Pirates Have Left the Harbor

I shouldn't over simplify as there are some interesting details regarding regulations and payments that may or may not have been broken but this reads as a case of the taxi drivers lobbying against a service that moved people around the island at a fraction of the cost of their bloated prices. If that's the case then shame on the V.I. government because tourists will eventually vote with their wallets and leave STT behind.

Carnival canceled their contact. Vasaturo broke the law. I don't see anything to do with taxi drivers here. He had a good thing going but screwed up big time trying to skirt the law and his license agreement.

That could indeed be the real issue but I got to believe that the fact that he was trying to provide a service that allowed you to move around the island all day for $10 vs. $20 per trip with the taxi service put him in a cross-hair also.

Shoddy business practices rarely pay off in a small town.

I serve on the Historic Preservation Commission. He came to get our approval ,as well as for the tent he had on the waterfront. We approved the tent and wished him good luck. When asked on the record if he really was wanting to start a water taxi, he stated emphatically, no. He was only to be a harbor tour that would only be sold on the ship for $19. I thought that it was too bad that he wouldn't in the future be trying to do that. I had also seen him in private to which he said the same thing abut being a water taxi.

When he first started, I was privy to doing a run on the boat, which I thought was good. There were people at Crown Bay trying to get on without tickets, to which they were sent back on the cruise ship to get the tickets. What ensued after that I have no idea.

I do know that I have had two sets of guests of mine tell me they got on and paid $10 to us the service. I sent, through one of his workers I knew, a message that he will get in trouble even if he is or is not authorizing them to do so. I heard shortly after that he had locations in town selling tickets! Next thing, he is fined and now says out of business. Oh well. It was a good thing. Wish he had spent the time to go about it honestly and make it a true water taxi which is really needed!

i agree with ronnie, we do need a water taxi service. however, trying to circumvent agreements and laws to make this happen will result in the service not being available to anyone. he was hoisted by his own petard (shot by his own cannon, as it were) and it did not have to be that way.

First of all, I`ve been gone working off island, welcome back all!
I know someone who works on the Havensite & Crownbay docks.
They say from the beginning, the tourists would ask where the water taxi is...
The disgruntled taxi drivers would say 'der is no water taxi,dat illegal!"
Or "dey shut dem down, you need to use a regular taxi".

I for one,have enjoyed the reduced traffic & congestion downtown, I understand the tourist loved it, looked forward to returning to enjoy the tour.
Now they can take a overpriced taxi through traffic from a rude arsehole & wish to never return(as always been the case here).
The taxi drivers, who have allot of political power, although pay little or no taxes are the ONLY ones who benefit from a lack of another choice of enjoyable tours NOT being offered to our guests here.
Also, the barkers are not allowed to bark, but the aforementioned taxi operators are allowed to:(as one of the cruise ship passengers happy with the Pirate tour puts it "Badger"(Fierce animals and will protect themselves at all costs) our tourist.
But, That`s OK, right????

Well,the self serving, greedy, rude taxi drivers won again (at what expense, ours & theirs).
We need more Positive experiences available for our guest.
On the negative side of the owner of this tour,
Why IS it, that they/he hasn`t payed the P/A fees collected from the cruise ships(I believe this is the reason they got shut down,NOT from the power of a bunch of retarded taxi drivers???
I`m eager to see how this unfolds.
Dun