Like most people, taxi drivers felt the impact of the nationwide lockdown last week

Two taxi drivers from the I Love Samoa Taxi Stand at Vaitele tai, Taavao Pili and Liki Vao told the Samoa Observer on Sunday of the challenges they had faced.

Mr. Pili said that most of the taxi drivers at the stand have to do a turn-in [earnings from the week to be given to the owner of the taxi] by the end of the week, but with most taxis not operating, no income was made.

"There was a problem in getting the turn-in," Mr. Pili said.

"Now we have been given this week and next week to cover for the [lockdown]."

The usual turn-in required by the end of the week is $250 but Mr. Pili said that due to the lockdown, it has been dropped to $200.

Their taxi stand also has strict requirements now in following current State of Emergency (S.O.E.) orders such as presenting a vaccination card when entering the taxi, wearing a face mask, and only allowing four passengers in the taxi.

In terms of the closure of restaurants and supermarkets, Mr. Pili said the main impact was on the financial side as those are locations they would get passengers to take the taxi. Howevere, he had commended the lockdown, saying it is good for the prevention of COVID-19.

He added that whatever law was given, their taxi stand will abide by it.

"If they say the curfew is 6 pm then we would stop all our vehicles, then start again the next day when the curfew is lifted," he said.

"The impact was the income. We followed what the Government has said and it is all for protection, because there is no use in trying to get an income and get affected by the disease then my entire family will be affected by me who was working

"Prevention is better than treatment.

"If there is not enough income from one day, then there is always tomorrow. Whatever the Lord gives us, we accept it thankfully."

For Mr. Vao, when the Alert Level was downgraded to a Level 2, he said that that the highest amount of money made on Saturday was $100, but he is aware that some of the taxi drivers were unable to make $100.

"I would usually get $100 then fill up the car," he said.

"So if there is $70 left then that is the income of the day for the turn-in."

Asked about the lockdown, Mr. Vao brought up some of the confusion that they had faced.

"This job is taking care of my children and I became worried. But I also thought it was a good thing to stop travel because it is not a good thing for the disease to get here. It is a small country and if it gets into the community then it will be a huge impact," he said.

He had then referred to when public places were open on Tuesday from 8 am to 2 pm saying that there was never an announcement that taxis were not allowed to operate.

"Because I don't know if that was announced, but we were surprised when we were stopped on the road," he said.

He had faced a lot of problems that day and had heard other people saying that not all families own vehicles and that previous restrictions such as prohibiting buses and allowing taxis were better.

Mr. Vao had lamented on the fact that families who did not own vehicles had to walk that day as buses also did not operate. He had also taken a passenger that day and was stopped by a Police officer saying that taxis cannot operate on that day.

"Police came and people were still in front of the stores. Taxi drivers were scared to [take passengers] due to tickets. Because the passengers aren't the ones that will be affected, it is the driver," he said.

The difficulties had saddened him and said that the decisions should have been made properly, and had pointed towards restrictions done by the previous Government which had prohibited buses and allowed only taxis to operate.

"Because not all families own a car, other families are withdrawing money from their children and then they don't know how to [travel to town] and do their shopping," he said.