

“The had also applied at the council to relocate their office. We had also expressed to them that the trade license will not be able to be relocated there because that takes a process. Whenever you are going to change your address for business purposes you have to apply before. They didn’t apply before. So, we will not be able to grant them a trade license in that location. We don’t want to encourage any golf cart rentals to be moving office there because it will create a problem with other golfcart rentals and the taxis. I understand they want to open a snack shop. If they do that, they still need a trade license. I have asked the police to check with them. If they don’t have a trade license they will have to shut down.”

 

Mayor Nunez and Area Representative Andre Perez met with federation members this morning after rumors of a protest began circulating. Mayor Nunez assured us that his council is striving to find a solution that benefits everyone involved. This afternoon, he also met with representatives from the water taxi company in Belize City. But is this just a symptom of a bigger problem? Could the island be facing an oversaturation of golf cart rentals and taxi operators? We posed this question to Area Representative Andre Perez.

 

Andre Perez, Area Rep., Belize Rural South

“I have to agree with you that yes indeed it is one of the symptoms affecting us with the oversaturation of golfcarts on a whole. With the proliferation of many golf cart rental companies coming in. It also has to do with the demand. We have to understand that there is this tourism product that tourists come and one of their experience is the novelty of driving around in a golfcart. They are not use to it. It is only available to them in the U.S. if they go on a golf course. So, that in itself is part of the experience. So, we have to work along with them that they want to ride a golf cart or arriving at the port of entry, getting immediately into one. But we have to find a balance. We cannot displace the taxi people.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez