Around 70 citizens, who are owners of taxi companies affected by the decision to limit passenger to one in taxis, carried out a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Interior building in the Subhan area, reports Al Rai.
The protest was against the decision that they said caused them great losses, and urged officials to cancel it quickly. The owners pointed out that aside from losses in business, they will have to pay fines in hundreds of cases they face due to this decision. They consider this unfair, as they also have financial obligations including rents, vehicle installments and others.
They pointed out that this decision will cause the closure of about 300 companies, and all of them are owners of small projects, who will also be threatened with imprisonment for nonpayment of dues, in the event the situation continues where the taxi driver is obliged to carry one passenger only. One of the affected people, Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi, said, “We call on the Minister of Interior to cancel the decision, or at least exclude 2013 model cars from the decision, especially since we cannot buy modern cars and everyone has financial obligations.”
Highlighting the difficulties faced by the sector, he added that a large number of taxi drivers parked their taxis in front of the taxi companies, and went to buy private cars for transporting passengers, forcing us to face our unknown fate, which inevitably will lead us to be put behind bars due to the debts.
Sharing his thoughts, owner of a taxi company, Adel Bouzeber, said, “We were affected by the one passenger decision, and it is impossible to implement the decision of only taking one person in the taxi. We cannot transport a family or a woman with her children, which makes it difficult to continue our business. Since we are citizens, and we have financial burdens and obligations, whether vehicle installments, employee salaries, and building rentals, we cannot fulfill all of these obligations.
Bouzeber called on the Ministry of Interior to find quick solutions to the suffering of owners of taxi companies, explaining that it is unreasonable for them to have licenses for the profession and are restricted in this way, while owners of private vehicles who violate state and traffic laws are allowed to compete with us and take customers before our eyes and there is nothing we can do.
He pointed out that the owners of the companies are threatened with imprisonment due to the losses they incurred throughout the curfew and suspension of business activity due to the coronavirus crisis, which did not have mercy on the young or the old. He further complained that since after their visit to the Ministry of Health, they were informed that this case is considered a technical issue and falls within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior.