Hermosa, I just read your thread and I am happy that someone raised this issue.
First of all, Maxi taxis and ordinary taxi's are all licensed as "H" vehicles. This means that they are legally allowed to transport people all over the country. Sometimes, people who own private cars, tend to "moonlight" as taxi drivers. Please note that they are not suppose to use their cars as taxis and therefore, this is illegal. As usual here in Trinidad, no one bothers to check up on this. But please remember these two golden rules:
Do not enter any "P" cars who are using their private vehicles as taxis. Not only it is risky but it is illegal for the owner of the vehicle to be registered as a Private car to be using it as a taxi. Also, many kidnappings have taken place with "P" drivers moonlighting as taxi drivers.
Stay with the maxis and registered taxi car drivers. However, when entering a maxi or a registered taxi, take a quick look around to see who are the passengers. If you notice that there are only men in the maxi or taxi, leave immediately. These days, kidnappers and rapists are travelling in numbers. They pretend to be passengers and when a lone female enters the vehicle, they drive them to an undisclosed location, rob, rape and sometimes beat their victims sensless.
I feel very sad to be posting all these negative remarks, but if it helps to save someone's life, then that makes me feel better.
I see a lot of women who enter P cars full of men and I wonder what are they thinking if thinking at all? I know traffic is madness in Trinidad and public transportation at certain times is a nightmare but SAFETY FIRST people, safety FIRST!