GEISHA KOWLESSAR ALONZO
For thousands of citizens in T&T, boarding an unregulated PH (private hire) taxi is a daily, desperate necessity.
For 12-year-old Mercedez Layne, it was a fatal trap. Forced into an unvetted private vehicle by a shortage of registered transit in Erin, the schoolgirl’s tragic death exposes the perilous vulnerability commuters face every day.
For decades, the PH transport sector has been treated as a convenience as this informal economy has transformed lawbreaking into a highly lucrative livelihood. For many driving an unlicensed vehicle this is an easy way to make quick dollars.
By cutting operational corners, dodging regulatory costs, and avoiding the scrutiny required to get an official taxi badge, one PH driver operating the Arima to Port-of-Spain route shared he could easily pocket $300 to $400 a day.
This immediate financial gain has created a powerful incentive to keep running the shadow service, entirely ignoring the safety and legal protections established by the state.
The operational imbalance and state inaction
Transport engineer Dr Rae Furlonge has long warned that government failure to manage the sector actively endangers citizens, noting that the state has created an environment where illegal operators thrive while formal transit suffers.
“The advantages of operating a ‘PH’ far outweigh those of a legally registered taxi,” Furlonge stated, explaining that legal operators are choked by strict zone restrictions and mandatory stands.
“As such, the ‘PH’ have capitalised on this opportunity by having easier access to the commuters,” he added.
This total operational freedom, however, breeds daily chaos on the nation’s roads.
“The ‘PH’ drivers jostle each other for convenient parking at any location thus creating more congestion, Furlonge noted, as he added, “In this context, the illegal operators have more transport benefits than the authorised service providers. Sadly, the authorities have not been able to effectively treat with this malpractice.”
According to Furlonge, the real danger of this regulatory vacuum is an infrastructure deficit that disproportionately targets society’s most vulnerable.
“There is a proliferation of PH taxis all over the country. They provide service at just about any time of the day or night, particularly in the out-of-the-way areas. They are there when the maxis and taxis go home,” he said.
Furlonge further noted that the primary casualties of lack of access to transport are women and children, arguing that when heavy rains cause flash flooding, traffic grinds to a halt, or legal drivers end their shifts early on Friday nights, the official network effectively collapses, leaving commuters entirely at the mercy of this shadow transit economy.
He emphasised the issue is further fuelled by broader social and economic factors, including state policies that have entered the market with cheap, foreign-used cars. These vehicles are frequently purchased by wealthier individuals and leased out to unregulated drivers to “work the blocks.”
“Has anybody asked why do PH operators exist? ... These young men see a relatively easy way to make some quick dollars (the labour is traffic congestion, and you can easily see how they minimise this discomfort by the way they drive). They do not want ‘H’ on their vehicle, as this is their ‘liming mobile’ for later on in the nights, or at other times. Many of them are semi-literate, and have very limited reading skills. In fact some of them cannot even read the headlines on a newspaper. This raises another concern – How are they getting their licenses?” Furlonge said.
Demand for strict enforcement
This systemic lawlessness has drawn sharp criticism from established transport leaders who argue that the state’s historic leniency toward illegal operators has fostered an environment of total impunity.
Adrian Acosta, president of the T&T Taxi Drivers’ Network, expressed deep frustration over the ongoing tolerance of illegal transit, framing it squarely as a failure of state power.
“Enforcement of the law,” Acosta stressed, when asked how the dangerous proliferation of PH vehicles can be halted. “Illegal is illegal. If I want to be a police officer, I cannot go and buy an illegal gun and put a thing in my waist and patrol my area and lock up people. I cannot do that.”
Acosta said the current legal framework treats the offense as a minor infraction rather than a severe threat to public safety and insurance liability, noting that the standard fine for using a private vehicle for hire stands at $750.
He urged private car owners to realise the legal and financial precipice they stand on.
“Look in your insurance, look on your car, your private car insurance and you will see on the insurance: ‘not for racing or hire/reward.’ If you have a private vehicle insurance in your car, you have already voided your insurance if you are plying for hire. If the insurance knows that you are working taxi with your private car and you get into an accident, they will not honour that claim,” he added.
Holistic solutions needed
The crisis has also drawn the attention of local ride-sharing platform, allRiDi, with the company calling for a comprehensive restructuring of the national network.
“AllRiDi supports the regulation of Trinidad and Tobago’s transportation industry, and we believe the conversation should start from a clear-eyed look at the system as a whole, not from plugging holes as they reappear, too often in the wake of tragedy,” communication director Leisel Douglas-Wickham told the Sunday Business Guardian.
Echoing Furlonge’s analysis, she stressed that solutions must begin with an honest acknowledgement of why “PH” taxis exist in the first place.
They serve communities that regulated transport has never reached, or has significant limitations in service,” she noted, adding that “regulation must not strip those communities of their only option. Done well, it should extend safe, accountable service to them.”
To establish safety and security as the baseline standard for the travelling public, Douglas-Wickham highlighted the digital protocols built into modern ridesharing platforms to vet drivers and protect riders—technological guardrails currently completely absent from the traditional PH sector.
“Safety and security for the travelling public must be the standard. That is why allRiDi has built it into our platform. Every driver must hold a police certificate of good character, renewed annually.
“Vehicles must meet age requirements, valid identification standards, and are subject to random checks for compliance with our policies. Riders see the name, photo, and vehicle of the driver completing their trip before it begins. They can share their ride in real time with a trusted contact, and an in-app SOS button connects them directly to the protective services if needed,” Douglas-Wickham explained.
A Blueprint for regulatory oversight
To permanently resolve the crisis and bring order to the chaos, Furlonge outlined a structured, proactive framework: establishing a dedicated transport oversight agency tasked with identifying underserved communities, designing tailored service plans with clear fares and operating hours, and contracting legitimate vehicles to service those links.
Crucially, this model is designed to seamlessly absorb willing PH drivers by helping them transition into legal, contracted operations.
“It can even encompass the ‘PH’ problem, by encouraging an individual in a village to get his taxi licence and help run the contracted service. A plan such as this could be initiated immediately in locations such as Maracas Valley or Todds Road/Caparo, where we already know that there are problems with no need for legislation.,” Furlonge explained.
He pointed to a highly successful, quiet initiative previously used by the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to safely transport rural schoolchildren via contracted maxi-taxis.
As public anger mounts following the death of Mercedez Layne, the pressure on the Ministry of Works and Transport to execute a holistic solution as the final consensus remains definitive.
“It is not the PH that are putting the people at risk,” Furlonge said, concluding, “But Government’s inaction on regulating and managing the public transport industry is putting all transit patrons at risk.”
