INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

Ox gored, damages sought!

The city of Seattle is reported to be proposing some changes in the taxicab industry. Did I mention that taxicab drivers hate change? Well, taxi company owners hate change also, especially when it’s not in their favor.

The city is proposing increasing the number of taxicabs, no problem so far, but is giving the licenses to drivers. Hey, wait a minute. Drivers who have been driving for 5 years or more would be eligible to receive some of the new licenses. As you might expect, company owners and license holders think this is a totally unnecessary increase in the number of licenses. Really? According to reports, the amount of time customers have to wait for a cab has been increasing every year. While there was no average wait time mentioned, and no specified target, taxi company owners and license holders don’t see a problem with conditions as they are. I guess that’s why they’re not self regulating.

It’s reported that the taxi owners “lobbyist” (can you say lawyer) even vaguely alluded to a possible suit saying the city was overstepping their authority. Oooooo, that’s scary. Along with the license changes the city wants new cabs to get at least 30 miles per gallon. While I am for conservation, there is a balance between passenger and driver comfort and that laudable goal that needs to be considered. There are hybrids coming out that report to fit the bill, but only time will tell if they have the guts to be taxicabs. It would do the potential new license holders little good if they didn’t have to pay the current license rental if they ended up spending more keeping their mandated vehicle on the street.

I strongly disagree with the idea that the new license holders would not be able to lease their vehicle to a second driver. While I understand the city’s desire that the license not be simply leased out and not used by the owner it makes no sense to handicap the new owner with rules that limit the value of the asset they are bestowing on them. One of the true attractions to owning your own taxicab is the ability to have a night driver that can help pay the cost of maintenance.

It has been my experience that owner drivers charge less to shift drivers than companies do and they are much more careful about the drivers they select. Another unintended consequence of disallowing a second driver is that you end up with all of the owner drivers driving during the day and a cab shortage at night. I’m sure the drunks will be patient. All in all it looks like a good effort on the part of Mayor Greg Nickels, with a few minor glitches. I especially like the idea of rolling the current surcharge into the initial drop charge. More cities should follow that lead. Right Mayor Daley? I certainly don’t mean to pick on Chicago’s eternal mayor, but they have some of the lowest fares in the country and are only behind New York City in medallion prices.

NYC Drivers protest!

Yawn. While it seems like "the same old, same old" the drivers do have a point. Use of credit cards is for the convenience of the passenger but the driver has to pay for that convenience. I know that New York City is a trend setting place and all but there are other places that charge the passenger the fee. Gasp! Yep, it’s true. In Australia the passenger is charged 10% over the fare when using a credit card. Part of the money goes to the credit card processing company, part to the company that installed the credit card machines in the cabs and part to the owner of the cab who must pay the driver cash for the ticket at the end if their shift. It seems pretty fair to me for the person requesting a convenience to pay for that convenience. The owners of the cabs certainly have deeper pockets than the average taxicab driver. It wouldn’t bankrupt them to wait the week or more to get paid, especially, if they got 2% of the fare for waiting. Sounds like a win, win situation to me. While you’re at it you might consider asking the parking patrol to lighten up on drivers waiting for their mandatory credit cards to clear.

Oh, yeah, the drivers are also protesting the high cost of gasoline, a picket line I might want to join. The part of the story that’s hard for me to understand is why action hasn’t been taken on the driver’s behalf already. How hard is it to add a quarter or half dollar to the drop to cover increased fuel costs? Sounds pretty easy to me. You can always take it off when gas prices drop below $3.00 again. Like we’re going to see that again. There’s more to “regulating” an industry than pursuing customer complaints, although they are important. When the driver’s costs increase significantly it shouldn’t take an act of God to address their concerns. For that matter, it shouldn’t take a protest march either. Let’s get on the stick there TLC, a bone wouldnt hurt occasionally.

Strike, strike, strike!

Drivers for Stamford cab in Stamford, Connecticut are reported to have conducted a two hour strike over conditions at the local train station. Apparently, the Metropolitan Transit Authority police are rigorously enforcing the rule that drivers can’t be more than one car length from their vehicle which puts the driver standing in the sun or idling while running their air conditioning. Haven’t these people heard of global warming? Or could it be that they expect drivers to just deal with conditions they themselves can’t? Perhaps if the clowns that dreamed up their hard and fast rules stood out there with the drivers all day they might be able to come up with an acceptable solution. But probably not. It’s always easy for some bureaucrat in an air conditioned office to decide how life ought to be for others. I don’t even want to know what their bathroom rules are.

Robber must be feeling a bit run down.

A recent report from New Bedford, Massachusetts reports a driver “accidentally” ran over a pipe wielding robber while the driver was trying to escape the robber in his cab. Oops. Apparently the driver had been struck in the head outside the cab and jumped back in to try to get away. The fleeing robber is reported to have been knocked over the cab, damaged the top light and broke out the back window. Wow, that’s gotta hurt. The suspect, who escaped the scene, was described as a medium-complexioned man with a bushy pony tail, wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts and walking with a limp. Ok, so I made up the last part, but I would definitely be looking for someone with some bruises. I wonder if the driver will have an auto pedestrian accident on his driving record?

Drivers threaten lawsuit, again.

Well the dust has barely settled and the DC drivers are threatening a strike over the fare structure set by the mayor. While others complain that the fares are too high drivers are reported to be upset about how low fares are. Maybe a strike would help. I wonder how many times drivers have told me that this or that change is the end of the industry? Definitely, more than I can count. While I was a proponent of the $4.00 initial charge, though I actually preferred $5.00, the mayor started at $4 and let the whiners talk him down to $3.00. $3.00 isn’t unreasonably low, however. Drivers are moaning that they might get a $4.25 fare. Bummer. I remember all too well getting an 80¢ fare, which is probably around $4.25 in today’s dollars. It’s just how the business is. Drivers might consider a 90 day moratorium on whining to the courts and gather statistics on what exactly their records indicate their income is prior to rushing off to give a bundle to their attorney. Unless, of course, they don’t have any records, in which case we can expect more anecdotal wailing.

You mean every time?

It’s been reported that Ace Taxi in Cleveland, Ohio has been fired from their Medicaid contract by the county. According to published reports the reason was that Ace’s service was so bad that the medical patients receiving the service started finding alternative rides. It seems that the dialysis patients were wanting a cab every time they made an appointment. It’s hard for me to believe that a company could let a couple of million dollars worth of business get away. While I can sympathize with the company who claimed high gas prices as the main excuse there comes a point where you just have to get the job done, regardless. Leaving sick people stranded has to leave a stain on a company’s reputation, not to mention a dent in the pocketbook. The lesson here is don’t lowball contracts, especially, in the face of increasing operating costs. Perhaps, next time a fuel clause would be in order.

Who would have thought it?

Gainesville, Florida has set up taxi “stations”, I guess they didn’t like the term stands, in front of two of the city’s hot spots to try and curb drunk driving. How about that? I remember well when the city of Austin closed a couple of cab stands at the request of bar owners so that they would have a place for pick up and drop off for valet parking. Valet parking? At a bar? The potential liability of that move boggled my mind. It’s good to see that cities aren’t caving to myopic bar owners and closing taxi stands. Well, at least not everywhere.

Did I mention that cab drivers hate change?

It’s been reported that the taxicab drivers and company owners in Port Chester, New York are up in arms. It seems the city is discussing, gasp, turning the regulation of taxicabs over to the county. It’s true, the evil county will be the regulatory authority over taxicabs throughout the county. Drivers are concerned that the county may allow other companies to serve the city, handle customer complaints and do the vehicle inspections. Yes, it could be the end of the industry in Port Chester. So help me here, what am I missing? Does it really make a difference who handles vehicle inspections and customer complaints? Or is it just the idea that the status quo is being disrupted? I’m sure the city, the drivers and the companies have all gotten comfortable with how it is and there is deep concern over the possibility of, dare I say it, competition. Is everyone really upset about inspections and complaints or are they more concerned about the potential for county cab companies being allowed to operate in the city? I guess it’s just the end of the industry.

—dmc

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