Board grapples for solutions to neighborhood cab problem

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

The issue of how to better serve Las Vegas residential neighborhoods with taxi service continues to elude the Taxicab Authority, which agreed Tuesday to keep studying the matter.

Every solution offered at a meeting of the agency only generated more questions for the regulatory board, which oversees Clark County's 1,500 taxis. The panel voted to conduct a workshop on service to residential areas, probably next month, meaning a vote on the issue isn't likely until November at the earliest.

The panel considered an agency staff proposal to expand a geographically restricted area for taxi service. The proposal would have excluded certain cabs from picking up any passengers east of Valley View Boulevard and west of Las Vegas Boulevard between Spring Mountain Road and Tropicana Avenue, and west of Paradise Road and east of the Strip between Flamingo Road and Harmon Avenue.

That, in effect, would prevent cab drivers under the restriction from congregating at the Rio and the Hard Rock hotel-casinos as well as any Strip property. The plan, it was explained, would force those cab drivers away from the lucrative "Golden Triangle" resort corridor where cab drivers can make the most money.

But owners of the 13 cab companies that operate in Clark County say that could discourage those drivers and create a turnover problem that could weaken the $177 million-a-year industry. Some owners aren't convinced service to residential areas is bad -- the Taxicab Authority received 42 documented complaints last year out of thousands of cab rides.

Robert Anselmo, administrator of the Taxicab Authority, said most of the complaints don't come to his agency -- they go directly to the cab companies or go unreported by tourists who don't bother to follow up long distance.

But board members are convinced there is a problem. Most of the evidence is anecdotal, but one organization, the Citizens Committee for Better Transportation, led by former cab driver Chris Christoff, is keeping the heat on the regulators and the cab companies.

Christoff didn't offer any numbers showing how big the problem is, but said the problem is expanding because the city itself is growing. He charted growth statistics for the city and suggested at the seven-hour meeting that the panel require cab companies to station cars in zones across the city.

In addition to complaining about underserving neighborhoods, Christoff charged that cab company bosses look the other way when drivers collect tips from topless dance club owners seeking customers -- a charge echoed Tuesday by three-time State Senate candidate Lou Toomin.

Toomin criticized Trip Sheet magazine, a publication popular with cab drivers, for publishing ads that encourage drivers to drop customers off at certain businesses for financial compensation. It's illegal for a cab driver to "divert" a passenger to a business the driver recommends, or to accept a tip from a business.

Christoff and Toomin were among the community activists to testify on the taxi controversy. One other, Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, offered to find solutions to the problem with city resources.

She recommended a coordinated effort between the Taxicab Authority, the city and the county to solve community transportation needs. McDonald suggested a more in depth meeting to discuss how taxis fit in the mix with Citizens Area Transit buses and the proposed resort corridor monorail project.

Taxi drivers said CAT buses discourage them from operating in neighborhoods because most residential areas are well served by the buses.

Drivers are split over the impact the proposed new monorail will have on them. Some say they'll still have the advantage of offering door-to-door service for customers, while others say a monorail will take a big bite out of their routes, especially from conventioneers.

Drivers offered several other factors that discourage them from basing in neighborhood locations. Driver Craig Harris, who also is associate editor of the Trip Sheet magazine, told authority members that drivers have been criticized for not responding to calls from people too drunk to drive. He said drivers who respond to those calls risk having the customer get sick in their cabs.

Others say it's a common practice for customers in outlying neighborhoods to call more than one cab company, then take the ride with the one that arrives first. That leaves at least one company wasting time and fuel to drive there, then having to return empty as well.

Meanwhile, drivers and their representatives cautioned the board not to adopt a solution offered by the cab companies -- putting more cabs on the streets. Ruthie Jones, vice president of Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union in Las Vegas, one of two unions representing Las Vegas taxi drivers, said additional cabs would spread profits even thinner among the drivers' ranks.

And Daryl Poelman, president of the Professional Drivers Association, said the board should focus on the reasons why there's such a high percentage of "blown shifts" on cabs assigned to residential neighborhoods -- because they aren't as lucrative as the ones in the resort corridor. A blown shift occurs when a company doesn't have a cab on the street when allowed to do so by the Taxicab Authority.