People seem to have a very short memory of arriving into Male’, though it is a very frustrating experience for the many. At the very least we really lack a proper taxi system at Male’ Arrival.

For a very long time arrival into and departure from Male’ the capital from airport island (Hulhule’) has been a lousy encounter for the ordinary people. For the while that Maldivians considered travelling in and out, a luxury, lack of foresight as to how else such should be, is an understandable shortcoming. People say that it took a local comedian called Yoosay, a short film before the ferry operations were reviewed. Agreeable on this?

I recall seeing this film in which tourists in particular were dragged to boats at the harbor from a great distance away and their luggage to another direction by other crews who were equally keen to maximise revenue. Locals too went through similar tests. It was then unimaginable to travel in the absence of a muscled man. The short film was an instant HIT. Many who stood the real test were able to reconcile the truth from the scenes presented in the film. The reaction was an objectivity test for the public authority of how bad things were. Within days, the ferry services between the capital and the airport island were reviewed and re-organised. Some say the public authority’s effort were a mere PUKE of what they saw in the film, in that the taxi system was forgotten by the comedian, and so did the public office. There you go, asking the taxis to form one queue is just not good enough, or is it?

So it has been since THE YOOSAY FERRY REVIEW (date: TBA). Today more Maldivians travel locally and Internationally and these locals and also tourists arriving into Male’ finding a taxi for transport is one that takes anything between 15 to 45 minutes of waiting and waving. It’s a tiny road with two way traffic. A couple of Taxi’s in queue, some passengers loading baggage and settling into cars, others move around with their hands up in the air trying to wave and attract attention, but there simply aren’t taxis. The shy and the weak – mostly ladies and children wait for the longest period. It is unforgettable that a person recently murmured that the taxi system at the arrival jetty in Male’ is a deterrent to visiting the capital.

It is worth wondering if the area surround Nasandhuraa should be made a malingering park as many say or in providing the necessary and essential structures that we lack greatly in the little city.