IN FOCUS

by Matthew W. Daus, Esq. President, International Association of Transportation Regulators • Distinguished Lecturer, University Transportation Research Center, Region 2 Contact: mdaus@windelsmarx.com • 156 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019 T. 212.237.1106 • F. 212.262.1215





PROFESSOR MATTHEW W. DAUS, ESQ. VISITS WASHINGTON, DC TO:

• SET TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD & IATR RESEARCH AGENDA;

• DELIVER PAPER ON GPS TECHNOLOGY;

• LOBBY CONGRESS FOR NATIONAL CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS.

It was a true pleasure participating in the events of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in January 2012 where taxi research history unfolded. The TRB, a division of the National Research Council of the Academy of Sciences, holds an annual conference every January where thousands of transportation officials meet to discuss research and innovation projects. In its 92 year history, taxicabs, limousines and other for-hire ground transportation modes have received scant, if any, attention and certainly not in any formal way.

It was truly exciting to help lead the first activities of the newly formed Taxi Joint Sub-Committee of the TRB’s Paratransit Committee. Every meeting room was packed to the rafters, and the international mix of regulators (including past and current Commissioners), academics, consultants and public transit officials all came together for the purpose of laying the foundation for future taxi research. I must humbly congratulate Dr. James Cooper for his efforts in organizing such a successful program as well as Dr. Ray Mundy for helping to obtain TRB approval to create this subcommittee for our Taxi Research Network. The papers and presentations of this TRB session can be found at www.taxiresearch.net/Site/TRB_Materials.html.

First, a research paper that I co-authored entitled Taxicabs for Improved Urban Mobility: Are We Missing an Opportunity?, was released and presented before the TRB. My colleagues, Professors David King from Columbia University and Professor Jonathan Peters from the City University of NY’s (CUNY’s) College of Staten Island were all present to help field questions from the audience.

The paper, which can be viewed at www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/02/taxis-part-transit-system/1133/, is a seminal work discussing and documenting the need for taxi research that was the raison d’etre for our taxicab subcommittee sessions. The paper published research results of running trip samples of over 1.5 million NYC taxi trips from GPS data through CUNY’s supercomputer. The result showed significant asymmetry and lack of spatial distribution of taxi trips. It was
discovered that most taxi trips are one-way and extensively multi-modal journeys. The results justify the continued exploration of taxicabs as agents of “combined mobility” to achieve the same results as car sharing, environmental benefits via reduced personal automobile ownership and reduced parking space use in urban environments. It also scratches the surface on the multitude of ways this GPS data can be used to make our public transit system better.

I also had the pleasure of chairing and leading a discussion to help set the research agenda for both the TRB’s Taxi Subcommittee and the International Association of Transportation Regulators’ (IATR’s) Academic Research Committee. After a robust discussion with panelists and the audience we decided to prioritize the following research areas:

(1) Paratransit reform using more taxicabs or paratraxis and synergies with public transit agencies;

(2) Sustainable or “Green Taxis”;

(3) Taxi Technology;

(4) Airport ground transportation regulation;

(5) Labor models and worker classification of drivers (independent contractor vs. employee);

(6) Regulatory models (open, closed and franchise permitting systems);

(7) Bus, jitney and shuttle regulation (jurisdictional overlap); and

(8) Addressing service failures and equity issues (rural, suburban and nightlife transportation).

These are the categories for research that will be focused on in the coming years to build a body of research.

While in D.C., I was also privileged to meet with both the past and new Presidents of the American Public Transit Association, Bill Millar and Michael Melaniphy, respectively, to formalize our IATR reciprocity arrangement and develop a joint agenda with the IATR for legislative initiatives, research and conference participation.

I spent a significant amount of time lobbying Congress on behalf of the IATR with our lobbyist Barry Lefkowitz and our IATR Membership Director Karen Cameron to advance our key legislative item this year – the legal ability for all U.S. regulators to access national criminal background checks for their licensees.

Of course, these efforts lay the groundwork for the IATR’s first ever “Day on the Hill” scheduled to take place in November 2012 at the IATR’s 25th Anniversary annual conference in D.C. where all of our regulators and interested industry stakeholders will spread out among the Capitol to push for passage of our legislation.

I met with new D.C. Taxi Commissioner, Ron Linton, who will be our conference host, and who has pledged his full support. I commend Commissioner Linton, as well as former D.C. Commissioner Swain, for both starting and leading the charge to reform the taxicab system in D.C. I must say, it is discouraging that the Capital of the U.S. has such poor taxicab regulation and service. However, I am optimistic there will be many changes made by the time our conference roles around to see IATR members work in action. For more information on the conference, visit www.iatr.org/IATRpreConvention.html.