INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

by Don McCurdy

Which is exactly why I live here.

Recently, a District Judge Bridget Knight of the Warrington Magistrates' Court is reported to have told a hire car driver that, "It is not America. We don't have a constitutional right to carry weapons." Well, good onya judge. Perhaps, if a bailiff were assigned to each taxi it would keep drivers from feeling the need for a little protection.

The barbarian hire car driver was in possession of a wrench and a can of pepper spray. Hey, I used to carry pepper spray. I carried mine for dogs, though. It totally amazes me that a civilized country doesn't allow its citizens to lawfully carry a means of self defense. The excuse the judge used was that the item may have been used against the driver. Oooo. Sorry judge, you're drivers are getting "bashed" at an increasing rate and there's damn little the government can do to stop it. It is good, though, that the goons know that the driver is totally unarmed.

We wouldn't want to cause them undue duress worrying over whether or not the driver was totally defenseless. Sounds almost as bad as New York City!

You want to know what's really annoying?

It's reported that downtown Dallas office workers are tweaked at taxicab drivers for taking up all of the parking places. Bummer. The taxicab stand on the street in question had room for two cabs. Gee, that doesn't seem like a lot. The city gets paid off the parking meter so where's the beef?

An investigation on the day in question showed that only one passenger exited the building the drivers were queuing up for from 1 to 2 pm. Lunch time. Gee, that would be a weird time for passengers to be coming out in my opinion. Now what about between 4 and 5 pm? Taxi licensing officials are reportedly "working on the issue" which can only mean a new rule for taxicab drivers. There are similar parking issues in a lot of cities.

It will be interesting to see if Dallas can come up with something innovative or just bans taxicabs from parking in metered spaces.

No. Yes, but. Okay, whatever.

Well, the reports are in on the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. Initially, it was reported that the mall had a deal with Yellow Cab and Metro Cab to provide "exclusive" service from the mall. Okay, so what? So Freedom Cab and Union Cab had a fit.

Okay, okay. The mall agreed that if the two companies each paid $12,500 they could also enjoy "exclusive" rights to the mall for pickups. But how exclusive is restricting access to ONLY four cab companies. I'm not sure but Yellow and Metro must have started whining about paying for "exclusive" access only to find out that the meaning of "exclusive" is getting somewhat elusive because the mall finally dropped the entire idea.

While the pros and cons have been debated widely by industry gadflies the majority seem to think that purchasing "exclusive" rights to a venue is a bad idea. I can certainly tell you what I recommend: get your story straight and stick to it. It is private property so if you're going to set up a stand and charge for access just do it. Ten years from now it will be the way it's always been.

Who would have guessed?

Deluxe Cab in Henderson Nevada installed a GPS dispatch system and had a 29.3 % increase in business.
While Deluxe is one of the smallest companies in the area they are bucking the trend by increasing revenue per medallion while their competitors are decreasing revenue per medallion.

Meanwhile, the Nevada Taxicab Authority (NTA) is busy trying to figure out ways to get better service to residential areas. Really? How is it that revenue per medallion is decreasing and it's hard to get service to residential areas? Yeah, I know, tourists, the Strip, gentlemen's clubs and all are where the big time trips and tips are but if my revenue was dropping there would be some drivers picking up every grocery, laundry mat and hair salon in the city.

Of course, why would a company want to invest in GPS dispatch when the real money was the tourists, the Strip et al? Well, several reasons jump to mind. First, I wouldn't want the NTA deciding what a good solution would be to a given taxicab situation if I could help it at all. Second, I wouldn't want one of my competitors, no matter how small, to get one single dime that I could get. Third, if I own the cabs I want them to be as efficient as possible. I won't repeat the lessons of the past here, but suffice to say that in my opinion if you're not using GPS dispatch in a competitive market you should get out of the business.

If you build it they will ride in it.

The Taxicab and Limousine Commission of New York City has developed the idea of the "taxi of tomorrow." Beyond the usual laundry list of what the "perfect" cab would be was one I thought interesting, "iconic design that will identify the new taxi with New York City." Now, if I close my eyes I can think of only one "iconic design" that is identified with a city and that would be London.

It would seem to me that the London Black Cab could easily be modified to be the iconic NYC cab by simply painting it yellow. They're all already accessible, though probably not ADA approved, provide a superior passenger experience, meet the highest safety standards, and provides superior driver comfort and amenities. Just to make New Yorkers feel at home they occasionally burst into flames.

Hey, if the flames are high enough nobody will know it's not a Crown Vic. Now, they are a little pricy, but a couple of year extensions on the age limit could easily take up the slack. The real question for me is how much will it cost to purchase this city approved vehicle and what politician's brother-in-law is going to manufacture it.

How about introducing something new?

The city council of Atlanta is reported to have voted not to overturn the mayor's veto of a provision to reduce taxicab driver's annual required training to once every three years. Councilman C.T. Martin, reported to be a long time "driver advocate," was upset with the mayor's veto and the subsequent upholding of it by the council.

Martin is reported to be stating that he will be introducing similar legislation again this year. One of Martin's complaints seems quite valid to me, the manual hasn't changed in twelve years. Knowing what I know about driver training and defensive driving statistics I would urge the Councilman, if he truly wanted to be a driver "advocate," to propose changes in the course material yearly as opposed to watering down the course.

Yes, yes, I know what drivers want, something they perceive as easier on them. Studies have shown that defensive driving classes can result in a 32.8% decrease in accidents in the year following the class. Now, let's see, if they have less accidents they don't get fired as often, lose their accident deposits, get injured, and have to pay for costly repairs. Now, how does a "driver advocate" propose something that makes life worse for drivers?

Well, it's not what they want, which begs the question why don't "child advocates" recommend chocolate cake for breakfast? Ongoing training classes can be horrendously boring I'll grant you, but how about making the class more interesting rather than toss out the positive benefits both to the driver and the customer?

I taught a class to veteran drivers in Charlotte, North Carolina and never failed to receive compliments from both veteran and rookie alike because it was interesting. So, Mr. Driver Advocate, why don't you try making the class something of increased value instead of taking away what little standards the profession has in your area? Almost every serious profession has some kind of ongoing educational requirements. Or, perhaps, you simply view it as some low ball job that doesn't require any skill, training or ongoing education.

—dmc

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