Still fuming after taxi from airport situation.

Will do thanks OT.

STX sailor I agree. I feel like its little mafia like - also. Which is why I don't have any confidence that anything will happen either. Shame but I know thats just likely how it is. I will at least do some legwork knowing it wont do much good.

The taxi associations are business groups and have nothing to do with enforcement. You have to complain to the Taxi Cab Commissioner, and from what I heard, the taxi drivers voted for Mapp because he promised a more lenient commish.

I have to Google for the contact, because I don't see it in phone book. It may be under Licensing.

STT cab driver are just as bad. I was once in a cab going from STT to the seaplane in one of the vans and a tourist couple asked him about going to St Croix, he went on and on how we are a bunch of thieves crooks here. I just laughed and played along then when it came time to pay he got no tip and bitched and yelled at me. i told him "sorry man I'm from St Croix." the couple got a good laugh.

Start a Facebook page and embarrass them.

Everybody knows how the taxis are so A&A should just let it go. She was the one who said he would make $65, and she was under no obligation to pay more than the posted rate. I don't know what can be done to change the drivers' behavior, but unless she's writing as a therapy exercise best to do something note worthwhile.

Call dept. of tourism, write a couple senators. Don't let it go.
That kind of obnoxious and cheating behavior shouldn't be tolerated and perpetuated. Period.

In Burmuda, they don't allow rental cars. Tourists get around by taxi, scooters and public transportation. Their buses are really nice and on time, very inexpensive way to see the island and get around.
Due to the fact that the taxis are in demand, their government/taxi organizations have very strict rules. If a driver has more than 2 infractions, he'll lose his license and the next person on the waiting list will have his turn. And there's always a waiting list so it behooves the drivers to be well behaved and professional.
The drivers I encountered there were extremely nice and courteous.
In fact, everyone I met there were great. Sales people in shops were attentive, gracious and welcoming. It was such a change from STT. I was in a bit of shock! I kept thinking, "Wow! Big difference!"
The VI could learn a lot from their model.

(tu) to Matt T. What's going to be her complaint? He over charged? She said that's what she would pay. He didn't tell her how much it was? Rate sheets are at the airport. He was not friendly? That's subjective.

I totally agree with Matt. Just ride along in silence until you get where you're going. He did his job, though grudgingly, and I'm sure we've all been there.

I'm sorry this may sound rude, but haven't you lived in the VI long enough to not be surprised at something like this? Haven't you lived here long enough to learn some tactics to deal with Virgin Islanders who are rude, grumble, etc.

If it was me, since he didn't tell you the price up front when you asked, I would have let him drive me home and said "ok if you won't tell me how much its going to be we can work out a price once we get there." On the ride, I would have listened to his complaining and sounded like I cared- actually I probably would have seeing as how late it was. I also would have tried to steer the conversation on a more positive note- ask how he's enjoying festival etc. Then when he dropped me off and said it was $65, asked him to explain how he reached that price. If he could tell me how he calculated the price and it seemed fair, then pay him. If not, then explain where his math was wrong and pay him accordingly. If he doesn't accept that, then pay him, get a receipt, his name, and tag number. Not that you could do much with this but at least it makes him second guess what he's trying to charge you.

You should know by now things are the way they are here and no amount of complaining or bitching on a forum or even in person to the taxi association is going to change it. Suck it up and move on. There's more important things to fret over.

It sounded like when the taxi drivers were not being friendly and telling you how much it would be, your energy became negative. I could be wrong on that. But negative energy will attract negative energy.

Are you healthy? If so then be happy. Good health is the greatest gift and we should all be thankful everyday for good health. Move on and stop bitching about St. Croix so much. You never have anything positive on here to say about it. If you don't like it here move back to Rock or somewhere else. St. Croix aint changing for you so best to adapt to yourself to the island.

I wonder if this is how tourists get treated here? Is it because I don't have a local accent?

Tip: Develop a local accent. White people with authentic accents here are like unicorns (think Frenchies), and will be treated as such. You will attract a flock of fans amused by your very existence.

In all seriousness, you were treated terribly and have every right to complain. Sometimes perceived tourists are taken advantage of. Being mistaken for a tourist is rarely a good experience on STX.

So, White people with authentic accents are treated like Jutsin Beiber and locals will fawn all over you like "Beleibers"?

(I hate myself for knowing both of those terms)

So, White people with authentic accents are treated like Jutsin Beiber and locals will fawn all over you like "Beleibers"?

(I hate myself for knowing both of those terms)

Everyyyone will fawn over you. Everyone. See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDgA9LUVMA

You appear to be a closeted Belieber yourself!

To be fair Matt - I was SUPER nice at first, and I smiled huge which is my first line of defense agains grumbling VIers. I work in tourism - I know how to put on a happy face - even at midnight when I am exhausted and don't feel good. I totally believe in kill em with kindness and I am overall a very upbeat, high energy person. I remember he was freaking out with other people as we were waiting for our bags and I even patted him on the shoulder and said its all good don't stress man, we will wait, as he was trying to deal with multiple people. I was NOT in a hurry - I was calm cool and relaxed and just stoked to be back on island - HE was super amped up and he made the situation what it was. I will take complete responsibility on not demanding the prices on the board. I was actually trying to be cool and go with the flow since he was clearly having issues. Yes by the end of the hour long ordeal I was pretty POed with his constant complaining.

I don't necessarily try to change anything nor will I but I also feel hypocritical if I complain without doing anything. Which is why I continuously volunteer for trash clean ups. Do you think I like picking up used condoms on the beach, underwear or drug baggies & syringes while I scuba? Its so gross. But if I just complain about the trash and do nothing then I am just as much to blame as the one who threw it there. So I will do my part and let the people in charge know what happened with this. Will it change - surely not - but at least I feel like I did the right thing and maybe theres that .01% that it wont happen to someone else. I think because I work in tourism, I feel like its our responsibility - our livelihood to at least TRY to be cordial to visitors. After all where do you think the money comes into the VI from? I also think the "thats how it is" attitude is why nothing improves. Thats all.

(tu)

Welcome back!

So, what's your complaint? That he was complaining? That's the favorite past time in the VI.

You see immediate results doing beach clean ups. Fighting taxi drivers results in nothing unless you're at the dispatch. But, keep us posted after you write your complaint!

I think everyone gets that bad attitude. A lot of horrible customer service here, in the V.I, with barely any consequences. Consequences for horrible customer service would change that type of attitude here. I've been catching taxis for the pass month now and honestly I can't buy a vehicle. Try catching a Taxi after like 5 o'clock in St.Croix. You think it was like midnight. I sometimes stand in Christiansted and watch like 10 taxis pass me by because they rather tourist or set price trip. One evening I couldn't stand waiting and ended up walking to where they were chilling and asked if someone could take me to Castle Coakley. They all said no and brushed me off and went back to their convo. Laughing all loudly and giving me dirty looks like they were the cool kids and I was beneath them. Another taxi pulled up and said he'd take me. I paid $12 dollars from Christiansted to Castle Coakley and the taxi man lived in my area.(we talked during the drive. I even asked why the heck it's so hard to catch a taxi int he afternoon.)

EDIT: It isn't all taxi drivers but there's a large amount of bad ones

One evening I couldn't stand waiting and ended up walking to where they were chilling and asked if someone could take me to Castle Coakley. They all said no and brushed me off and went back to their convo. Laughing all loudly and giving me dirty looks like they were the cool kids and I was beneath them.

Sad. They probably presumed you didn't have any money. They like the "perceived" tourist dollar. Perception is something else.

One evening I couldn't stand waiting and ended up walking to where they were chilling and asked if someone could take me to Castle Coakley. They all said no and brushed me off and went back to their convo. Laughing all loudly and giving me dirty looks like they were the cool kids and I was beneath them.

Sad. They probably presumed you didn't have any money. They like the "perceived" tourist dollar. Perception is something else.

You could be correct but I doubt it. It was actually one of them who stopped and told me that "he could take you." I'm not looked that as a local for some reason because how I speak or dress.(if that makes any sense) I get the whole "you're from here" surprise reaction all the time. But after I got in the taxi of the guy who finally picked me up he started the convo by asking if I came to Christainsted looking for prostitutes. I got a laugh out of that. Must be the short pants, polo tee, and vans combo I where to work every day.

I just honestly think we have some bad taxi drivers here on STX.

/sucksteeth

I have found that Beverly Nicholson-Doty is super responsive. And she has made a lot of things happen for me. Here is her email bnnicholson@usvitourism.vi

Yes, it is worth pursing in my opinion. Just because it's always been horrible doesn't mean that it should remain that way.

When I need to take a taxi on STT, I always check the rates before I go and have exact change. I always fold the money up, put it in the drivers hand and say thank you, have a good one. It's worked so far, never had one complain about what I give them. After 13 hours of travel, being sick, and up way past my bedtime, I don't know if I would have been on the ball enough to have exact change though 😀

It's always better to a attempt to correct a problem, than to do nothing at all. If you fail, at least you tried. If you succeed, you've just helped make thing better.

On our very first trip to STX, as nothing but tourists, we had a fabulous taxi driver take us from the airport. He was courteous and friendly. He pretty much gave us a guided tour on our ride to the East End. We also had a good one on the trip back. Since then, except for one trip, we've encountered nothing but surliness and antagonism, to the extent that we now avoid them at all costs. But we've never experienced anything as bad as this story. I would definitely report it.

This is why we need Uber here in the VI, and why Uber is so successful in other jurisdictions where antiquated taxi laws allow this kind of abuse.

I'm sure there are dozens or enterprising individuals who would love an opportunity to earn some money using there private vehicles.

Its the only way to break the VI taxi mafia.

By the way...is the word "bitching" a profanity?

AnadA2VI why didn't you capture this whole episode on your cell phone?

We all would have loved to see it and it would be a big hit on all the local social media outlets.

A missed opportunity.

Oh and Caribstx - apparently "bitching" is considered a profanity by the mod.

Given this is not an isolated incident, unfortunately, there'll be other opportunities.

I had a similar experience. I paid $70 for myself and 4 family members and our luggage. From mid island to the airport. The whole trip, including loading and unloading, took about 15 mins.But it was 6:00 in the morning and I had no other choice.so I paid.

I've had two taxi rides that endeared me to two different islands when I was on an 11 day cruise.

Landed on Barbados on Christmas day. Everything was closed and we opted out of doing an excursion on that island because we had so many planned, we wanted Christmas day to be more relaxing. It rained off and on that day and there were a whole bunch of us and our cab driver offered to give us a tour of the island in his van. I'm no sure how much he charged my boyfriend but he was so nice and understanding that rain kept messing with our visit and gave us a great tour, stopping at different locations for us to take pics.

St. Maarten- I was the only adult with a few children who chose to do a dolphin swim on Anguilla but the ferry to Anguilla was delayed two hours which was going to put us really close to cruise ship departure time on our way back. So everyone else was gone doing other things, I had these two kids and didn't know where to go. We got in line at the cab stand and the guys directing the cabs gave me some advice on where to go. The cab driver who brought us to the beach was great and told us he would come back in 1.5 hours to pick us up and bring us to meet the ferry. He was there and told us how happy he would be for us to come back and spend more time there. Cab drivers are often the first impression when one travels to an island!

That's what some of our cab drivers don't understand or maybe even care about. They are the 1st impression. Mind you there are some great ones.