IATR — IN FOCUS
by Matthew W. Daus, Esq.
President, International Association
of Transportation Regulators
Distinguished Lecturer, University Transportation Research Center, Region 2
Contact: mwdaus@juno.com



IATR to Participate in District of Columbia Nightlife Transportation Study

Since last month, I have been hopping around to several different countries and states, and for now will just share one of these experiences as space is limited. On February 25th, I participated in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. at the "2011 Sociable City Leadership Summit" organized and sponsored by the Responsible Hospitality Institute (RHI). RHI is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 and is dedicated to assisting businesses and communities to create safe and vibrant places in which to socialize. Kudos and congratulations go to RHI President Jim Peters for his leadership and vision in not only talking about change, but actually placing plans into action with a unique District of Columbia program that is underway.

Representing both UTRC and IATR, I was privileged to join a unique blend of professionals from disciplines that usually do not communicate or brainstorm with one another. I engaged in a solution based discussion with leaders representing the following organizations:


The panel discussion was moderated by Professor Gregory DeShields of Temple University's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

I was asked to provide concrete solutions and recommendations on how to ensure safe, efficient and inexpensive transportation solutions in hospitality zones, and to address nightlife transportation issues. There are basically two different problems involving nightlife ground transportation:

(1) Mass closure of nightclubs or legally mandated "closing times"; and

(2) Remote and off-peak passenger nightclub departures.


Each problem has different facets and proposed solutions.

{10628428:1}In terms of the mass closure of nightclubs, the problems manifest primarily in hospitality zones or areas where there are clusters of nightclubs or entertainment strips. The problems include demand and supply issues coupled with sometimes difficult and rowdy passengers which create safety issues as well as quality of life disturbances in mixed-use areas where residents often lodge noise complaints.

My experience over the years as New York City Taxi Commissioner involved various clubs on the lower East Side of Manhattan as well as the world famous "Meatpacking District." Cobble stone streets and areas more conducive to the loading and unloading of meat trucks blossomed into a celebrity and youth laden hotspot glamorized by the HBO television series "Sex and the City." Well, there is nothing glamorous about being a public official whose phone rings off the hook with elected officials and community members complaining about horn honking taxicabs. But, of course, there is respite and joy in helping to solve the problem which has been alleviated somewhat by consistent law enforcement including a Police presence to maintain order and TLC Inspectors to handle taxicab issues.

Also, some traffic calming initiatives undertaken by the New York City Department of Transportation including strategically designed and placed bollards, street furniture and traffic configurations, helps to contain the chaos. In fact, a number of high profile incidents in New York City focused attention on the nightlife industry a few years ago thereby prompting a hard look at all related issues but did not result in a comprehensive transportation plan. In 2004, the New York Nightlife Association issued a report finding that approximately 30% of club patrons are from out-of-town, and the two most frequented forms of transportation for these individuals were automobiles (52%), followed by train usage (29%). However, each city and hospitality zone is different and presents different issues.

One of the issues affecting nightlife transportation is the impossible task of coordinating land use planning in advance of the establishment of a hospitality zone. New hotspots pop up somewhat overnight from a planner's perspective, coming and going with the fads and idiosyncrasies of club goers. Of course, without pre-existing infrastructure, taxicabs and limousines are the vehicles of choice. With mass transit budget cuts, public buses run less frequently and club goers may opt to drive and park their own vehicles posing safety hazards that include patrons driving while intoxicated.

In my view, with the decreasing availability of transit funding, looking to government for a solution to provide for efficient and safe departures from nightclubs is not realistic. The private sector needs to spearhead the solution, and elected and appointed government officials are more likely to favor public private partnerships to solve these issues. Such solutions could include the pooling of resources of neighboring club owners to exclusively contract with a transportation company that has a diverse fleet including sedans, limousines and shuttle vans. These companies could deploy dispatchers on hand to provide for an orderly distribution of passengers, and work side-by-side with taxicabs. Another solution would be to have Business Improvement Districts ("BIDs") or Transportation Management Associations (TMAs), which are often funded by tax levy and non-profit corporate donations respectively, employ and provide taxi dispatchers to help maintain order, working closely with the local Department of Transportation on stand placement and configuration.

Communication between these private and public entities and between competing club owners is essential to address and solve such problems. Of course, the geography and nature of the hospitality zone dictates the solution; for example, ski resort or convention areas may more heavily rely on shuttles and buses for transportation to common destinations. The ideal approach is to convene and start a dialogue between all stakeholders to work together including nightclub owners and their trade groups, community boards or neighborhood organizations, BIDs or TMAs, as well as transportation departments, government licensing and enforcement agencies.

The use of technology can and should play heavily in all solutions including the use of limousine and ground transportation companies to locate and call their vehicles as needed to the hospitality zone especially since almost every company has this technology today. On the second issue of remote club departures, the joint issue of passenger safety and the inability to access taxicabs at various late night hours in "out-of-the-way" locations can be resolved through "smart phone" technology applications.

There are a number of applications that have been developed by start-ups such as "Cabulous" which was developed by UpStart Mobile and originally financed by Best Buy, currently being used in San Francisco, where taxicabs can be hailed via a smart phone app using taxi installed Global Positioning System ("GPS") technology to simply find and click on the nearest taxi from one's phone thereby redirecting the vehicle toward the passenger. Also, media and marketing opportunities can be coupled with pre-paid debit card technology as was done several years ago when rapper "P. Diddy" partnered with Ciroc Vodka and the TLC to distribute free pre-paid debit cards to passengers for transportation home by taxicabs after New Year's Eve in Times Square. Such "out-of-the-box" thinking, collaboration and use of technology is the key to solving nightlife transportation problems.

The District of Columbia nightlife study was kicked off by RHI at the conference, and will include an assessment of economic impacts and transportation costs. The IATR and I will be working closely with RHI and the D.C. Taxi Commissioner Leon Swain to participate in this unique study, and offer ground transportation recommendations and input. This effort will culminate in a presentation at the IATR's Annual Conference in Toronto this September where the conference theme will be "Training and Hospitality." We hope you will join us!