Legislation Afoot to Place Taxicab Commission Back Under DLCA; Governor Expresses Support for Uber, Lyft in USVI

During the Consortium’s wide-ranging exclusive interview with Governor Albert Bryan Jr. on Thursday, discussion turned to the subject of the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission, which has been criticized for months by lawmakers and industry stakeholders for its dysfunctional operations.

Requests have been pouring in from senators, taxi drivers and commissioners themselves for the governor to take immediate steps to either renew the appointments of board members whose tenures have long lapsed, or immediately appoint new people to the board who will have a fresh mandate to make much-needed decisions.

However, Governor Bryan on Thursday disclosed that he is anticipating a much larger fix: “We’re actually waiting on legislation to put it back into the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs,” he announced. “We’ve been talking to a couple senators on it.”

Mr. Bryan believes that the current structure of the commission is unnecessary. “We don’t need a whole board and a commission for this. We just need a department under [the DLCA].” He said that discussions were being had about how the new structure would look. “Do we have a commission as something that just decides things like tariffs, and rules and regulations, but direct control of what goes on on a day-to-day basis, being operated under DLCA,” he hypothesized, noting that that would be his preference. Despite the intention, Governor Bryan acknowledged that in the interim, “there may be a need to get a new board.”