Taxi Turf War: St. Croix Drivers Clash with Unlicensed Rivals Amid Industry Crisis

Stakeholders in the taxi industry convened on Friday evening for the final iteration of a series of townhall meetings intended to discuss the state of the Taxicab Commission, the industry’s governing body.

Like the previous meetings on St. Thomas and St. John, the taxi community on St. Croix expressed trepidation at the thought that ride-sharing companies could gain a toehold in the territory’s transportation sector, emboldened by the lack of effective regulation and enforcement in the industry.

Samuel Ferdinand, who told meeting attendees that he’d been in the taxi business for more than three decades, said that there have been a lot of “disturbances in the taxi industry” over the past few years, especially “with these guys calling themselves Uber.”

Mr. Ferdinand said that now, hotels are encouraging front desk staff to call non-licensed drivers to pick up fares. “They are bold enough to be coming in front of us and picking up people, and then cuss us when we talk to them about illegal taxi driving,” he said, noting that many who do this point to the lack of any enforcement officers who could stop the practice.