|
|
INDUSTRY IN REVIEW By Don McCurdy Hoboken New Jersey is reported to be cracking down on taxicab ordinance violations. Good for them. They had a nice feel good article in the Jersey Journal with city council members stepping up to protect the rights of fair maidens and all. Very touching. A free, and worth every penny word of advice to the good city: there are two sides to every story, however. While you’re soliciting complaints from the good citizens of Hoboken regarding their taxi ride there are the not so good citizens riding also. Having fielded several thousand complaints in my years in taxicab business I can assure you that there will be riders with attitudes bad enough to generate complaints with no driver wrongdoing. Don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty of drivers breaking the rules, but before you take away someone’s ability to support their family you should at least make sure your complaining party is credible and not chronic. Of course, the article didn’t mention if the drivers were paying fines for infractions which would help the cash strapped local government from laying off city workers. Like say the taxi inspectors? Nah.
While Minneapolis has managed to deal with such heady problems as booze in your luggage they seem to have fallen a bit short on the basics like actually being able to deliver a customer to a major landmark without it making the papers. It seems that one of the airport taxicab drivers couldn’t find the major league baseball stadium. According to the player, Detroit pitcher Casey Fien, the driver had never heard of the Twins. Now, I don’t claim to have any knowledge of the veracity of the Casey at the Cab saga, but if I were a taxicab inspector or city council member I might think that the industry I regulate getting embarrassed nationally just might mean there’s a problem. Or not. Perhaps a review of the training and testing prior to licensing might be helpful.
Amazingly, the only way the Boston Taxi Owners Association could get the attention of the Boston Police Department (BPD), who regulate taxicabs in Boston, was to sue them. I suppose this is another good example of better living through government. The flap is reported to be over the mandatory credit card equipment and not being allowed to drive if the machine is down. It would seem to me that backup machines being available isn’t totally impossible, but I would suppose you would have to overcome the arrogance of the Hackney Unit of the Boston Police Department to effect even that simple a change. The other major issue is the 6% drivers have to pay for the privilege of being required to accept credit cards. So, I guess my question is what is the city’s cut? I mean, hey, if you’re going to let the bank take 6% of every credit card fare and the city doesn’t get to wet their beak the whole Hackney Unit should be fired for gross incompetence. The owners offered to drop the suit if the BPD would meet with them to discuss the issues. Personally, I’d like to see it go to the Supreme Court to see if there’s some way to find a Constitutional Right to use a credit card to pay a taxicab.
What is it about San Francisco? They, along with New York City, seem to be the most hell bent on regulating the taxicab business out of business. They’ve gotten their fledgling medallion program aloft just in time to demand that all taxicabs take credit cards. As usual, the issue really cooks down to who is going to pay for the city’s demand that all cabs take credit cards? The driver’s say the companies should pay, the companies say the rider should pay. The alleged benefits of credit card use fall to two groups in my opinion, the riders and the drivers. Therefore, in San Francisco, it would follow that the companies should pay. Say what? Well, it’s pretty obvious. First, companies are capitalists and therefore evil. Since the money will come out of the company’s profit, and profit is evil, that would be the only San Franciscan thing to do. I don’t understand why the city doesn’t simply absorb the taxicab drivers into the city employee base. It’s a way for the city to take in some extra money by leasing the medallions and taxicabs to drivers. The city could rake in all of the money currently being made by the companies and the permit holders. You know, kind of like owning your own car company. Make up a bunch of new regulations, have the companies pay for the new requirements, don’t allow them to pass along the expenses to their customers, “bail them out” when they go under and take over the companies. Then they could all be working for the betterment of San Francisco instead of lining some capitalist’s wallet. Ees good, comrades, no?
It is being reported that Philadelphia taxicab drivers are rallying to the defense of their illegal immigrant brothers who were scammed by the city and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The American Civil Liberties Union is exploring whether or not it can file a lawsuit on behalf of the illegals, er undocumented workers. Please do. It would be interesting to find out exactly what rights a person has who comes here without going through the legal process as compared to one who is here legally:
It’s being reported that cuts in Medicaid transportation funding have compelled the Charlotte, NC Department of Social Services to cancel using taxicabs and start making seniors take the bus and rail options for transportation. Some clients will still get to take taxicabs, but will have to have an assessment made of their condition pointing out their inability to take busses or rail and pay $2.80 instead of the previous $1.50. The seniors in rural Mecklenburg County will no longer get door to door services either. They will now be taken to the nearest bus stop or train
The NYC TLC has admitted publically that their wheelchair accessible taxicab program didn’t work. Gee guys, you’re not really surprised are you? At $177 to dispatch a trip I would have to say that you spent the money in the wrong place. I’ve told you before that the driver is the one who needs to see the cash if you want to inspire him. Now, I know the legalities of the ADA disallowing charging more for a wheelchair trip even though it involves more time, but you could subsidize a “tip” for the drivers. Find some cool hybrid accessible van and give the driver/owner/medallion holder (all one person) a $25,000 subsidy to buy it and finance the rest. Each qualifying trip the driver loads and completes nets the driver a $20 “tip”. Hire a car service to dispatch the trips at $10 a trip. You’ll have them lining up to help. Sweeten the deal with a free medallion as long as they stay in the program and don’t refuse trips. Come up with some minimum number of times they can refuse a trip before they’re kicked out of the program and stick to it. While they have a lot of socialist ideas taxicab drivers are basically capitalists. Show them the money and try to stay out of the way. By the way, I know you can sell the medallion for a half mil, but it really doesn’t cost the city to stamp out a few extra for a worthy cause. Just try to remember who is going to keep the waiting list for drivers wanting on the program. Oh, yeah, there will be a $1 surcharge on all trips as a consulting fee payable in Texas. Drop me an email and I’ll send you the address.
The mayors of six cities want the congress to pass legislation allowing them to mandate vehicles the mayors would prefer rather than the vehicles the taxicab companies would prefer. Sure, hell, why not? Slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, our political rulers have gotten the idea that they are the chosen ones. They need to guide us morons to the promised land even if we don’t want to go. Every single one of the mayors in question cannot successfully manage the city’s budget, but they think they know what is best for the taxicab industry. Paleeeze, can’t you guys just call Arizona names like everybody else? Why do you have to make life hard for the taxicab industry? They’ll move to hybrids all on their own when they’re convinced that the vehicle will hold up. Meanwhile, you guys can try to figure out how to pay for the medical needs of illegal immigrants you’ve invited to your sanctuary cities. If you have any comments regarding this or any of my articles please feel free to contact me at dmc@cmcauto.net. —dmc
© 2013 TLC Magazine Online, Inc. |