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Ralston Smith, general manager of the Transportation Authority, said the agency is in the process of establishing a regulatory framework for ride-hailing entities to oversee how industry players attract and retain drivers.
His comments came against the backdrop of concerns raised on Tuesday by Transport Minister Daryl Vaz, who highlighted safety issues in using ride-sharing services, which he said had been hijacked by criminals in some cases.
Earlier this week, police reported that a sex offender who provided the service was suspected of murdering teacher Danielle Anglin, who disappeared on May 13. A body believed to be hers was found on Monday.
A technical working group comprising representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Transport Authority and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) met on Thursday to review the concerns of operators and develop a strategy to ensure the safety of passengers and ensure that those entities willing to comply with local regimes can continue to operate.
The technical working group made several recommendations for the way forward. These include removing any restrictions on local ride-hailing operators who only employ drivers and use vehicles that meet the requirements of the Transportation Authority to operate public passenger transportation services. The Transportation Authority will submit its recommendations on compliant ride-hailing entities to Vaz.
The meeting also recommended that the Transportation Authority and the JCF strengthen their collaboration to help determine which ride-hailing entities meet safety standards for providing such services.
The technical working group said international ride-hailing operators must comply with existing public passenger service regulations. They must establish a local office in Jamaica and work with the Transport Authority to vet potential drivers for their business and vehicles for inclusion in their fleets.
Vaz posted on X that one of the ride-hailing companies, UBER, has been in dialogue with the government and is continuing discussions with the transport authority to work out certain protocols related to its platform and how the regulator can obtain information for safety checks. He said the arrangement with UBER may be resolved.
“UBER fully understands and appreciates the government’s concerns and is willing to work with the government to operate within the regulatory regime proposed by Jamaica,” he said.
“I am confident that in the coming days and weeks, we will be able to resolve most of these issues, and I do not believe this is an unsolvable situation. For the convenience of commuters and the travelling public in Jamaica, it is not in anyone’s interest for ride-sharing apps to be unavailable,” Vaz added.
On Tuesday, Vaz recommended an immediate ban on ride-sharing services until the government and transportation industry players can work out “how to regulate these apps to ensure driver safety and that police and transportation authorities conduct background checks on drivers.”
Vaz said yesterday he never intended to impose a long-term ban on ride-sharing services but stressed he was taking the move for national security reasons.
He said the plan was to work with local operators to bring them into compliance and then move to the next phase and work through regulating international ride-hailing operators.
The Attorney General (the government’s top legal adviser) and lawyers for the telcos also met yesterday to discuss the government’s plan to ban ride-sharing apps over safety concerns. Police and transport officials also took part in the discussions.
The minister stressed that the government’s move to ban ride-sharing apps was a matter of national security that “takes precedence over any other situation”.
Vaz said that within hours of Tuesday’s announcement, several ride-hailing companies that had been difficult to reach for months resurfaced.
The Gleaners Yesterday, reporters spoke to Kemar Grant, who provides a ride-sharing service. He expressed concern that a ban on app-based services would negatively impact his only source of income.
Grant told The Gleaners He did not object to the government’s insistence that players in the industry must be appropriate and subject to safety checks by the police and transport authorities.
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