INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

In So who tells him?

Bravo for San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly! He at least had the nerve to tell Mayor Gavin Newsome that his idea to auction off taxicab medallions is a bad idea. Newsome seems quite undeterred and is looking for ways to auction off taxicab medallions anyway.

The phony. "It'll give drivers a stake in the industry" doesn't wash as the medallion auction scheme will undoubtedly deal drivers out of the industry. Who cares, as long as the mayor gets more money to spend. Don’t feel bad, Mr. Mayor, the entire state is bankrupt both in cash and ideas. San Francisco is just a microcosm of the entire putrid mess. Not to worry, Mr. Mayor, San Francisco's contribution to the US Congress will soon bankrupt the entire country so you will at least have plenty of company.

It amazes me how fiscal irresponsibility can permeate an area and spread like cancer. What Newsome's plan will do is saddle the good citizens of San Francisco with higher taxicab fares in perpetuity. But they have it coming, they elected him.


What? A problem with Town Cars?

Portland taxicab drivers are complaining to the news media that town cars are conspiring with hotel doormen to hijack taxicab customers. What? Yes, it's true. A group of "anonymous" Portland taxicab drivers have contacted the media, and the city who sent reporters out to investigate. Sure enough, they got offered town cars at under the city mandated rate.

Gasp! Welcome to the real world. Fact is that the same thing is happening in a variety of cities and neither the regulatory officials nor the hotel management are doing anything to combat the problem. One of the hotel managers is quoted as saying "And we want to make sure that we conduct business fairly. If somebody reports a violation we try to get to the bottom of it." Which is hotel manager speak for "if one of our customers complain we check it out." Since none of the "reported violations" are from their customers you can expect business as usual.

A city official is quoted as saying that she "cannot confirm or deny that the city is planning a sting" in an effort to combat the issue. Ooooh, must be former CIA. I'll bet they're planning a sting, especially if the local paper stays on their back about it. The problem is so rampant in so many cities it's almost a joke that it makes it on the news as news.


Hybrids holding up.

According to a recent Consumer Reports article 18 Ford Escape hybrids that are on the street as taxicabs are holding up well. According to the article they have been in service for 3 1/2 years and have over 350,000 miles on them with no major problems.

What are major problems exactly? Well, engine failure, transmission failure, AC system failure, etcetera. The most amazing part of the story, at least for me, was that NO major problems were reported. Wow, that is news.

18 front wheel drive vehicles have over 350,000 miles on them without a single failure. Let's get the complete story there guys, huh? What is the maintenance costs of the Escape compared to the Crown Vic? You may convince the general public that no transmission failed, but you’d never sell me that story. Sorry, couldn't even rent it to me.

You could make the argument that the transmission is not part of the "hybrid" part of the car, but nobody would be using the Escape if it wasn’t for the "hybrid" part of the car. If they came out with a hybrid Crown Vic the industry would be all over it since they love the rear wheel drive transmission.

It would be nice to see an unbiased group do an in depth study of the vehicles with some real numbers so the industry could make some choices based on facts rather than puff piece reprints of feel good politically correct news. I guess I'd best just go along before the government starts asking for my resignation.


City reaches out.

In what could on be considered a benevolent gesture it's being reported that Nassau County cabs are being allowed to pick up in New York City as long as the pickup point is prearranged.

According to the New York City Taxi Limousine Commission spokesman you can't hail a county cab in the city. Of course you can't hail a livery car either, right? In what I can only call an amazing statement TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus said the agreement can help the Nassau black car industry weather tough financial times by scoring airport fares and without having to pay a permit fee in New York City.

Do they get to dodge the city income tax also? Let me see if I understand. The TLC is allowing cabs and black cars that they don't regulate to come into the territory of cabs and black cars that they do regulate to help the cabs and black cars they don't regulate get through difficult financial times? Is the cab and black car industries in NYC so flush that they can spare the business that the unregulated vehicles are going to "score?"

You auction off medallions for a jillion bucks a piece and then give away the business? Are they required to have credit card capability? The same insurance? The same driver requirements? Does the TLC even have the authority to allow unlicensed vehicles to operate? Isn't there a law against unlicensed vehicles for hire? To say I am stunned is a gross understatement.


Cleveland drivers get fare increase.

It has long been my opinion that government regulating business creates as many problems as it solves. Sorry, my brain won't even attempt to absorb the government demanding that a CEO step aside. All that aside, regulating prices in the taxicab industry is fundamentally the same as setting CEO pay except that taxicab drivers don't get any bailout money.

While politicians in various cities struggle to decide how much a taxicab driver should earn they seem to have no problem deciding how much they should earn. In Cities like Chicago the ruling class allows the serfs in the taxicab industry to starve while they themselves aren't affected by any economic downturns.

The entire AIG bonus fiasco is a clear demonstration of what you get when government regulates business, a bunch of brainless blowhards like Barney vilifying private citizens engaged in legitimate, legal business while accepting no responsibility for their own malfeasance in office.

Congratulations to the Cleveland City Council for recognizing their responsibility to set fares that are equitable to the driver along with the passenger.


I'm sorry, but smoking is mandatory.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that taxicab drivers with children should permit their passengers to smoke? Throughout the last few decades these super smoker patriots have bourn tax increase after tax increase in the name of whatever politicians would like to pretend the money was for. Instead of congratulating them for their patriotism we have been defaming them and relegating them to smaller and smaller areas to engage in their smoking preference. I think it's high time that we nonsmokers be required to, not only stop whining about smokers, but to start lighting up to help pay for some of these valuable programs smokers are paying for. Okay, I'm kidding about that part but I do have a serious question for smokers: how’s that middle class tax cut working out for you?


What am I missing here?

Cleveland's Hopkins Airport is reported to "ban drivers from praying in the taxi queue." Actually the rule doesn’t mention prayer at all, it just demands that a driver within 300 feet of the airport stay in the car. Drivers are allowed to pray all they want, in their vehicle. What they can't do is leave an unattended vehicle in the taxi queue and wander off to a prayer service somewhere.

There is absolutely nothing in the rule that prevents a driver from pulling out of line and driving to the nearest appropriate venue of his or her choice to participate in a prayer session. While I can certainly understand a person's quest for a better relationship with his God I cannot understand why that quest needs to take place in an airport taxi queue. Beyond that, I wouldn't have any problem with any driver parking his cab in the airport taxi queue and standing by his vehicle. Who would?


What's in a word?

Reports are that a St. Croix taxicab driver shot and killed a robber brandishing a gun with his licensed firearm. All pretty standard stuff except that the reporter used the phrase "the classification of this homicide will be determined by the Office of the Attorney General."

Homicide? While the more mundane definition of homicide is simply the killing of one person by another there is also the implication that it was a murder. While I don't claim to know the laws in St. Croix, here in Texas the classification would be a formality and I doubt that even our media would have used the term "homicide."

It seems to me that it's just a cleansing of the gene pool. Stealing a man's earnings with a gun is just plain stupid, especially if the man is armed. If he wanted to steal another man's money he should have run for office like everybody else.

 

 


—dmc

 


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