Cabdrivers may get share of increased revenue

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

Clark County's 16 taxi companies, pressured by cabdrivers and their unions, say they'll see to it that drivers will share the revenue generated by a fuel surcharge approved by the Taxicab Authority last month.

In a surprising turn of events, management representatives of cab companies said they would share revenue with drivers after the Industrial Technical Professional Employees union, one of two that represent cabdrivers in Southern Nevada, asked the Taxicab Authority to recharacterize the 20-cent-a-mile fuel surcharge as a permanent rate increase.

The Taxicab Authority board took no formal action on the request, but agreed to consider cost-of-living rate increases when taxi rates are reviewed in July.

Cabdrivers jammed Tuesday's Taxicab Authority board meeting, complaining that there had not been a cost-of-living rate increase since July 2003 while three fuel surcharges were approved. Several drivers testified that their respective companies were pocketing the surcharge revenue without raising pay for drivers.

"Nobody has stood up for the drivers," said Karla Hiropoulos, a driver with Yellow-Checker-Star for nine years who is jumping to Desert Cab.

Hiropoulos said she decided to leave Yellow-Checker-Star after the company raised a trip charge assessed to drivers to pay for insurance and other benefits from 80 cents a trip to $1.50. The ITPE union had expected resistance from Yellow-Checker-Star to sharing fuel surcharge revenue with drivers, but company representative Penny Chalmers said company executives changed their minds.

Chalmers, attending the meeting in place of General Manager Bill Shranko, did not say why the company changed its stance and Shranko could not be reached for comment.

"Now we've got to wait and see if they put it into effect," said Ruthie Jones, vice president of the ITPE union.

Jones said based on the number of trips generated in 2004 and the amount of surcharges already granted that the 16 companies would make more than $17.3 million a year in fuel surcharge revenue.

The five-member Taxicab Authority board plans to consider general rate increases in July, including the future of the fuel surcharge, added when the cost of gasoline spiked earlier this year.

In other business, the authority board said regulations requiring cab companies to place cameras in every taxi remain in limbo.

Administrator Yvette Moore told the board that a Senate concurrent resolution was referred to the Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, which had scheduled a hearing Tuesday.

The resolution, if approved by the Legislature, would prevent the cameras-in-cabs regulations from being adopted. A legislative committee objected to the provisions in January over concerns that recording video could violate a customer's privacy. The Taxicab Authority board opted not to change its standards, resulting in the current standoff.

Even though regulations haven't been formally adopted, several cab companies have installed cameras in their vehicles. Yellow-Checker-Star, the largest company, has cameras in about 75 percent of its vehicles, while No. 2 Whittlesea Bell, which owns Henderson Taxi, has cameras in all its vehicles.

Other companies are in varying stages of installation, cab company executives said.

Moore said Tuesday that there have been no robberies committed against drivers of cabs installed with cameras, but a hijacking involving a Yellow-Checker-Star cab with a camera installed resulted in the system recording clear photos of a suspect.

Moore said only one complaint has been received on the use of cameras and that came from someone concerned about violations of privacy for drivers.00