Kuwait taxi owners protest against one-passenger rule

Dubai: Around 70 Kuwaiti citizens – owners of taxi companies who have been badly affected by the decision to ban taxis from serving more than one passenger at a time – held a sit-in protest outside the Interior Ministry’s headquarters in Subhan demanding that the decision be scrapped as it had caused considerable losses, Al Rai Newspaper reported yesterday.

The protesters pointed out that the losses include paying fines in hundreds of cases because of the ‘unjust’ decision, in addition to financial obligations including rent, instalments and other expenses. Protesters also warned that the decision would lead to shutting down 300 taxi companies owned by small entrepreneurs facing threats of imprisonment, if the decision remains effective.

Abdul Aziz Al Mutairi, one of the protesters, urged the interior minister to cancel the decision, and wondered why 2013 model taxis were exempted from the decision.

“Many drivers have parked their taxis outside the companies and bought their own private cars to start using them as taxis, leaving us owners to face the unknown and imprisonment,” he said.

“It is impossible to put this decision into practice and be unable to serve a family or a woman accompanied by children. This will put us out of business,” said Adel Buzobar, another taxi company owner. He urged MoI to come up with quick solutions and save licensed taxi operators from competition with cabbies using private cars, which is illegal.