The Land Transport Authority has moved to end Fiji’s long-standing “open taxi rank” approach, replacing it with a structured “base and stand” system designed to spread services beyond busy urban centres and into rural and peri-urban communities, Acting CEO Makitalena Drova said on Thursday. Drova told reporters the change responds to clear imbalances under the old system, where taxis clustered in high-demand areas and left many outlying communities with limited or unreliable access to taxi transport.
Under the previous regime, taxis were free to operate from any rank, an arrangement Drova said encouraged concentration in central business districts and created gaps in coverage elsewhere. The new framework gives the LTA authority to assign taxis to defined bases and stands, a move intended to ensure a more even geographic distribution of services across Fiji and to reduce congestion in already well-served locations.
“The move from an open taxi rank system to a base and stand system has been carefully designed to better suit the unique geographic, economic, and social context of Fiji,” Drova said. “The new system introduces a more structured approach by assigning taxis to defined bases and stands, ensuring wider coverage and more equitable access to transport services.” She added that designated bases and stands are also meant to improve order, accountability and accessibility for passengers.
Drova took particular aim at correcting what she described as misinformation circulating about who must give consent for bases. The new framework does require base consent, she said, but the approving authority will vary depending on the base’s location and the type of land involved. Because the reform explicitly aims to extend services beyond municipal boundaries, consent from relevant agencies will be required where bases are sited on non-municipal or public land.
The announcement is the latest development in the LTA’s broader transport modernization drive, which earlier this year included staff training across new functions and a stated commitment to boosting services for both urban and remote communities. Acting CEO Drova framed the taxi regulation changes as part of that wider objective: ensuring public transport is “efficient, but also fair, inclusive, and responsive to national development needs.”
Drova did not give a detailed timetable for implementation in her statement, nor did she outline the specific criteria the LTA will use to allocate bases and stands. The authority’s next steps — including stakeholder engagement, enforcement mechanisms and how existing operators will be transitioned into the new system — are expected to be closely watched by taxi drivers and communities that have long argued for more reliable rural services.
If implemented effectively, the LTA says the new base-and-stand regime could tackle both the saturation of taxis in urban centres and the chronic under-service of peri-urban and rural areas. For many residents outside major towns who face sporadic or no taxi availability, the reform promises a structural change to how local transport access is managed.
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