Feb. 11, 2003 –– St. John rental car company owners complained at a meeting held by Police Commissioner Franz Christian Tuesday that rental vehicles transported by barge from St. Thomas are taking business away from them.
"We are the children of Moses dying in the wilderness, but we are getting ready to throw stones at Moses," Spencer Stapleton of Spencer's Jeep Rental said. He was one of about 50 people who attended the meeting at the Legislature Building in Cruz Bay.
On April 24, 1997, District Judge Raymond Finch overturned a 1995 law prohibiting the barging of rental vehicles between islands. Christian said he has no power to keep St. Thomas rental cars off the barge to St. John but added that Finch's decision might need to be revisited.
Greg Edwards of St. John's Courtesy Car Rental said he has had people cancel their reservations, telling him they would rather pick up a car at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas.
Edwards said he counted 70 St. Thomas rental vehicles being barged to St. John during a recent half-day survey at the Red Hook barge ramp.
Albert Willis of St. John Car Rental said the St. Thomas rental car companies that allow their vehicles to be transported to St. John are greedy.
"We're all small businesses," he said of the St. John companies.
He said there was only one national rental company franchise –– Hertz –– left on St. John. And he said that Budget on St. Thomas recently began advertising that renters do not have to hassle with the ferry and their luggage if they rent at the airport.
Several company owners asked Christian to increase their quota of cars. Currently St. John is allowed a total 625 rental vehicles split among 21 agencies.
Christian noted that some companies have fleets smaller than authorized. He said such businesses should expect a letter shortly advising them that will have to give up all but two or three of their unused quota.
And he said that companies over their quota will have to remove the excess vehicles from their rental fleets.
Edwards said he often has to refer customers to other rental agencies because he doesn't have enough cars. He also pointed out that there are times when there are simply no vehicles left for rent on St. John and customers have to rent on St. Thomas.
Concerns were expressed about negative impacts of increasing rental car quotas. Several people cited parking shortages, particularly at North Shore beaches, because there are so many rental vehicles.
Police Capt. Justin Lettsome of the Traffic Bureau pointed out that delivery trucks from St. Thomas cause traffic tie-ups on St. John.
Lettsome said the first step toward solving the problem should be to conduct a survey to determine how many vehicles on St. John roads are from off-island.
Stapleton brought up the problem of renters who don't traffic tickets. He and others asked Christian to come up with a solution. Christian noted that he had suggested at previous meetings that the rental agency in such a case charge the fine to the renter's credit card. But several owners said they don't find out about the tickets until they go to renew the vehicle registration. In many cases, they said, the customer's credit card number is no longer valid.
Christian said he anticipates that in the future "automation" will allow tracking of those who get tickets.
He said the rental vehicle quota for St. Thomas is 3,000 and that for St. Croix is 2,951.

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