MACLEAY ISLAND TAXI SERVICE TO GET COVERED AREA FOR TAXI RANK
The Taxi parking rank at the Macleay Island foreshore car park, is soon to have a covered area installed by Redland City Council.
The car park area has long been a bone of contention for the operators and passengers of the taxi service.
Under council regulations, the taxi was not permitted to park close to the covered terminal area; but had to utilise the taxi parking area designated in the new car park design.
Because the area provided no protection for passengers, there were considerable complaints from people using the taxi having to stand in either hot or wet conditions.
The Macleay Island Taxi Service is owned by well-known Macleay Islanders David and Zan Howe.
They told The Friendly Bay Islander: “When the new carpark was first on the drawing board in 2017, we requested to have a location as close as possible to the pick up area as we have many elderly and frail customers.
“We also asked for this location to be in a position that would protect our customers from the sun, wind and rain.”
That did not happen.
Once the new carpark completed, the Howes again approached council re some form of ‘weather protection’ and they were told that there be be changes ‘in the future’.
A couple of hot summers and some heat exhaustion from some elderly passengers, fell on deaf ears, so the Howes resorted to a petition, 18 months, ago from more than 200 users of their service.
Still nothing, until recent days.
The Howes have been advised that the council works program has agreed to their request, and asked them to ‘advise petitioners accordingly’.
Zan Howe said: “The letter from council told us the design of the shelter has been completed and funding has been allocated in the 2020/21 financial year for the installation of the shelter.
She added: “Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later, as we believe we are in for a long hot summer.”
• Zan and David Howe with umbrellas at the taxi rank; waiting for the new covered area!
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