Com­muters trav­el­ling out of San­gre Grande this morn­ing who de­pend­ed on maxi taxis for trans­porta­tion were forced to use PTSC bus­es, sev­en-seater taxis and com­mer­cial taxis as maxi taxi op­er­a­tors be­gan a three-day protest to­day.

When Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the maxi taxi hub on Brier­ley Street and the East­ern Main Road, there were no maxi taxis in op­er­a­tion. The lo­ca­tions from which the red-band maxi taxis nor­mal­ly op­er­ate were emp­ty.

The op­er­a­tors are protest­ing for au­thor­i­ties to in­crease the high­way speed lim­it for maxi taxis from 65 km/h to 80 km/h, ad­dress es­ca­lat­ing crime af­fect­ing op­er­a­tors and pas­sen­gers, crack down on il­le­gal PH taxi op­er­a­tors, pay out­stand­ing monies owed to dri­vers for trans­port­ing school­child­ren, up­grade and im­prove maxi taxi hubs and ter­mi­nals, cre­ate a sys­tem to al­low op­er­a­tors to make NIS con­tri­bu­tions, and de­liv­er on com­mit­ments made dur­ing meet­ings with trans­port of­fi­cials.