Taxi crunch at McCarran getting worse

Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005 | 9:53 a.m.

With passenger counts at McCarran International Airport climbing to record levels this year, getting enough taxicabs to transport tourists to resorts is a growing problem.

The Nevada Taxicab Authority on Monday learned just how serious the issue has become -- during the busiest times at McCarran, people must wait more than an hour to get a cab. The worst delays occur just before midnight when cabbies are scurrying to move tourists from showrooms back to their hotels and other drivers are knocking off for the night.

That's also one of the busiest periods at the airport because several airlines, taking advantage of Southern Nevada's 24-hour lifestyle, use their planes for red-eye runs to and from Las Vegas rather than letting them sit idle.

"We're looking at several ways to solve the problem," said Harry Waters, assistant director of landside operations at McCarran. "We're looking at adding taxi loading points, improving traffic flow and adding some employees to more efficiently load cabs."

But experts say the long waits for cabs are generated by timing issues, not a lack of cabs. A report by transportation consultant TransSolutions, Fort Worth, Texas, indicated that even if McCarran were to gear up to load 900 vehicles an hour, which is considered peak capacity, there could still be long cab lines.

The company said taxi volumes have grown 20 percent in the last 12 months. The airport is on track to serve more than 43 million passengers in 2005.

Airport passenger volume peaks at different times of the day, different days of the week and even different months of the year.

TransSolutions' report says taxi demand is highest on Fridays and Thursdays when deplaning passenger volume is up. The two peak times of day for cab use is at around 11 p.m., followed by 11 a.m.

The busiest months for cab operations at McCarran are during the city's busiest convention times: March, April, May and October.

George Balaban, owner of Desert Cab, said it's easy to understand why 11 p.m. and 11 a.m. are the problem times for getting a cab at the airport. Most drivers work a shift from noon to midnight, so there are fewer cabs available at 11 a.m., and those available in the evening are working the Strip, where tourists are going to restaurants and shows.

Richard Land, chairman of the Taxicab Authority, which regulates Clark County's 1,600 cabs, said he hopes to generate solutions to the cab shortage problem by allowing McCarran to air the issue and open communications between the airport, the cab company owners and the drivers.

Waters said some of the infrastructure improvements to increase cab capacity would be "fairly low-cost," although he declined to estimate the amount. He said he hopes to hire five to 10 more employees to direct traffic and coordinate filling cabs with customers.

Waters added that the opening of a new car rental center near the airport next year would reduce traffic around the airport by removing and consolidating vans and shuttles from several companies to a bus fleet to be operated by airport personnel.