A TAXING DILEMMA

Am I against drinking and driving? Damn right I am. But how does an intoxicated person get home safely on Salt Spring after a “fun” night? Last weekend I experienced for the umpteenth time this most frustrating conundrum. We went out for a night at Mobys along with most of the island. As normal everyone floods to outside the doors to wait their turn for a cab. I phoned myself and watched people flood them before I could get in so myself and the group I was with waited. We tried calling again after a batch had left, in the one taxi running, and suddenly we got the answering machine. For a while. It became obvious that no one was picking us up and that the cab driver (whoever the louse was) had just shut off his phone. It was 2:30am. Myself and my boyfriend ended up walking home (about 7km). Calling the whole way to no avail.  Pretty sure that’s “drunk in a public place”. My other two friends were forced to sleep in their trucks in the parking lot. Pretty sure that’s a DUI since you can’t be inside your vehicle with your keys in your possession drunk. Another friend had to walk over 11k to get home and ended up falling asleep half way at the beach. Not so safe.

With the strict implementations of the drinking and driving laws how can we allow no options for our residents who want to be safe? And why are we 10000 plus in population and at the mercy of 1 or 2 cab drivers for the entire island when the government has issue 5 for Salt Spring? This seems ridiculous to me and unfair. I won’t deny that drinking and driving is a problem on this island.  But what about the responsibility of our island to provide safe alternative options home? Sure we have a transit bus now, which is a great thing but it’s over at 6pm.  All this aside I think there is an even more important issue to address and that is that Salt Spring needs evening options for travel whether the residents are drinking or simply trying to get home late at night after work.

It’s always an extra piss off to see the big roomy four cop cars outside the bar watching you stand there and freeze trying to figure out how the hell to get home. Maybe they could offer a ride no? I’ve racked my brain for alternatives to this dilemma and I’m still coming up blank. It seems the only solution is to just stay home. What a great thing for the local economy eh? This can and is seriously hurting  businesses here, I know all the pubs and restaurants are feeling it.

I suppose people can run “underground” taxi services but what are the liabilities of something like that? And is it fair to the cab companies that are paying for permits and proper insurance to be undercut by vigilante cabbies? I’m not saying I wouldn’t use them (and I’m not saying I haven’t) but would I send an intoxicated patron home in one? Not likely. If something were to happen I’m pretty sure the establishment would still get sued. We have a huge responsibility in the service industry to ensure the safety of our patrons until they
are at their front door.  Someone needs to step up and address this issue. Why not have a night transit bus that goes to four or five points continuously throughout the night? Say a Fulford to Ganges to Central to Vesuvius to Southey Point run? At least you’re walking under an hour from any of these points. I’m sure it would increase business for the pubs and restaurants and provide people with at least one option.   If the government has acknowledged that the demand for transport on Salt Spring is great enough for 5 taxi licences (which it has) then it’s unfair not to provide that for the community. Forget the pool and the library, I think this need is far greater then the both combined, and it would probably cost less than 7 million dollars.

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