A collection of taxi companies and the Charlottetown Harbour Authority have settled a long-standing dispute over access to cruise ship passengers on the waterfront.
Taxi owners were seeking better access to passengers within the wharf area and a shelter to protect them and their customers from the weather.
Bill Murray, who represents the taxi drivers, says the first step towards resolving the dispute was forming an association with small tour operators who have been involved in picking up cruise ship passengers for the past decade. A board of governors was elected and the taxi drivers are now part of a bonafide group called the Charlottetown Tour Operators Association, consisting of taxi drivers and tour operators.
Maritime Luxury Limousine and Prince Edward Tours are also involved, bringing the complement in the association to nine companies.
“The Charlottetown Harbour Authority agreed to a cap on the number of licences that will be issued this year so that we can have the bonafide tour operators in a better position to provide their services without having cab operators run to the government and try to apply for stickers down at the Charlottetown waterfront,’’ Murray said.
Les Parsons, CEO for the harbour authority, said Wednesday there isn’t much left to say on the matter.
“Call it a compromise, call it an agreement for this season,’’ Parsons said. “That’s where we are and we’ll look at it once the season is over.’’
That compromise limits the number of taxis allowed in the wharf area.
“It eliminates the optics and the possibility that everybody would jump ship and become a tour operator without the proper training and without the proper protocol put in place,’’ Murray said.
The harbour authority has agreed to have its ambassadors, people who greet the cruise ship passengers inside the Seaport Centre, direct them to the tour operators.
“They did some landscaping for us on the front of the waterfront and the compromise is that we would stay outside the fence for liability issues and to satisfy their needs and to satisfy the cruise ships because they wanted 30 per cent of the take and we weren’t going to entertain that thought.’’
In an interview last month, Parsons said cruise lines typically generate approximately a third of their revenue off shore excursions and feel that if they are paying all the mandatory fees to dock at a port they should have a lot of say in who has access to their passengers. If a passenger is hurt on the shore excursion, for example, the cruise line could be held liable.
Independent taxi owners pay a flat rate of $25 per year to park on the wharf while authorized tour operators inside the terminal gate must pay 30 per cent of their revenue to the cruise lines.
And, many cruise lines warn passengers against taking non-sanctioned tours on port calls. The cruise lines won’t leave port without passengers on sanctioned tours but the rest are on their own.
The harbour authority has also agreed to put up a tent as part of the deal and a proper location just outside the fence at the wharf.
Murray said there are still some outstanding issues to deal with but they’ll let those take their course.
“We’re now looking forward to finishing the season,’’ Murray said.
dstewart@theguardian.pe.ca
