Fort Wayne has gone the right way on taxicab control, deregulating to the point where one-cab companies can operate. South Bend has gone the other way:
South is considering an ordinance with additional requirements for taxi cabs, but some drivers are concerned it will eliminate independent operators.
The ordinance, submitted by Assistant City Attorney Ann Carol Nash, would require taxis to be inspected twice a year, adhere to cleanliness and maintenance standards, accept credit cards
and install video cameras.
"We're proposing some real specific benchmarks for approval of a taxicab," said Nash.
Taxi companies would be required to paint their vehicles in a common scheme to make them easily identifiable. They will also be required to submit their rates to the city, which will then post the rates online.
The city will not set maximum fares or standardize rates.
"With gas prices and other costs fluctuating we'd like them to decide what the fares ought to be, but we don't want to have a surprise," said Nash. "They may very possibly still be able to have that special rate. I personally am not crazy about that, but I also know that the hotels increase the rates at certain times of the year."
"Some drivers are concerned it will eliminate independent operators." Gee, ya think? Overregulation discouraging business? Say it ain't so. But the city is going to actually let the cab companies set their own rates! Imagine that.
Here's economist Walter Williams in a recent column about overregulation, showing how bad the cab busniness can become:
Comments
In the few years I've lived here, I've been struck by the near-absence of cabs. You'd think it would be in the city's interest to encourage cab services to open, if only to give drunks a safe way to get home.
Encourage cab service?
Here?
That would be TOO EASY a solution...(as well as a BETTER one)...
Besides, that's what the OTHER drunks are for.
I saw the gradual loss of all the "indies" down in D.C. as well.
And THOSE guys were worth their weight in gold as far as getting you from A to B safely and quickly.
;)
Maybe the near absence of cabs is because smaller communities find that mode of transportation a bit pricey for their taste?
AJ
I wouldn't claim that Haskell Schultz did a good job of providing taxicab service to Fort Wayne, but it seems to me that he was trying very hard to turn around a company that was undercapitalized and every time he turned around, the city was pulling the run out from under his feet, instead of doing anything to help him.
As Bob and Littlejohn point out, a cab can be not just a figurative lifesaver, but sometimes a literal lifesaver as well, but there's no way that I'd invest in a cab company doing business in Fort Wayne. No way on Earth.