By CAROL MATROO Saturday, October 24 2009

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Route 2 Maxi taxi President Linus Phillip and a driver at the drain at City Gate where an iron grille covering it came loose ...

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FOR SEVERAL hours yesterday, maxi-taxi drivers withheld their service in protest as operations at City Gate on South Quay in Port-of-Spain came to a screeching halt after a 12-seater maxi was damaged by an improperly secured metal grille which covers a drain.

Instead of driving into the hub, drivers dropped off passengers at the edge of the East Dry River along the Priority Bus Route and commuters were forced to walk the rest of the way to the city. Most did not know what was happening.

At about 4 pm, officials placed some steel sheets over the manhole with Maxi Taxi Association president Linus Phillip warning that if nothing is done to put a permanent, fixed covering over the manhole, by next Wednesday, the hub would be shut down. Service resumed yesterday in time for the afternoon/evening rush hour.

At about 6.35 am yesterday, maxi taxi operator Miguel John, after dropping off his passengers and returning to the loading bay, drove his maxi over the drain which snakes across the access road to the hub. As his front tyre went over the grille, a sheet which was not secured to the ends of the drain, rose up with the weight of the vehicle and struck the transmission causing major damage to the engine.

John said this was not the first time such an incident had happened but assured it would be the last, since drivers are fed up of incurring repair expenses because of these unsecured grilles.

Owner of the damaged maxi taxi Yoganand Sookdeo said he expects the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to cover the full cost of repairs to his vehicle. “From what I’ve heard, this has happened before. So, if they keep doing this, why are we paying money to use these facilities and they are not doing anything to maintain the facilities and secure these metal grilles?” he asked.

Association head Phillip said it cost between $18,000 to $20,000 to repair a maxi taxi engine and transmission. “This is my job. Without driving this maxi, I am on the breadline,” John said.

“We have a problem with the customer service representative (CSR), they are the ones who control the operation of the maxis, directing them to where they’re supposed to go.

Sometimes we have no CSRs on the compound and we have to call management to tell them we have no CSR. The compound just working on automatic. Some of the errant drivers do the other drivers what they want,” Phillip complained.