Of course they hinder their work;they are a lot cheaper!. I never use green tourist taxis. If you see the prices they are quoting you would want to walk rather than pay.So what if the yellow/green taxis sometimes look like they are about to collapse, that is all part of the Gambian experience. Also why not use bush taxis(gelleh gelleh) as much as possible. I don't have much sympathy for the tourist taxi drivers other than this is what competition is all about and competition is part of the so called free market economy.
I think that's a little harsh - of course yellow/green are cheaper but the tourist taxi drivers are also decent hard working gambians and they so have to pay for insurance and to have their cars at taxi ranks. Sometimes they can sit for days without a fare - overall I suspect you make more money as a yellow taxi driver. I am not defending the overall system but as there is a system is seems unfair on green taxi drivers if the yellow drivers can access their means of livelihood withour having to pay the same rates.
Lily I'm not being harsh. I'm being realistic. Of course the green tourist taxi drivers can be sitting doing nothing for days and earning nothing whilst paying out for insurance etc. My point is that competition is not necessarily a great equaliser! If the system is unfair how do you make it fairer?
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Posted - 08 Dec 2011 : 22:24:02
