INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

Oh no!

LAX (Los Angles International Airport) is having taxicab problems. Despite taking in a reported 3.8 million dollars a year from taxicab loading, the airport is having problems getting a bid for supervising the loading that has been functioning very successfully and with which they are happy. Maybe I’m just being a little naïve here, but I would think I could manage to get the job done for 3.8 mil.

What seems to be the problem? If my experience with government contracts is valid it’s all about the accounting. I don’t believe I’ve ever met a group of drivers that was pleased with how any operation involving the distribution of trips was being run.

The disgruntled drivers are reported to be being “rallied” by the Los Angles Taxi Workers Alliance. Here’s a thought boys, if you don’t like the way things are being run bid for the contract. I’m sure it would boost membership in the LATWA if only card carrying members were allowed to work the port. I mean hey, it may be California, but it’s still America. Anyone is allowed to bid. If you’re unhappy with how things are, change them. Or, you could just wait and whine about the new company.

A bucks a buck.

Chicago’s Transportation Committee approved the mayor’s $1 per fare surcharge proposal to help offset the high price of gas. The vote was unanimous. I mean really, if you were an aspiring politician on the Transportation Committee would you vote against something proposed by some mayor named Daley?

While the thought is a good one it has long been my personal preference that any fare increase, surcharge, tax or other amount being charged a rider be shown on the meter.

The surcharge is due to go in effect automatically which makes me wonder how passengers will accept drivers “automatically” charging them an extra dollar that is not shown on the meter. My experience has been that the extra dollar comes right out of the tip. Does that represent an increase for the driver? It wouldn’t seem so. It has long been my contention that wreckers (tow trucks) have it right; it costs so much to hook up and you get 5 miles with the hook up fee.

Ok, so it may not work that way everywhere, but it works for me. I can’t get a kid to unload his lawnmower to cut my grass for what you expect a taxicab driver to show up at your house.

Why do you suppose there’s never been a cost of living allowance for taxicab fares? Why do you suppose it is that drivers have to go begging to some commission or other for a raise every few years? Would it be expecting too much for a city to just give the drivers an increase every year equal to whatever the inflation rate was for that year? Sounds way too simple. Besides, that might be inflationary.

Public or private?

Baltimore taxicab drivers are in an uproar over Baltimore Yellow Cab’s exclusive rights to pick up at various locations. While I can see their point if the stand and loading area are on public property they have no rights when it comes to loading areas on private property.

I’ve been to Baltimore Yellow Cab, they run a pretty tight ship. If you want to break their lock on exclusive loading rights perhaps you should try raising your standards to compete instead of whining when you get out hustled.

I recall vividly a driver explaining to a passenger at the airport why he had to take the first cab in the queue, a Fiat, and couldn’t just get into my cab, a Chevrolet Caprice. I was amazed that the city allowed such a small car to be used for a taxicab in the first place. The point was that not all cabs nor cab companies are created equal. Yes, they all have the city permit, and because of that, in theory, they are equal. However, the equality, in reality, stops with the permit.

Were I a hotel, nightclub or restaurant owner, shouldn’t I be allowed to decide who loads on my property? Business establishments want the best for their customers, especially, if the alternative is the same price for the worst service. The best part of the article for me was the fiat drivers considering “legal” action. How about starting by suing your company managers for low standards?

Now that’s news!

It appears that the next step in the demise of the mobile data terminal has been taken. You may recall several years ago I wondered how long it would be before some smart meter manufacturer developed a Bluetooth interface to tell the PDA when the meter is on. Well, it has been reported that Centrodyne is now offering such a device with their meters.

What will this mean to the big boys? Probably not much, but for the little guy it means all the functionality of expensive mobile data terminals can be had at a fraction of the cost of terminals.The way the cell phone industry operates you may just get your next MDT free.

Cell phones have been getting smarter with even more ridiculous features, and are now capable of being programmed for GPS computerized dispatch with meter on and off times recorded just like the high dollar systems. Now, I guess we have to wait for the software guys to kick it into gear.

Way up north.

It appears that Anchorage Alaska voters did their homework and rejected a half baked scheme to deregulate taxicabs in Anchorage. Bravo. Citing other deregulation fiascos, and there have been plenty, voters rejected deregulation by a wide margin.

While I don’t agree with closed entry, deregulation has proven to be a disaster in most places it’s been tried. The next question is what is deregulation? Is it open entry or total abandonment of all regulations? When the airline industry was “deregulated” it didn’t entail the abandonment of all regulations. The same is true of the trucking industry. The term deregulation has such negative connotations in the taxicab industry that just hearing the term turns most knowledgeable voters off.

Perhaps the next version, and there will be a next version, that is proposed will come up with a fresh term like “limited entry” or “senior driver medallion program”. I can’t help but wonder if the voters in Anchorage would have accepted a program in which a driver with 10 years driving experience was allowed to apply, and get his or her own medallion. Certainly not deregulation nor open entry.

Oops, somebody else noticed.

Move over Medallion Financial, there’s a new player in the medallion financing business. A recent report about Madison National Bank in Long Island says that Madison’s portfolio includes about 15 million in medallion loans. That’s about a drop in the bucket compared to Medallion Financial, but it does indicate that someone else has noticed that taxicab medallions are reasonably secure items to loan money against. Will this create a “bubble” in the medallion market? I would have to guess not, but it does offer some competition for medallion loans which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I doubt the boys at Medallion will have to give up the Mercedes for a Chevy, though.

DC drivers waiting on court opinion.

They’ve protested, petitioned, struck and sued and now DC taxicab drivers are playing chicken with the meter deadline hoping a judge will save them from the evils of taximeters.

Forcing DC drivers out of the taxicab dark ages is long overdue. While I’ll still believe it when I see it, it does appear that taximeters may happen in DC. How many years has it been? I know I’ve heard the recommendation numerous times, but to no avail. The usual empty headed political styling and profiling has passed, the protests have passed, the petitions have passed and now we all wait for what I figured would be the result, the courts deciding. Even if the judge decides in the driver’s favor it won’t end the issue, it will just delay it once again. What about it judge? Will the nonsense continue? Don’t get me wrong, dragging out the issue certainly gives me something to write about every month.

Speaking of lawsuits….

Well, it’s reported that the New York Taxi Workers Alliance has dropped it’s lawsuit against the city. Bhavarvi Desai, the head of the NYTWA, is reported as saying that it just got too expensive. Apparently, she has learned a few things from dealing with politicians, like how to spin a story.

You can get an attorney on contingency for damn near any suit that has the remotest prayer, so what was the big “cost”? Must have been the cab fares down to the courthouse. I can say one thing for absolutely certain, the truth is certainly hard to come by in America these days. Speaking it may get you vilified, abused, attacked, denounced and mugged by the media. Don’t believe me? Ask Geraldine Ferraro. While I don’t agree with her politically I do respect her and her opinion. So why did she take a major whacking in the media for stating the obvious? Oh, you can save the hate mail, I’m not a public enough figure to waste time on.

—dmc

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