Minneapolis Taxi Drivers: Dress Code and Drop the Cell Phones

Star Tribune
By Eric Roper
11/28/2011

The city's regulatory committee delayed action on a proposal requiring taxicabs to accept credit cards Monday, but approved a new regulation that restricts drivers from using cell phones.

Taxi drivers and industry representatives lined the Council chambers for the hearing on a multi-faceted modernization of the taxi code.

The cell phone restriction was passed along with a host of technical changes and alterations of the driver dress code. The next stop for that ordinance is the full City Council.

Councilmember Gary Schiff was slated to move forward his proposal requiring electronic credit card readers in cabs, but postponed it because of concerns about card service fees being passed to drivers. It was delayed until January.

"I don't want drivers to be penalized for a passenger who uses a credit card," Schiff said. "The purpose of this ordinance change is to make it easier for people to use taxis by giving people the option of cash or credit."

Mark Shields, a driver with Rainbow Taxi, worried that drivers will be charged high service fees and experience delays receiving their money.

"I dont want this dumped on the drivers," Shields said.

The new cell phone ordinance states that cab drivers cannot "operate a taxicab while using a wireless telephone, including a wireless telephone equipped with hands-free technology, except for emergency purposes."

That change did not arise in committee discussion, but Yemane Mebrahtu with the Minneapolis Taxicab Drivers and Owners Association said in an interview they oppose the language as it's written.

He said they had an understanding with the city that the change would only prohibit cell phone use when passengers are in the cab.

"If we don't have a passenger, [we] should be able freely to do our business," said Mebrahtu, the group's president. "Because we get a call from customers, we get a call from families."
Grant Wilson, the city’s manager of business licensing, said the intent of the bill is to bar cell phone use only when passengers are in the car. They will examine whether that language needs to be clarified, he said.

More from MN Daily

By: Nick Sudheimer

11/29/2011

Bari Niaz, president of Checker Cabs in Minneapolis, said he supports the ordinances, but admits they will make it harder for smaller cab companies to compete.

Niaz went on to say he hopes this will indirectly address a larger problem in the cab industry — the city allowing too many taxi licenses.

“For smaller companies, credit card companies won’t approve them but again it comes back to the city,” Niaz said. “The city will give [licenses] to anybody and now we have a problem because people complain and they think that every company has this problem [with credit card readers].”

Zen Tesseena, a driver for Blue and White Taxi, said he has noticed a significant increase in tips and ridership since he installed a credit card reader in his cab, which he said was one of the first card readers in Minneapolis.

Though he echoed Niaz’s concern with the number of cabs in Minneapolis, Tesseena doesn’t have any problems with the proposed changes.

“It doesn’t matter what the city does at this point; we are there so we will just do it,” Tesseena said. “Minneapolis is a beautiful city, and we love Minneapolis, and hopefully this will make things better for Minneapolis.”

Mary Smarelli New President of TLPA

Congratulations Mary Smarelli

It is so refreshing when quality people

are recognized for a job well done!

Biz Times Daily
11/8/2011

The Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) announced it has named Mary Smarelli, owner of one of Wisconsin’s largest passenger transportation companies, as its new president.

Smarelli owns Transit Express in Milwaukee, a company with a fleet of 150 vehicles including paratransit vans, buses, trolleys, limousines, executive cars and several riverboats. Since starting her company with just two wheelchair accessible vans more than 30 years ago, her company has risen to become one of the most respected leaders in the for-hire transportation industry.

Smarelli was voted into office at the TLPA’s 93rd annual Convention & Trade Show held Oct. 26-30 in San Francisco.

“The TLPA and its membership have really helped me grow my business over these many years, and this is a great honor to give back to it and to serve as its president,” Smarelli said.

“The TLPA represents the absolute best of our industry through our collective legislative voice, our professional training, our focus on customer service and safety, our community involvement, and our charitable giving.”

Established in 1917, the (TLPA) is a nonprofit trade association of and for the private passenger transportation industry.

Milwaukee and D.C. Taxi Drivers Seeking Their Day in Court

JSOnline
By Bruce Vielmetti
September 26, 2011

Three Milwaukee cab drivers, backed by a public interest law firm, say Milwaukee's limit on the number of taxicabs allowed in the city is arbitrary, anti-competitive and unconstitutional.

In a lawsuit expected to be filed Tuesday, they claim the 321 taxicab permits, capped in 1992, have consequently risen in value to nearly $150,000 on the secondary market, in effect pricing many would-be taxi entrepreneurs out of the market.

The Institute for Justice Minnesota Chapter, which represents the drivers, claims the numbers work out to one taxicab per 1,850 city residents, far fewer than many comparable cities. It cites ratios of one cab per 935 residents in Seattle, one per 550 in Minneapolis and one per 480 residents in Denver, where the institute successfully challenged limits on taxicab fleet size.
"Milwaukee's taxi permit cap presents a classic case of regulatory capture," the institute says in a news release. "The benefits of the system are concentrated in a few permit holders while the costs are diffused among consumers, drivers and would-be owners."

One of the biggest permit holders is Michael Sanfelippo, who controls 162 permits. He says that when Milwaukee had more permits, no one could make a decent living and the quality of cabs and service suffered.

"This is not a cab town," he said. Sanfelippo, who also operates American United, a dispatching service for cabs, scoffed at the notion that the permits would command $150,000.

"I think the last couple I bought were maybe $80,000," he said.

The lawsuit, which the institute intends to file in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, asks that a judge block the city from denying new taxicab permits, and award nominal damages of $1, plus the plaintiffs' attorney fees.

"In addition to the harm plaintiffs suffer, the artificial scarcity of cabs harms Milwaukee citizens and visitors through limiting competition in the taxicab industry and creating inferior customer service - including longer wait times for cabs and a lack of available cabs in modest and minority neighborhoods," the lawsuit asserts. Continue Reading


The Hoya
By Laura Zhang
September 27, 2011

Two D.C. taxi driver associations accused city officials of instituting unfair regulatory policies in a lawsuit filed last Tuesday.

In their complaint, the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association and the Dominion of Cab Drivers said that Mayor Vincent Gray's policies have caused arbitrary taxi rates, misrepresentation for drivers on the commission and unreasonable working hours.

They also alleged that Gray and D.C. Taxi Commission Chair Ron Linton denied their representatives a seat on the commission.

"The Mayor has refused to allow the commission to function, usurping its authority to set rates properly and instead setting them at levels that are completely arbitrary, contrary to law and deeply harmful to the men and women who operate taxicabs," the official complaint stated.
The mayor's office has expressed their disappointment with the lawsuit.

"The lawsuit … is disappointing and misguided. It ignores the commitment my administration has made to address the reasonable concerns of the taxicab industry while ensuring residents and visitors to our city get the first-class service they deserve," Gray said in press release last Friday.

The release also cited actions taken by the Gray administration to improve conditions for taxi drivers, including the institution of a fuel surcharge to help with higher gas prices.

Nathan Price, chairman and spokesperson of the DCPTDA, said that a legal battle with the D.C. government was inevitable, however.

"After several failed attempts to meet with the mayor in the last nine months, there was no other option but to file a lawsuit to remedy their economic hardship," Price said in an interview with The Hoya.

The taxi drivers' unions conflict with the D.C. government traces back to January 2006, when the unions were refused a pay increase. Continue Reading