State OKs LV taxi fare hike

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 12:27 p.m.

More medallions

The Taxicab Authority of Nevada authorized additional cabs on the streets for three upcoming events.

Three overlapping conventions that will bring more than 100,000 people to the city will result in 14 cab companies each getting four additional vehicles from Jan. 25-27.

The Northern Snowbirds Association (60,000 people), the World Floor Covering-Surfaces Association (35,000) and the Helicopter Association International (12,000) will meet in various venues that week.

The board also approved seven additional cabs per company on Jan. 29, the day before Super Bowl Sunday.

Additional cabs also were approved for the Men's Apparel Guild in California fashion convention, expected to bring 90,000 people to Las Vegas Feb. 13-17. Two additional cabs were authorized per company Feb. 13 and 17 with five additional cabs allowed on two overlapping shifts during the peak days of the show, Feb. 14-16.

Taxi cab rides in Las Vegas will cost 10 cents more per mile beginning in March.

The Taxicab Authority of Nevada voted Tuesday to allow the city's 14 companies to raise rates from 30 cents per one-fifth of a mile to 20 cents per one-eighth of a mile in a hearing packed with taxi drivers from Yellow-Checker-Star Cab Co., the city's largest taxi operation.

The increase translates to an increase from $1.50 per mile to $1.60. The board left unchanged a flat $2.20 "initial drop" charge for the first one-fifth of a mile traveled.

The vote came after drivers pleaded with commission members to give them a raise. But Chairman James Jimmerson warned that just because the authority voted unanimously to increase rates doesn't mean it will all trickle down to the drivers.

Drivers who testified said the quality of service is deteriorating as more of their colleagues quit because of poor pay and growing frustrations.

Officials say about 40 percent of the total fare goes to drivers, with union contracts stipulating a higher percentage for more experienced drivers.

The increase in fares was authorized despite 1999 being a banner year for cab companies and none of those companies seeking an increase. But drivers were out in force to press the authority for more money.

The Professional Drivers Association, which represents about 4,000 drivers, and the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union, AFL-CIO, also backed the proposal to increase rates.

Jimmerson repeatedly said he was reluctant to vote for a rate increase because most of the cab companies won't open their books to the agency to give it a clear picture of how well the companies did in 1998 and 1999.

"You wouldn't want regulators to give a rate increase to Nevada Power after a year of record profits," Jimmerson said.

Jimmerson said part of the authority's frustration is that it can't earmark rate increases to specific operations, including driver pay.

Debates on rates dominated the meeting and about 70 people jammed into a room designed to hold 40. They first heard authority board members justify why they didn't approve a rate increase in 1999.

Last February, the authority was asked to consider a 7.5 percent increase from cab company owners after two consecutive average revenue years. Bill Shranko, director of operations for Yellow-Check-Star Cab Co., explained that the authority approved a 19 percent rate increase in 1985, an 8 percent increase in 1991, a 5 percent increase in 1993 and a 0.5 percent increase in 1997.

The Taxicab Authority staff recommended a smaller increase for 1999 -- 3.6 percent, or about 10 cents per mile, from the existing $1.50 rate.

By comparison, the Transportation Services Authority of Nevada allows limousine companies to increase their rates by as much as 10 percent a year each year.

After debating the increase in May, the authority board rejected it in a 3-2 vote, citing Las Vegas having the second-highest cab rates in the nation among the reasons for turning it down.

The decision was brought to the Transportation Services Authority, which hears Taxicab Authority appeals. The TSA ruled that the Taxicab Authority erred in its decision and remanded it back to the board.

In reviewing the 1999 decision a second time Tuesday, the Taxicab Authority board voted 4-0 to affirm its earlier stance. The board then took up a 2000 rate proposal with a fresh report from the agency staff. The staff recommended the same 3.6 percent, 10-cents-per-mile increase.

Beth Turrette, a management analyst with the Taxicab Authority staff, said Las Vegas cab rates have now slipped to 11th highest in the nation out of 27 cities surveyed.

A three-mile trip in a cab in Las Vegas costs about $7.05, slightly above the $6.81 national average rate. Revenues per trip and per shift were up in 1999 from the previous year, Turrette said, and other forms of transportation have not had a negative impact on taxi traffic.

The increase in revenue was attributed to a greater number of trips and a higher number of tourists in the city.

But even though numbers were up, drivers said their pay is down because they're spending more time in taxi lines and in traffic on city roads. They also say each trip isn't very long and each fare isn't very big because hotels are close together and the Strip isn't far from the airport.

Craig Harris, a driver for Yellow-Checker-Star, said some drivers have become so desperate that they have resorted to gambling.

Harris said drivers face increasing health problems and road rage on a daily basis and that competition is getting tougher. He said local car rental agencies have an inventory of 50,000 vehicles and that total goes up whenever a large convention comes to town.

Drivers suggested that their pay would improve if the Taxicab Authority wasn't so enthusiastic about granting additional medallions to cab companies -- a proposal the owners oppose.

The drivers also admitted things are harder for those at Yellow-Checker-Star because it is the biggest company and trips and fares are distributed more evenly.

But the down side for the smaller companies is that drivers work longer shifts and the stress level is high. Some drivers said they made less than minimum wage and many of the most experienced drivers have quit, resulting in a lower quality work force.

The authority board said it had a hard time reconciling how revenues are higher than ever, but drivers said they aren't benefitting.

Jimmerson said the quality of drivers is a major concern to the authority because the agency wants to maintain a high standard and can't if experienced drivers keep quitting.

At one point, the board considered raising the amount of the initial drop -- the fixed amount every customer who gets in a cab pays. But board members agreed increasing the mileage rate would reward drivers who get long hauls and make up for the many low-revenue short hauls cabbies get.

Board members also said they trust drivers won't take advantage of the higher mileage rate by taking unknowing passengers on longer routes to get to a destination.