Taxi companies in Bergen op Zoom are noticing an increase in taxis from outside the region. During Shrove Tuesday – the busiest time of the year – some Bergen taxis fear for their customers. “I don’t know if I’ll drive this year.”
It is frustrating for Ben van Nispen, owner of taxi service Taxi Benny, he says against South West TV. Potential customers are increasingly getting into a taxi from a company that is not from Bergen op Zoom and the surrounding area. “They ask 50 to 60 euros for a ride to Halsteren. We ask about 40 euros,” he says. “So customers have to pay a lot more. I don’t think that’s fair.”
Riva Taxi has also noticed that it has been busier for two years in a row with taxi companies coming to Bergen op Zoom from other regions. “In the beginning we thought: okay, fine. But then we discovered that they were charging way too high prices for short journeys,” says owner Matti Seyed. He runs the taxi company together with his father.
Customers who were in the taxi with him said that they had to pay as much as forty euros for a six-minute ride. Seyed: “Then we knew: they came from outside.”
Too little demand
Taxi company Schouten also receives the same signals. Owner Sjaak Schouten is concerned about the consequences this has for Vastenavend. “I’m considering not riding during carnival. It’s just not worth it,” says Schouten. Where he previously had a turnover of 1000 to 1500 euros in a day, it is now around 350 euros.
In addition to the arrival of competition, public transport such as the drinks bus also has an impact, according to Schouten. People prefer to take public transport.
Solution
Seyed and his father have come up with a solution for the increase in taxis from outside. “We were thinking of a taxi stand,” he says. Taxi companies in Bergen could then receive a permit or sticker.
Schouten agrees and sees the Westersingel as a potential location. Schouten: “It is safer and you can stand in a row so that it is first-in, first-out.”
Stickers
Van Nispen is also in favor of permits and stickers. “They do that in Roosendaal too,” he says. That is why he is not allowed to drive in Roosendaal during the carnival period, for example. A few months ago, Bergen councilor Alperen Yilmaz of GBWP already suggested working with these permit stickers.
The municipality of Bergen op Zoom has announced that it will not do this. The municipality and police have not received any signals about the taxis. “There is no concrete evidence,” the mayor and aldermen said.
Van Nispen does not simply accept it. He will try to gather as many taxi companies from the region as possible so that they can make their position clear to the municipality.
