Taxi drivers in Victoria boycott cruise ships

Taxi Drivers in Victoria, British Columbia have begun boycotting arriving cruise ships in a protest over taxi fees

According to The Vancouver Sun, Victoria's taxis on Saturday stayed away from the first cruise ship visit of the five month long summer season, a day stop by the Crystal Symphony, and the boycott will continue until taxi operators get a meeting with the area's harbour authority over taxi fees.

The authority charges taxi operators $200 per taxi per season for the right to pick up cruise line passengers, an amount taxi operators say is too high.

Victoria is a common stop for cruise ships sailing to Alaska during the summer out of Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco, and more than 200 cruise ship visits to the town are planned during this year's five month long season.

In addition to Crystal Cruises, lines with ships scheduled to visit Victoria include Carnival, Disney Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Regent Seven Seas.

It will be interesting to see if this issue is resolved. Sooner rather than later or it may well effect cruise holidays for thousands of passengers