No control over taxis
As a Bathurst Quay resident, I have to agree about the lack of constraints on Porter and the island airport.
The cabbies speed recklessly through the Bathurst and Queen's Quay intersection to line up for airport fares. There is no limit on their numbers, and at some hours, they line up on Eireann Quay 2 or 3 deep and encroach on the crosswalk or even turn the corner and line up in the bike lane on Queens Quay to get a place within the "queuing lanes".
They tear around corners, cutting off pedestrians, a lot of them kids, who are walking to the community centre. They pull u-turns on little Eireann Quay, which is otherwise a pedestrian thoroughfare, leading to Ireland Park and Little Norway Park, when they see a long taxi line-up and choose to take a radioed fare.
Once flights have landed and passengers are gone, we see taxis with roof lights on, lacking passengers, racing to beat other taxis to other possible fare sites.
In fairness to the cabbies, there are too many of them chasing a limited number of fares, and only the most aggressive of them make money. They work long hours, and Eireann Quay is a pleasant place for those at the end of a long line to doze in their cars, often with their motors running, or kick around soccer balls in the park, when fares are scarce.
But it's all unregulated. The airport shows no interest in limiting the number of cabs, and parents don't like their kids in the park to be regularly in such close proximity to numbers of adult strangers.
Our city councillor can't do anything. When he tried, he got sued by Porter and the port authority. It's a bad scene for residents, visitors, joggers, cyclists, roller-bladers, and, especially, kids.
B.R.
The cabbies speed recklessly through the Bathurst and Queen's Quay intersection to line up for airport fares. There is no limit on their numbers, and at some hours, they line up on Eireann Quay 2 or 3 deep and encroach on the crosswalk or even turn the corner and line up in the bike lane on Queens Quay to get a place within the "queuing lanes".
They tear around corners, cutting off pedestrians, a lot of them kids, who are walking to the community centre. They pull u-turns on little Eireann Quay, which is otherwise a pedestrian thoroughfare, leading to Ireland Park and Little Norway Park, when they see a long taxi line-up and choose to take a radioed fare.
Once flights have landed and passengers are gone, we see taxis with roof lights on, lacking passengers, racing to beat other taxis to other possible fare sites.
In fairness to the cabbies, there are too many of them chasing a limited number of fares, and only the most aggressive of them make money. They work long hours, and Eireann Quay is a pleasant place for those at the end of a long line to doze in their cars, often with their motors running, or kick around soccer balls in the park, when fares are scarce.
But it's all unregulated. The airport shows no interest in limiting the number of cabs, and parents don't like their kids in the park to be regularly in such close proximity to numbers of adult strangers.
Our city councillor can't do anything. When he tried, he got sued by Porter and the port authority. It's a bad scene for residents, visitors, joggers, cyclists, roller-bladers, and, especially, kids.
B.R.
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