CALL me 4 cab. Just make sure it’s a good one, Mechanically sound. With a driver who knows where he is going and who has been in the business more than a few months. Oh and maybe speaks English. Too much to ask? Perhaps. The recent smoke and fire swirling around the Vancouver airport and the cabbies licensed to service its users resurrects the issue of how Lower Mainland cab companies operate and how taxi access to the lucrative airport zone is allocated. That issue has a strong North Shore connection. = The airport service dust- up also underlines the need for more vigilance in moni- toring quality control of local cabs and their drivers. Earlier this month, the Vancouver International Airport Authority warned the nine Vancouver cab com- panies licensed to service the airport thar they would have ‘their service. contracts can- celled if they didn’t rein in protesting cabbies and get “thei baék on the job. | The nine companies share . ina multi-milfon-dollar pas- _senger. pool that excludes the “rest of the Lower Mainland’s cab operations. The drivers refused to © pick tip fares ar che airport in =" protest over a demand by the-airport authority that ~ they’clean up their act. ity. New requirements includ- ed that’ cabs servicing the port be ho more than nine years Old and that their dri- « Vers pass an exam that - ensures English language -proficiency and a basic Knowledg of the’ Vancouver area, Whoa! Heavy-handed or what? Who does the airport authority think it is anvway? How about community- minded. Service-oriented. Head in the real business world. Also in dispute was a change in the fee structure cabbies are charged to ser- vice the airport. The protest, which ended “Sunshine argued that ... regional licensing would instead. stimulate competition and thereby result in better service.” after nine days, failed ro con- vince the airport authority or anyone else that those demands were out of line. Taxi drivers, meanwhile, are lobbying to pass on the airport authority’s new S1 per-pickup fee to their long- suffering passengers. Cabbies — you gotta love em. If you have ever driven a cab, you’ll know the value of having full access to the air- port. : ’, From the North Shore, an airport trip is worth about $35, Compare that with 3 series of short Sierks™ —— picking up a far, at the 13th Street Sateway, for example, and taking said fare and gro- ceries five blocks to their apartment for $2.50 ta $3. Try stringiag four or Hive of those together in an after- noon and see how vour com- petitive cab-driving blood pressure fares. But both North Shore cab companies have limited access to the airport gravv runs. They are alowed to rake fares trom their home base to the airport, but, unless they have firm prior arrange- ments — someone has pre- arranged to have a North Shore cab pick them up at the airport — they cannot pick up airport fares for the return trip. It is also verbotca to pick up flag fares in zones other than their home territories. Cani turis prevail. Emory cabs fill the land. But that is nor how it has to be. Back in the lare ‘80s, the North Shore’s Sunshine Cabs Lrd., once one of the most innovative taxi compa- nies in the Lower Mainland, ta long and ultimately sful battle to region- atize the local raxi trade. Led by Sunshine founder Richard “Hub” Hughes, the company applied to the Motor Carrier Commission for unrestricted access to the airport and any other munic- ipality outside of its home Narth Shore base. Of course, the plan would have allowed other cab com- panies to pick up on the North Shore too. Ir was a Two-way street. It was a drive against taxi monopolies — what Sunshine was all about from the outset. Sunshine argued thar the status quo entrencacd monopolistic taxi service and thar regional licensing would instead stimulate competi- tion and thereby re:ult in better service to the public and more efficient use of taxis throughout the Lower Mainland. Oiher taxi companies were not so enamored of the Sunshine plan. They argued that ic would result in taxi chaos as municipal cabs descended on the lucrative downtown market, abandon- ing their outlying home bases in the process. It would also have deval- ued Vancouver taxi licences. For a while, Sunshine openly defied taxi regula- ions in its regionalization push. Jt was a vaiant bare. But the monopolies pre- vailed. As they continue to prevail at the airport. The resule: the recent stand-off at one of Vancouver's main occess points, which was brought to the boil by an indepen- dent taxi service survey launched bv the airport authority. That passenger survey uncovered a host of com- plaints about the quality of taxi service and taxi drivers. Some tales of horror; many tales of indifference and incompetence. Both local cab companies would do well to consider those findings. From my experience of being on both sides of the TAX RETURNS ' Call Brian Watts for an appointment. Sunday, April 19, 1998 — North Shore News — 7 Licensing at root of recent cab conflict cab business steering wheel, service improvements are needed. When Sunshine began its service back in 1982 with a 25-licence luxury cab ser- vice, its vehicles were spat- less; its drivers required to dress in suit and ic and attend passengers with an umbrella in the rain. My most recent experi- ences in local cabs have, for the most part, found hyper- active drivers with unsettling driving habits lacking in communication skills and rudimentary knowledge of major roads and locstions. And cabs in varying stages of disrepair. Last year, 43% of AS servicns Sunshine Cabs’ vehicles failed a Ministry of Transportation and Highways safety inspection. Over at North Shore Taxi, 16% of its fleet failed the same inspection. There are a lor of good cabbies on the North Shore and elsewhere who provide decenc service, but Sunshine’s original dnve to open up the local taxi busi- ness to real competition would have ensured that decent service would have been elevated to good ser- vice and that the really bad operators would be pursuing other lines of work. It would have been a good cab call all the way. Coe oe SE aes 0: | i _ Oil, Lube & Fitter oe faty verranty 21 at. 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