As residents of northern St Elizabeth struggle to recover from Hurricane Melissa’s devastation, many say they are being hit with soaring prices and fare hikes. Taxi operators between Santa Cruz and Elderslie, reportedly, have raised fares by more than 400 per cent — from $350 to as high as $1,500 per trip. “If you nuh have $1,500, you can’t go Santa [Cruz] right now,” lamented resident Shavell Wright. Essential goods have also spiked, with items like nails jumping from $350 to $550 per pound.

Hurricane hike 

Taxi operators slap residents of Melissa-ravaged communities in St Elizabeth with increased rates

Jamaica Gleaner/6 Nov 2025/Livern Barrett/senior Staff Reporter

 

A father feeds his hungry baby as he stands in a line on Monday to collect food supplies which have become scarce in the battered Shrewsbury Logwood district in Westmoreland.

TAXI OPERATORS between Santa Cruz and several hurricane-ravaged communities in northern St Elizabeth have hiked their fares by more than 400 per cent, angry residents have complained.

Instead of the $350 fare that existed before the passage of Hurricane Melissa, some taxi operators are now demanding $1,500 for a trip between Santa Cruz and Elderslie district, according to one resident, Shavell Wright.

“If you nuh have $1,500 you can’t go Santa [Cruz] right now,” she told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

Citing another example, Wright complained that she purchased a pound of nails in the neighbouring parish of Manchester for $350 per pound on Monday, but saw similar nails being sold in her community for $550 per pound.

“In the state that we are in now, that’s bad,”she said, lamenting what she described as widescale structural damage to nearly all buildings in Elderslie and the adjoining communities of Mulgrave and Ipswich. “Dem a hike di price and it’s not right.” One taxi operator admitted that the day after Melissa made landfall in Jamaica, he charged $1,000 for a trip to Santa Cruz and reduced it to $700 by last Sunday.

The Gleaner has taken the decision not to publish his name.

The taxi operator said he was not aware that residents were being charged $1,500, but defended the increase he imposed.

“It a go go up. Me run (operate) up here and

a Mandeville me go buy gas. You can’t drive go Mandeville and buy gas and give it to people fi the same price,” he said.

PROFIT ELUDING DRIVERS

Elderslie, Thornton, Aberdeen, Siloah and Maggotty are just some of the communities in which he operates, another factor he takes into account in setting his fare.

“Sometimes me only have one fi Elderslie, one fi Thornton, and one fi Aberdeen. So you haffi do it in a way weh you can mek back you money,” he reasoned.

“Me a drive fi all two and a half hour before me stop. And after two and a half hours sometimes you only mek like $3,000.”

Days before the Category 5 hurricane battered Jamaica, the Government issued the Trade (Sale of Goods During Period of Declaration of Threatened Area) (Tropical Storm Melissa) Order 2025 to clamp down on price gouging.

Price gouging occurs when an economic operator takes advantage of an emergency, such as hurricanes or other national disasters, to raise prices “excessively” on items people urgently need to recover, according to the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC).

The order prohibits retailers from increasing the price of essential goods – including food, water, medical supplies, building materials and emergency equipment — for the duration of the period that an area is declared a disaster area.

Violations of the order carry fines of up to $1 million. The CAC confirmed yesterday that it has received one complaint of price gouging since the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

The complaint was filed on Wednesday against an economic operator in the import/distribution/retail sector, the CAC disclosed in emailed responses to questions submitted by The Gleaner.

The economic operator was not publicly identified. The CAC is reviewing the information received and requesting evidence that is required ahead of a potential investigation, said the agency, which falls under the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce.

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