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By Michael Aushenker
Lookout Staff
December 15, 2010 -- How do you divide 50 extra cabs among five
taxi companies? If you're the Santa Monica City Council, you think local.
After a lengthy debate that constituted a crash course in the taxi business,
the council Tuesday night voted to award local cab companies Taxi Taxi
and Metro Cab Company the most additional cars.
“We’re all learning a lot about the taxi business,”
said Councilman Bobby Shriver with profound understatement, as representatives
from the major taxi cab companies serving Santa Monica lobbied the council.
The center of debate: the council’s proposal to regulate Santa Monica’s
cab industry by limiting the maximum number of taxicabs per company to
60.
The L.A. cab companies––Bell Cab Company, Yellow Cab Company,
Independent Taxi Owners Association (ITOA)––and the two local
cab companies were at the opposite end of the argument as the Council
struggled to reach a consensus on how best to distribute the cars.
Some council members called for an even split, while others favored rewarding
the local companies, allowing Taxi Taxi to increase its fleet to 65 cars,
15 more than the 50 maximum originally proposed by the council.
“We should set an example,” said a Taxi Taxi representative,
adding that “we buy local” and claiming that most of the company's
fleet was purchased at Santa Monica-based car dealerships and that their
drivers purchase gas from local stations.
Bell’s Michael Calin, who has been in the taxi business for 30 years,
argued that Taxi Taxi leased cabs out to drivers at a cost “higher
than any cab company in L.A.”
Santa Monica residents weighed in during public comment, and several council
members sad they faced a difficult choice.
“All of these companies have passed the test with flying colors,”
aid Mayor Richard Bloom. “They are all winners, even if they their
headquarters are not in Santa Monica.”
“You’re handing out money here in the form of capital,”
Shriver said. “I’d like to see a little more analysis on what
[cabs] are worth.”
The ITOA spokesman, representing 300 cabs and 220 individual drivers,
attempted to spell out the financials, claiming that Taxi Taxi leased
out their cabs to independent drivers at $1,000 per week while ITOA members
paid $1,000 a month to operate their taxis.
The testimony failed to sway Council member Kevin McKeown. “I have
a feeling that the facts are somewhat hazy,” he said.
Davis agreed with Shriver that “these cars have extraordinary value”
and feared that by rushing to a decision, the Council could create an
“oligopoly” in the process. It’s regulation, she said,
adding that the Council would be “limiting their number…and
their growth.”
However, the Council, particularly McKeown, was itching to decide the
matter. “I really think we need to move this forward tonight,”
he said.
Councilman Bob Holbrook called for basic equity among the companies but
added, “I still like the idea of Taxi Taxi retaining their extra
cabs.” '
He added that if a problem arose from an imbalance caused by their ruling
across the 5-year life of this ordinance, the law could be re-evaluated
and amended in 2015.
The 50 extra cars that would be permitted to be added onto the collective
companies, via a City Council vote, were distributed to Taxi Taxi and
Metro Cab Company with 13 cars a piece and eight cars to each of the Santa
Monica companies’ L.A. rivals.
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“We’re all learning a lot about the taxi business.” Bobby
Shriver |
