Cameras yield surprise benefit for cab firms

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

Las Vegas taxi company owners have discovered a hidden bonus to placing cameras in their vehicles that could help pay for the systems they're installing.

The Nevada Taxicab Authority in October ordered the installation of cameras in cabs as a deterrent to violence against drivers. While shopping for camera systems that would meet the criteria established by the authority board, some owners found a system that would also be activated when a vehicle is misused by a driver.

DriveCam, a San Diego-based company that sells cameras and software, has a palm-sized video recorder that records sounds and sights inside and outside a vehicle whenever a "triggering event" occurs. A triggering event is an accident or a hard acceleration, stop or turn.

Although George Balaban, owner of Desert Cab, concurs that the primary purpose for installing the cameras is to enhance driver safety, he's found that the DriveCam system would also enable him to monitor his drivers and counsel or discipline drivers who abuse their vehicles.

"A cab company in Key West, (Fla.) went from having all kinds of damage to normal wear," Balaban said. "All of a sudden, everybody was accountable."

And Balaban said that accountability could save thousands of dollars a year in unnecessary wear on cabs -- enough to pay for the installation of the cameras.

Because the DriveCam units were not designed to monitor all activity inside the cab, Balaban and owners of other cab companies considering the system are working with the company to design modifications that would bring the cameras into compliance with the Taxicab Authority's operational rules.

The Taxicab Authority is requiring that camera systems be activated by the opening of the vehicle's door. DriveCam didn't have a means of activating the system with a door opening or closing.

"We looked at wiring it off the dome light of the car," Balaban said. "But a lot of the lighting systems in cars now have dome lights that gradually fade."

Now, Balaban and officials with Whittlesea Bell Transportation, which is buying the same type of cameras, are working with the manufacturer to redesign an easy-to-install harness that would activate the camera when the door is closed.

Balaban said he hopes the modifications will be developed by the end of the week so that his company can start installing cameras in the approximately 175 cabs he operates. The company only has 100 medallions to operate, but has extra cabs as back-up units.

He expects to take delivery of most of the units by February, giving him more than a month to install cameras by the Taxicab Authority's April 1 deadline.

Balaban said he hopes his company can save enough money in repairs to vehicles to pay for the cost of the cameras.

Desert Cab is one of the industry's most efficient operators, leading Clark County's 16 cab companies with more than $16,500 in monthly revenue per medallion in November, exceeding the average of $12,787.

While some cab drivers had reservations about cameras being used by owners to spy on their drivers when the cameras-in-cabs debate was aired, the managing editor of Trip Sheet magazine doesn't think driver monitoring will be a big issue.

Craig Harris, who also is a driver for the Yellow-Checker-Star cab companies, said he thinks there would be too many incidents for cab company executives to spend much time reviewing video. In addition, he believes many of the videos initiated by the DriveCam technology would exonerate drivers.

"We're talking about more than 2,000 cabs," said Harris, whose publication airs issues of interest to cab drivers. "They (cab companies) would have to have a full-time person on staff to keep up with it. I don't think they have the time or inclination to do that."

He said triggering events could capture pedestrian jaywalking incidents or motorists who swerve in front of cabs and cause accidents.

But Harris said he doesn't think drivers would stand for video eavesdropping.

"I have no problem with the enhanced technology," he said. "There's a difference between monitoring and eavesdropping. Companies could run into privacy issues if a celebrity gets in my cab and their picture shows up in a tabloid publication. I don't want them surreptitiously filming Britney Spears in my cab."

Yvette Moore, administrator of the Taxicab Authority, said it appears the county's cab companies are on track to get cameras installed by the April 1 deadline.

One of the most outspoken critics of the the camera plan, Lucky Cab Co. owner Jason Awad, said he expects that his company's cabs will be in compliance by the deadline -- but he's still skeptical that the cameras will provide the deterrence desired by the Taxicab Authority.

"Cameras are great, but it's just one tool we can use to keep drivers safe," Awad said.

He said a cab driver in Atlantic City was shot and killed recently, even though those cabs have cameras in them. Awad had advocated considering other safety measures, including the installation of shields that separate drivers from their passengers.

"I think once we get the cameras in, we'll find that they aren't the deterrent we thought they'd be," Awad said. "Look at all the robberies that have occurred recently in banks and casino cages. Those places are filled with cameras, yet they were still robbed."