INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

It's not just here.

It's not just the US government that's out of control. Its Canada's government too. It's been reported that a Saskatoon cab owner, Gordon Bolton, had to go to court to get the government to return a bond he put up when his cab was impounded. To get his cab back while awaiting trial he had to put up the bond. After the court ruled in his favor, the government refused to give him the bond back. Bolton then sued and the judge, all but calling the government idiots, ruled his bond should be returned. The most amazing part of the story is that the government is considering an appeal. Which just goes to prove a theory I've had all along, if you send the government money they start thinking it's theirs. I have always wondered when the government sends me a check from where they stole the money.

Say it ain't so!

Last month I had a blurb regarding the reinstatement of charges against the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Taxi Workers Alliance, now the United Taxi Workers Alliance, Ron Blount. Well the story, I'm told, goes a little deeper.

The word out of Philadelphia is that Blount was arrested two weeks after the alleged incident at the office of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA). Blount is alleged to have been called down to the PPA office, not unusual in his capacity as TWA, now UTWA, president. When he arrived he was arrested by police outside the office.

The interesting part of the story, at least for me, was the number of members of the media present. Now one has to wonder, does the media routinely hang out in front of the PPA office? If not, how exactly did the media just happen to find out that Blount was going to get arrested? It seems to me that the PPA may have had a hand in orchestrating this media event.

Is that the purpose of a regulatory authority, to stage media events where their chief critic gets arrested reportedly to the applause of the employees of the regulatory body? Now, I don't recall a lot of my high school German, but I do remember that Pennsylvania is German for Penn's Woods. The whole sad affair makes me wonder if the term Gestapo is German for parking authority.

Strike, strike, strike!

In keeping with the "at least one a month strike threat" this month the drivers and companies in Newburgh, NY are threatening to strike over new regulations. By the time you read this the deadline will already have passed and all taxicabs in the city of Newburgh will have to be painted yellow.

Gasp! Of course there is a lawsuit. Bob's Taxi of Newburgh is blue, well at least the cabs are, and they intend to keep it that way. Some of the best lines in the story are attributed to Bruce Stern, the attorney for G&C Transportation who is reported to have said "this is a health and safety crisis that is about to happen in the City of Newburgh." Health and safety Crisis? I guess that means the new regulations are making Bob's Taxi sick.

He's also reported to have declared the paint requirement as unconstitutional. I wonder if this will require a new line in the Miranda rights readings, like "you have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, you have the right to paint your taxi any color you want."

Another great line is attributed to Juan Diaz of Express Taxi Service who is reported to have said "we run this industry and we will stop work." No ego there, eh Juan? Did I mention that taxi drivers, and companies it would appear, hate change?

And on the hybrid front.

The City of Boston has declared that as of 2015 all taxicabs operating in Boston will be hybrids. 2015? Who knows what alternate technologies will have been invented by then. But I digress. The mayor is reported to have said that hybrids would be "an essential step" in improving air quality.

I think that it's so important that the city should just mandate that all cars in the city be hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles. I mean hey, why follow Bloomberg's lead when you can be the leader? You know what they say in Alaska, "if you're not the lead dog the view never changes."

The industry spokesman is reported to have repeated the usual industry whining about $5,000 batteries and such. I don't know why these industry cry babies can't just accept that the government knows what's best for them. Speaking of better living through government you have to wonder if the city will require an improved roof structure to protect drivers from the chunks of concrete reported to be falling off the "big dig?"

What would a prudent man do?

In a recent story out of Akron, Ohio the mother of a murdered taxicab driver is reported to be suing Yellow Cab of Akron for negligence. Her son, Warren J. Miller, was the third cab dispatched to the address after the second cab is alleged to have had a young male walk up to the cab in a black hooded sweatshirt and stare in the window.

According to her complaint her son was not notified of the two previous drivers sent to the location that didn't load any passengers or the strange behavior of the young male toward the second cab. Often, cities require a cab to be sent, if a customer calls, regardless of previous incidents at the address. I don't know how it is in Akron, but if the city allows refusal of service for strange behavior I would speculate that the mother has a case, and a good one.

If the dispatcher was notified of the strange behavior by the second driver the company had better start looking to settle. If on the other hand the city requires a cab to be sent regardless of previous encounters, like PUC requirements in Colorado, the mother should be suing the city also.

The entire sad affair leaves questions that may or may not ever get answered such as what is a reasonable procedure for dispatch services on calls that have already been dispatched once with "strange" behavior being reported by the previous driver? I know that in call centers which I have managed the procedure was not to send a second cab.The good news for Yellow Cab of Akron is that there is no chance that I'll end up on the jury that decides the case.

Time to find a new line of work.

In a story out of Wrightsville Beach, NC that can only be described as painful, a female driver is reported to have zapped a knife wielding would be robber in the genitals with at stun gun. The really amazing part of the story is that the would be robber jumped out of the cab and ran away.

Ran? Not limped? Not crawled, bawling? The article didn't speculate on whether the gender of the driver had anything to do with the chosen placement of the stun gun. I can only hypothesize on the robber's possible career plans.

Speaking of hybrids.

In a story out of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada the manager of Checker Taxis is reported to be "very happy" with the technology and performance of the 2008 Toyota Camry hybrids they have in their fleet. He reports that the company gets special requests for the vehicles from customers and that the cabs use less than half the gas of a conventional cab.

While it's still early to judge durability Checker reports having few issues with maintenance. The company plans to add more hybrids and is looking forward to hybrid minivans. The report didn't state why the City of Prince Albert didn't mandate hybrids. I guess some governmental bodies are willing to let the private sector be just that.

Speaking of alternative fueled vehicles.

In a story out of Dhaka, Bangladesh a recent fire in a compressed natural gas powered taxicab led to an explosion that injured one firefighter and an onlooker. While the article didn't state the cause of the fire one could speculate that a leak somewhere in the CNG system fueled the resulting explosion. While there are probably thousands of CNG fueled taxicabs in the world the explosion does point up potential hazards of using CNG as an alternative fuel. Say what you want about the high cost of hybrid batteries, but there haven't been any reports of them blowing up.

What took so long?

In a story out of North Charleston, SC the city is reported to have instituted new rules for taxicabs and drivers. While I am against oppressive regulations on drivers and taxicabs I would hardly call banning sex offenders and recent violent felons as oppressive. I would point out to the city that their five year rule for violent offenders would mean that Charles Manson would be eligible to drive there in the unlikely event he was paroled.

The new requirements for vehicles weren't detailed, only that they would be inspected by the police department for safety issues. It all sounds pretty reasonable to me although the ACLU hasn't weighed in on the case yet. As the attorneys of record for NAMBLA it's hard to believe that they're going to let this gross violation of sex offender's rights go unchallenged.

Displaced sex offenders take note.

The city of Pulaski, TN is considering deregulating the taxi industry. The city's only taxicab complained of the high insurance requirements, $500,000, and the City Attorney Andy Hoover is reported to have informed the council that they have potential liability if a taxicab incorrectly passes inspection. In what I would describe as an idea only a lawyer could have he stated that deregulating the industry would remove that liability. It would seem to me that if you burned down the town that would solve the potential liability also.

—dmc

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