Monk, I am not posting this to call you out in particular because I've heard the "pinching pennies" comment from several people and it's a term that aggravates me because it makes it sound like they are a cheapskate.
As a single traveler who stays an average of 2 weeks at a time, the difference between taking route taxi vs. chartered comes to between $200-400 per trip for me, depending on how much I'm out and about. That's not including excursions, that's just trips around Negril, to/from town, to/from cliffs/beach for drinks/meals/concerts. Bare bottom minimum difference would be $200. Just one trip to/from town and one trip to/from cliffs a day would be a difference of $400 for the trip. And that's not considering "after hours" when fares double since I personally am rarely ever out late.
That's NOT pinched pennies for a lot of people. But, unfortunately, it may be the price now necessary for safety and an additional amount that needs to be budgeted.
For someone staying a month or two (or for the woman this particular incident happened to who was there for I believe 4 or 6 months) you're talking about a difference in the thousands. Again, far from pinched pennies.