A decision by Transport Minister Daryl Vaz to immediately veto all ride-sharing apps operating here until a regulatory framework is in place has been welcomed by two key players in the transport sector who say the current operations have created a haven for criminals.

The announcement came following Monday’s gruesome discovery of skeletal remains believed to be that of St Catherine educator Danielle Anglin, who had been missing since Monday, May 13 when she left her Hellshire Park house in St Catherine, for work at St Peter Claver Primary and Infant School in St Andrew. A driver from rideshare outfit inDrive Jamaica is now in custody in relation to the crime. The police say the convicted sex offender and deportee has given a statement detailing his involvement.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday during the 2024/2025 Sectoral Debate, Vaz, who also has portfolio responsibility for science, energy, and telecommunications, said he has made recommendations to the country’s two telecoms providers for an immediate ban on all ride-sharing apps until further notice.

“I would like to state that this matter is not because of the incident. My recommendation as of today, which will obviously have to be vetted for legal purposes, is a ban with immediate effect on all those ride-sharing apps with immediate effect until such time as we can come to the table and work out properly how these apps can be regulated in terms of making sure that safety [and] background checks of the drivers are done not only by the apps but by the Jamaican authorities, and I make no apologies,” he said.

In this photo illustration, the inDrive logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.

“I actually took a submission to Cabinet several weeks ago on this very matter because of the complaints I was getting from commuters and industry players who are playing by the rules and paying their fees for their licence, et cetera, and these apps are undercutting them without any form of background checks or monitoring by the Transport Authority,” Vaz told Parliament.

Dubbing ride-hailing services “the topic of the day”, Vaz said while the Government is aware of the increasing popularity in the use of technology to engage personal transportation services, and “is not opposed” to the development, it was “adamant that the ride-hailing services must operate within the ambit of the law”.

Vaz, in noting that the Government has “sought to engage the ride-hailing providers — both the operators internationally and locally — to streamline their operations within the regulatory regime”, told parliamentarians that “the only overseas provider that has indicated willingness to operate within the legal framework is Uber”.

“I summoned them and they came all the way from their corporate office to Jamaica to sit down with me and the team to have a discussion, and the bottom line is that it was a useful discussion that continues,” he said.

Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Minister Daryl Vaz making his presentation in the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Vaz announced a ban on all ride-sharing apps operating in Jamaica until a regulatory framework is in place. (Photo: JIS)

According to Vaz, who said the Transport Authority will be meeting with the local ride-hailing entities this week to further the discussions, only inDrive Jamaica — the outfit named in several missing persons cases — is yet to come to the table.

“inDrive remains outstanding. I would like to point out that in addition to the Government’s concerns about safety and security in this environment there are issues relating to undercutting the market where lower fares are charged and that impacts on tourism, the economy in general, and the threat of other issues such as money laundering and terrorism,” Vaz told the House of Representatives.

“I have a responsibility as a minister and an elected representative to protect the lives of the people, and I am prepared to go to the end of the world to make sure that that ban is in force immediately… We are already meeting with the local transport operators who have designed apps and want to implement for the betterment of their service,” he said.

Referencing Anglin’s murder, Vaz said, “This is just one of several cases that the police have evidence that these ride-share apps have been used for criminal activity, so it is not just about the unfortunate loss of life over the weekend; there are several. I have heard and I have taken the recommended action that I believe is in the best interest of every Jamaican citizen across the length and breadth of Jamaica”.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday just moments before the announcement was made formally, Egeton Newman, president of Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), said the organisation and, by extension, the public transport sector have, for the past four years, been “very concerned at the unofficial entry of at least two ride-sharing companies in Jamaica without the proper documentation of the Government”.

He said Monday’s discovery of the remains of the young teacher “brought into sharp focus the need to bring to books the Uber/inDrive ride-sharing companies”.

“We are calling on the Government, through the Ministry of Transport, to move with alacrity to put a stop order on these two companies. We believe that this revocation of operation of Uber and inDrive can be done by an executive order,” Newman said.

According to the TODDS head, the transport sector “is willing and ready to go to court to get these companies to pack their bags and wait for the green light from the Transport Ministry, through the Transport Authority, to operate”.

“Safety and security is the key to providing the best transportation experience in Jamaica. These ride-sharing companies are putting the sector in very dark light. Their inception into the country has seen an increase in negative incidents. The sector’s income has reduced drastically as in some cases they are charging up to 60 per cent [less]. The Government must act now to prevent what happened to that young lady among many others,” Newman declared.

Meanwhile, president of Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators (JATOO) Louis Barton said, while he’s not opposed to the ride-hailing services, structure is needed.

“The ride-share, from it was first introduced to Jamaica with Uber, we as an organisation opposed it and we opposed it based on two things; it was unfair competition to us in the sector, especially in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) where most of the operators are hackney carriage operators,” Barton said.

“They came in and they had no restrictions on them. Any private person who has a licence could take any car, [it] doesn’t have to be their car, and pick up people in the road as long as they were associated with Uber or any of them. So there was no control. I am not opposed to the share ride system, what I would like is for share ride operators to be subject to some organisation and for them to be subject to regulations and the local transport authority,” he said.

In calling for such drivers to wear badges and procure police records, Barton said the operators should be “fit and proper” and traceable.

“If they go through that, then I have no problem with them, but they have to be part of something. It can’t be a free-for-all and then nobody can trace you. If you have a criminal record you cannot get a licence to operate a public passenger vehicle,” Barton stated.

In the meantime, Barton, also an educator, in mourning Anglin’s death, said: “For me, a former teacher, it feels like another attack on the teaching profession. People in the society consider teachers easy prey to take advantage of them.”

In September last year inDrive, which was at the time the fastest-growing mobility and urban services platform in Jamaica, in a statement to the media, urged passengers and drivers to partner with it to ensure greater safety during rides by using the safety features within the app and providing feedback.

“Jamaica and its communities are close to our hearts, because the country and its people have received inDrive with open arms. We are committed to facilitating a safe experience for all of our users and that is why we harness the power of technology to make sure that every person travels safely, protected by innovative tools,” said Kevin Lamas, inDrive ride-hailing country manager for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

According to Lamas, inDrive Jamaica has 12 security features for both passengers and drivers.

In 2023 Leroy Page, a final-year medical student at The University of the West Indies who used the app to freelance as a driver, went missing. Another inDrive operator, Devroy Peart, was killed in March 2023 while carrying passengers.