Solution to McCarran taxi shortage creates new woes

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 10:56 a.m.

On a hot August weekend night, there may be 500 people waiting in line for a taxi to take them to their Las Vegas hotels from McCarran International Airport.

Seeing a growing problem, McCarran officials last spring approached the Nevada Taxicab Authority about getting more cabs to the airport at times when the problem peaks -- between midnight and 2 a.m.

The Taxicab Authority responded with a proposal designed to get more cabs to the airport and planned a 60-day experiment that began Aug. 1. The fix, the board agreed, would be to change a group of about 250 time-restricted cabs from a noon to midnight shift to a 2 p.m.-to-2 a.m. shift.

The board considered allowing all companies to add more cabs -- a proposal most owners like but most drivers hate. With more cabs, there's a higher likelihood of more revenue for the companies, but the drivers say more cabs means they have to split the pie more ways. This cuts into each driver's income.

Now, two weeks into the trial, cab companies and their drivers say the 2-to-2 experiment has turned into a logistical nightmare.

Many drivers who were getting off work at midnight are now going home at 2, disrupting child-care and family obligations. Some say they have made less money per shift because the late-night demand at the airport doesn't happen every night.

In addition, some resorts that have noon check-outs are finding a shortage of cabs just after noon because the time-restricted cabs aren't on duty yet under the new schedule.

Drivers who belong to unions have filed grievances that have been forwarded to the Taxicab Authority.

Some drivers pleaded their cases in a Taxicab Authority meeting this week, but the board voted to affirm its decision and continue the experiment through the end of September.

"We admitted to the Taxicab Authority that we didn't do our homework ahead of time and made a mistake in going along with it," said Bill Shranko, director of operations for Yellow Checker Star, the city's largest cab company.

John Plunkett, the Taxicab Authority's new administrator, said he will continue to study the results of the experiment and make some proposals when the data are compiled.

Bill Klein, assistant director for landside operations at McCarran, said the problem of long waits for late-night passengers began in the spring and resulted with a growing number of red-eye flights by a number of airlines, including McCarran's No. 2 carrier, America West Airlines.

America West operates a hub in Las Vegas and more than half its 84 daily flights arrive after 9 p.m. McCarran has the third-largest number of cab operations among U.S. airports, trailing only New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

In an average month, more than 200,000 taxi rides originate from McCarran, with more than 180,000 reported last month. In 2000, 2.5 million cab rides began at the airport and McCarran officials said at peak times, 15 cabs a minute are loading passengers.

Klein said he monitored the number of times there were no cabs available and the approximate number of people waiting for rides and took the information to the authority's former administrator, Bob Anselmo.

Anselmo suggested changing the time-restricted cabs from noon to midnight to 2-2.

Plunkett came aboard for the retiring Anselmo right before the experiment began.

"I think Bill Klein is right about the need for more cabs out there," Plunkett said. "There is a genuine problem."

But even Klein admitted it's not something that's easily solved because of the unpredictability of large crowds.

"It happens some Friday nights and Sunday nights and occasionally Thursday nights and it also depends on what conventions are in town," Klein said.

For example, he expects the problem to occur next week when the Men's Apparel Guild in California (MAGIC) trade show is in town with about 100,000 conventioneers and vendors.

"Some of those guys bring large cases and baggage for their wares and will take two cabs at a time to haul everything," he said.

Klein also said flight delays sometimes make the problem worse. When a large weather system disrupts flights on the East Coast or the Midwest, planes may arrive late -- some of them after 2 a.m. -- and the taxi stand lines get even longer.

He said the same problem occasionally occurs between 4 and 5 p.m., when the unrestricted taxis are in a shift change and many of the drivers are turning in their cabs when new drivers are coming on for night work.

Klein and Plunkett concurred that some of the problems may be solved if McCarran workers can call cab dispatchers and road supervisors quickly when a line begins forming and there are few cabs immediately available to serve everyone.