INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

Rats, I hate it when that happens.

Uber, “your on-demand private driver,” is taking a little abuse in DC. Surprisingly, I can find no other jurisdiction that is at odds with Uber, yet. That truly is the startling part of the Uber story. There is no doubt that Uber is attempting entry into some well established turf, but DC is hardly the place I would have expected to play smack down on Uber's business model.

Apparently, regulators in Uber's other cities see no problem with an on demand transportation service that's not a taxicab. Perhaps, there's something I'm missing here. Isn't what defines a taxicab the “on demand” part of the transportation service?

It's very interesting to me that cities that tout the value of their medallions are willing to let Uber pretend not to be a taxi service while essentially providing upscale taxicab service. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for free enterprise, but even regulating the willing should require that regulators do a little something to keep the game fair.

If Uber gets to fly under the radar without licensing then, perhaps, regulators might become aware that some of their regulations are unnecessary to business performance. Competition makes business efficient. If you don't believe that try remembering the last time you went to renew your driver's license.

Think big!

Recent reports from New York City point up the problem with public money being used to provide transportation services for the disabled, nobody is responsible. A Staten Island taxi company, we'll guess it's really a livery service, admitted to bilking the MTA, metropolitan transit authority for those of you in rural America, out of thousands of “rides.” Actual numbers are around $200k which is chump change if you compare it to Medicare or Medicaid fraud.

At the root of the issue is the signatory to the fake vouchers, the people receiving the non-rides. Everybody seems to want to pretend that they were just part of the victimization perpetrated by the evil company, but that's not always the case. Drivers and riders will conspire to defraud the MTA splitting the take, and the MTA will never go after the riders or banish them from the system. They simply wait a while, find another willing accomplice and do it all over again.

Until riders are held responsible for what they sign or what is done in their name no real efficiency of expenditure can be assured. I once presented direct evidence that a rider was scamming the system and the transit authority did nothing to prevent the issue from repeating. Glad it's not my money. Oh yeah, it is.

Now I see.

The deal is done for the “outer borough” cabs in NYC, although it was more like an episode of Outer Limits. I did have an issue figuring out what Governor Cuomo's problem with the deal was though. At first I figured it must be a short delay to shake down, er, wait for potential political donors to step up, but then I read that Cuomo's dear sweet daddy was on the board of Medallion Financial. But why would Medallion Financial have an issue with the Bloomy outer borough bonanza? Well, it could be because the Medallion Financial investors fail to swallow the Bloomy line that medallion prices won't be affected.

The idea that Bloomy is tampering with the collateral foundation of one of the financial success stories of the Obamanomics era may just have a teeny bit to do with it. Dad probably couldn't talk junior into sending the state police to arrest the scoundrel, but that doesn't mean he didn't want him to. Bloomy tampering with the value of medallions could easily cost Medallion Financial and a bunch of small time operators, a bundle. Time will tell.

Super!

I am constantly amazed at a city's, in this case Indianapolis, need to give “super” or just special training to their taxicab drivers before a big event. Why not just give them “super” training before they start driving? Don't get me wrong, I understand the need for occasional refresher courses for any contractor, employee or manager. Keep them fresh, keep them interested, keep them enthusiastic. But why only before big events?

When a group looking to select a venue for their big event travel to various locations seeks information about the city they're interviewing an unexpected positive experience can win the day. I have seen numerous city's hospitality industry beat up on the taxicab industry with a lot of feel good regulations aimed at achieving the impossible when a free dinner with a “refresher class” would have gotten them a lot more mileage. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for training and refresher courses, but a free lunch from an upscale restaurant will get you more referrals and plenty of attention. Being on the hospitality team is a lot better than being the hospitality team's water boy.

That's a wrap!

Well, they finally wrapped up the DC corruption case. No, not the one at the Injustice Department, the one at the taxi commission. All of the bribers went to the can for a short period and Ted “the Mute” Loza, who took the fall on the bribed side, went for an even shorter period.

I had to laugh at the U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman's reported comment that bribery undermined the public's confidence in the government. What a cut up. This guy's funnier than Steve Martin. The law these bozos were trying to get enacted got enacted and, as far as I've heard, is still in force.

With a clear opportunity to establish bribery as a high crime in our nation's capital, Friedman slapped them on the wrist and sent the off. I'll bet he even talked mean to them. Wow, now that's tough. Now, I don't want you to think we're primitive here in Texas, Judge, but you get longer than that for DWI here.

Hold still, this won't hurt.

The Philadelphia Parking Authority has a plan. Like all plans it has some people who like it and some who don't. Like most plans the people who like it don't have to pay for it while the people who don't like it do have to pay for it. Go figure.

The plan, as we've discussed in numerous columns, is how to provide wheelchair service in a taxicab. Well, enter state representative Nick Miccarelli who also has a plan. The PPA plan is to have 300 of the current cabs become accessible and all of them at some point in the future.

Miccarelli's plan is to add more cabs and have all of the new ones be accessible. I guess the idea that you're watering down the current fleet's income with a bunch of new cabs escaped the good representative's imagination. Seems a little like Jim Jones offering red or blue Kool-Aid. Why are these drivers always so cranky? Beats me.



If you have any comments regarding this or any of my articles please feel free to contact me at dmc@mcacres.com. —dmc