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Cabs to reduce DFS-bound fares
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Posted on Oct 06 2008
Taxi drivers are rallying to support DFS Saipan with a plan to lower fares for customers in need of a ride to its Garapan shopping complex after economic troubles forced the company last month to drop a program that gave them a commission for giving its customers a lift.
In an interview Monday, Rabby Syed, president of the Saipan City Taxi Association, said the organization’s members and some affiliated drivers plan to reduce fares to DFS by 50 percent on trips that cost more than $5. The rate change applies on fares from 10am to 10:30pm, he said.
“With this experiment, we want to see how this makes a difference in our industry,” Syed said. “We’re trying to support our industry, support the DFS enterprise and work together to make a difference.”
By drawing more customers to DFS, Syed said taxi drivers are hoping to give the shopping center a financial boost that could help it cope with the CNMI’s economic downturn.
DFS last month announced in a memo to taxi drivers that due to the “continuing decline of our island’s economy” it had to suspend a program that gave them a commission for driving customers to the shopping center. This cost-cutting measure has taken a severe toll on the income of many cab drivers. According to Syed, some of them had relied on the DFS commissions for 90 percent of their revenue.
“We’re seeing that it’s having a very big impact on our taxi industry,” he said. “We cannot get the revenue we once saw. At the same time, we also understand DFS’s position.”
With the new price plan for fares to DFS, Syed noted that, for example, a ride there from the Pacific Islands Club, now a $20 trip, would cost $10, a price that could prove more affordable than one from any of the scores of black market taxis that operate on Saipan.
“Our taxis can carry four people, so that’s $2.50 per person,” he said. “The illegal taxis charges $3, so that becomes a little cheaper.”
