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INDUSTRY IN REVIEWby Don McCurdy We have a solution! Well, there really wasn’t a problem, but in a sterling better living through government moment the DC taxicab commission has decided that all of the taxicabs in DC need to be painted - two colors. Along with other reported “improvements” the common color scheme idea brings up two quick questions: Who pays for it and why two colors? With any paint job two colors costs more, simple fact. Will this inspire companies to improve their brand? For vehicles that cruise the street one color is fine. One color scheme readily identifies a taxicab. For the people who live in DC it just became harder for them to identify their favorite brand. Not all companies care about the reputation of their “colors,” but some companies do. For them it just became harder to stand out against the homogenized horde. Articles report that half of the cabs taken are by non residents which means that half are taken by residents. Will this make it easier for residents to pick out the company that services locals to a higher level? I would think not. Seems like a solution in search of a problem.
One of the real issues plaguing the DC taxi industry, and other cities as well, is sexual harassment of female passengers. No doubt this has been going on since the first taxi hit the streets, but the issue has been somewhat exacerbated recently, and some suggest this is due to some cultural shifts in the driver pool. What we can’t do is conclude that the problem is only a cultural one created by recent immigrant drivers, mostly Muslim, whose culture, as reported by the media, treats women considerably differently than western culture. Oops, did I say that out loud? With the all but crucifixion of Jerry Kozubal of the Manitoba Taxi Board as an example of what may happen when one suggests what has been reported to be a potentially politically incorrect truth, nobody really wants to be the second to be impaled on the horns of what may or may not be an important aspect to this problem. While the DC board members puff up about this having to stop none are willing to look the issue square in the eye, the harassment of women in taxicabs in general without selecting one suspect group over another. What needs to happen, at least in my opinion, is that all drivers need to get a class in “customer service” that stresses the rights of female customers to feel safe in their choice of taxicabs as a method of transportation. Full prosecution of any assaults, minor or major, with a loss of taxicab driving privileges for repeat harassment offenses. If they don’t come down hard on harassment offenders then it’s just the same as promoting bad behavior. Drivers should already be taking the defensive steps of recording their conversations. It only remains to demonstrate that the city needs to be serious about such offenses to get it to stop.
There’s a pulse! Mile High Cab still lives. The Colorado Supreme Court has sent the Mile High taxi permit application back to the lower court saying that the plaintiffs in the lower had not proved the permits unnecessary. That’s as close to a win as Mile High has gotten so far so they have to be pleased. I don’t know how the existing companies can say the permits aren’t needed since they themselves have asked for more permits, but I’m sure they will. Competition in Denver isn’t so much about competing for the riders as it is competing for the drivers. Getting taxi permits in Colorado, and other places as well, is pretty much a license to own slaves. There are always people who will work for whatever crumbs can be had working long hours for subsistence wages. Clearly the PUC isn’t interested in anyone escaping the plantation and starting their own. It’s hard to understand why the premier obstacle to starting your own business is your government. We hear politicians galore pay lip service to the small business, but they continuously generate new rules blocking new small businesses from starting. Why is that?
Portland Oregon has allowed a new taxicab company. Union Cab recently started service in Portland to the usual caterwauling of the “established companies and drivers” that they were simply dividing up the pie into smaller slices. This all leads us to the question: is the size of the market finite? If so, why does anyone advertise? Not just in the taxicab business, but in any business? Do the “established” companies advertise? Do they quality check their product? Do they even care about the quality of their product? Why should they? In most jurisdictions the government protects the “established”taxi/car service industry to the detriment of the drivers and the riders. Left with few or no choices where to drive, drivers will often pay high fees for the simple right to work. Good for Portland, let’s see which companies are so weak that 50 more cabs will put them out of business.
A quick shout out and a God bless you to Judge Jane Carroll of Milwaukee Circuit Court in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The Honorable Judge Carroll recently struck down Milwaukee’s restrictive entry laws saying that the 1991 law was simply a windfall for those who owned permits in 1991. That is a mind boggling story all its own, but the sub plot that seems to keep reoccurring is the presence of the Institute For Justice in these court victories for small taxicab companies and drivers. In this case, I’ve heard of the Institute before, but paid little attention to what they stood for or what they were doing. Now that they have added a few more successes in the taxicab industry litigation it will be interesting to see what level of economic liberty can be reestablished for the small entrepreneurs wanting to build something of merit? They have their work cut out for them. Even as the ink was drying on the judge’s opinion a bureaucrat was proposing a new cap on the number of permits and a “lottery” system to select the winners. Sounds like 1991 with 50 bones for the dogs.
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service has come under fire for suppressing the freedom of speech of conservative groups such as the Tea Party Patriots and others. The IRS held up these groups tax exempt status until well past the last presidential election giving some the idea that the entire affair was orchestrated by the current administration. Who cares if it was? The bulk of the country doesn’t pay attention to policy or politics. Who wouldn’t expect the IRS bureaucrats to suppress groups that are calling for the shrinking of the federal government which would include the IRS? We have allowed this beast to grow to proportions unimaginable to the founders despite the fact that they warned us not to let it happen to any government institution. The IRS was established in 1913. When the people finally wake up and start trying to take back their government the bureaucrats were bound to strike back. The IRS is on the cusp of becoming the most powerful government agency in the history of mankind and they don’t take kindly to citizens trying to wrest that power away from them. The IRS has been above the law for decades already, with their new health care powers it will simply end up killing off those who oppose them by denying medical treatment. Tyranny has come to the United States of America and it’s not the Gestapo, it’s the IRS. Several years ago we got “tax relief” after hurricane Rita and ended up owing the IRS. I told my son to never fall behind to the IRS even if you had to borrow the money from the Mafia. It’s even worse now.
Toronto councilors have discovered that you can be a convicted murderer and still get a taxicab license. Apparently, based on local reports, you can still get a license if the offense is more than 5 years old. That is incredibly hard to believe based on the complexity of Toronto’s taxicab ordinance. A list of crimes has been suggested that would preclude a potential driver from getting a license, but amazingly, drug dealing is reported to have missed the list. I guess we wouldn’t want to upset anyone’s crack dealer.
Old jokes seem to always get a laugh, like the “we’re going to go broke if we have to install driver safety equipment” joke being told in Tacoma Washington. I know I wrote about this same tired line at least five years ago, but here it is again. The actual fact of the matter is that it is cheaper for the company to replace a dead driver than it is to install safety equipment, no denying that. I never hear anyone saying that taxicab driving isn’t one of the most dangerous occupations known to man, or that it’s too expensive to provide bullet proof vests for police officers, but you hear the same tired old excuses from taxicab companies about their safety equipment. I grasp the idea that if the driver owns the car he or she should provide the safety equipment, but if the company leases the car to the driver it ought to come with more than a “goodbye, good luck” bumper sticker. If providing a reasonable level of safety equipment and training will put you out of business, perhaps, you need to get out of the business. You’re stinking it up.
Its official, the five borough livery flag medallions are now on sale. Reports are that the New York State Court of Appeals has upheld the law allowing the Taxi and Limousine Commission to sell the medallions (permits) for the livery services that allow them to pick up flag trips outside of Manhattan. Since the proceeds from sales of the medallions were in the city’s budget it seems that the done deal is finally done. So, just as the city made livery cabs picking up flags illegal, they have now made it legal, for a price. This is a clear demonstration of what regulation is, the altering of legal to illegal and back to legal, with a price tag. So now the livery cabs have “protection” from getting citations from the enforcers, er police. Along with the new green cabs there will be an additional 2000 yellow cabs for the good citizens of New York City to utilize. According to Herr Bloomberg, the increase in the supply of medallions will defy the economic rule of supply and demand and not decrease the value of the current medallions. That may be so, but the city has now allowed legal poaching of territory promised to the yellow cabs. The entire scenario leads me to one of my rules to live by, avoid making deals with someone who can change the rules on a whim.
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