TAXI drivers held a 24-hour strike this week, temporarily blocking access to the island’s airports and ports in protest at the ‘unfair’ competition they claim is driving them out of business.
The unfair competition they have singled out is the bus service, which for the last year has been shuttling passengers back and forth to the island’s airports from its main cities, as well as the increasing number of minibuses and what they claim are illegal unlicensed taxis.
Effectively, what they want is a return to the monopoly they once held over routes from the airport to the rest of the island. One almost suspects they would want the government to ban all vehicles but their own from approaching the airport – a suspicion not so far fetched when one considers the frequently reported case of intimidation (verging on downright assault) of people collecting friends at Paphos airport, on the accusation that they were operating illegal free-lance taxi services.
The taxi drivers claim their earnings are down 85 per cent and that the government has “murdered 300 families in Larnaca alone”. The first claim may or may not be true. But it is irrelevant, because airport taxis’ earnings prior to the introduction of the bus service were based on an unacceptable monopoly.
Since its introduction, the bus service has proved a roaring success – and so it should be, at a fraction of the price it costs to take a taxi to the airport (€7 from Nicosia as opposed to €45 for a taxi). Are the taxi drivers seriously suggesting the government should turn the clock back, penalising the interests of thousands of travellers for the sake of a few dozen?
At their protest on Tuesday, the cabbies even had the cheek to claim that in the rest of Europe, buses are only allowed to take people to town centres, not directly to airports, calling on the government to do the same to ensure passengers would then have to take taxis from the town centres to the airports.
Such claims are complete rubbish. Even with the new bus service, passengers using the airport in Cyprus still have far fewer public transport options than anywhere else in Europe. The vast majority of European airports have both bus and metro links to city centres, while some even have mainline railway stations taking passengers straight to destinations in other parts of the country. So if anything, it is the travelling public who should actually be demanding an extension of the service, with an increased frequency of buses serving a greater number of destinations.
At a time when everyone is complaining of high prices, it is simply disgraceful that anyone should even contemplate demanding that the government should scrap a measure that has allowed the public access to a cheaper service. Indeed, it is precisely this kind of closed shop, which also strangles the island’s main port and haulage industry, that holds Cypriot consumers hostage to high prices so that a privileged few can continue to enjoy the fruits of their monopoly.
Thankfully, the government has said it will not give in to the taxi drivers’ demands – and given AKEL’s commitment to a ‘people friendly’ agenda, we are inclined to believe them. But it’s hard not to see this as a shot across the bows as the government prepares a major extension of public transport in the island’s main towns. A comprehensive public transport system would hit taxi drivers much, much harder than the relatively minor experiment at the island’s airports, and it’s hard to see the cabbies take it lying down. If they are willing to resort to violence and destruction of property to drive a few rickshaws off the road in tourist resorts, how will they react to the kind of public transport system available to the public across the rest of Europe?
There is no doubt that taxi drivers are facing tough times. The staggering investment of their professional licence, on top of the costs of their vehicles, maintenance and fuel, mean they are under tremendous pressure to make ends meet. But that is no reason to force the rest of us to pay through the nose for their services – especially at a time of economic hardship.
Of course, the government could slash the cost of the professional licence and liberalise the sector, taking the pressure off cabbies and ensuring that the number of taxis on the road matches demand for their services. Together with the introduction of proper public transport, this would really be good news for the consumer. But while taxi drivers complain about the pressure to recoup their investment on the licence, the last thing they want is for it to become worthless. If competition from public transport is cause for war, competition within the industry is simply inconceivable.
