Anchorage Daily News

Yes vote hurts the handicapped

I have heard the sponsor of the taxi initiative claim that his initiative will improve service to the handicapped in Anchorage. The opposite is true.

In 2001, with taxi industry support, the city issued four new taxi permits, which required use of vans which are handicap accessible. Because these specialized taxis are more expensive to own and operate, the auction price for the permits was much lower than the normal price. Without this incentive, no one would operate a handicap-accessible taxi in Anchorage.

The taxi initiative could kill handicap-accessible cabs. Why would anyone use a permit requiring much more expensive costs when they could obtain an unlimited permit for virtually nothing? Those who have invested in handicap-accessible taxis will be punished for playing by the existing rules, and handicapped customers will be left in the lurch.

-- RaeAnn Nutt

Anchorage

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer works at a cab company.

Lack of competition is damaging

Taxi deregulation is long overdue. When Yellow Cab and Alaska Cab merged a few years ago, competition was drastically reduced and so was the service.

Two years ago my wife and I were charged over $20 for a five-minute ride to the airport. I noticed that the driver had the meter turned so we could not see the amount. We were late for our flight so I could not argue about the fare. I did report it to the cab company, but nothing was done about it, and they did not return my calls.

Last November, a different driver was talking on his cell phone and refused to help us load our luggage into the cab. When I asked him to help he told me to get another cab, and drove off while still talking on his cell phone, leaving us standing in the street. If this is happening to us, it is happening to other people too.

Most cab drivers do a good job, but the lack of competition is reducing the quality of service we have been used to for so many years.

-- Bob Lewis

Anchorage

No vote on Prop 8 is right choice

Proposition 8 is not about what-ifs but instead whether Anchorage needs more taxis. The municipality has and always will have the ability under our current system to release permits. Voting no on Proposition 8 will enable us to rewrite and implement new rules in Title 11 so everyone's needs are met. Existing values of permits would be maintained and more taxis would be provided in Anchorage. There are lots of things that can be done to provide a win-win situation for all.

-- George M. Kocur Jr.

Anchorage

Public loses if Prop 8 passes

I don't think the market would be flooded with taxis should Prop 8 pass. The municipality will never issue any new permits, should the measure fail, in which case the permit value will keep going up and the taxi permit owners will always fight any new attempt to enter the business. The general public will suffer the results.

-- John A. Northcutt Jr.

Anchorage

More permits are not necessary

Taxi permits being limited in number is exactly like the commercial fishing limited entry permits that are used to keep a balance between the available fish and the number of boats out collecting them.

Cab drivers are not employees and, as such, do not receive benefits: vacation, medical insurance, or overtime. Each driver owns a business. I have been driving for Taylor Leasing (Bless 'em!) for a year now. For my $85 a day lease, I get almost everything I need for a complete business: a safely maintained cab, full up-to-date insurance, seasonal tire changes, credit card processing, dispatch services, airport permit and legal services. Drivers are wonderful people for the most part, but we try to operate as cheaply as possible. Things like maintenance and paid-up insurance are very likely some of the places that would be put off until later if the multi-lease-owners were done away with.

-- Laura E. O'Lacy, taxi driver

Anchorage

Deregulation not the answer

I am a taxi driver. I work long hours in bad neighborhoods. My job entails transporting some of the most vile and heinous people Alaska has to offer. How much money would it take for you to tolerate cleaning a complete stranger's vomit out of a car that doesn't even belong to you? Or be assaulted and know it's not worth your time to involve the police? Or constantly hope that your next passenger won't be the one to stab you in the ribs with a sharp object?

I can tell you how much I do it for. About $10 to $15 an hour. That's what my wage averages out to be. Think about that when you vote to deregulate Anchorage's cabs.

-- Jesse Hayes

Anchorage

Enforce existing regulations

Cab service deregulation is not the solution. The solution is enforcement of existing regulations.

-- Sue Clark

Anchorage

Deregulation would be a plus

I have been driving a taxi here in Anchorage off and on for the last 18 years. I love the scare tactics of what the owners and holders of the permits are trying to make the general public believe. Deregulation is definitely a plus for Anchorage! For the public, this means stopping the increase of cab fares and getting faster service and more cabs on the road.

Help the hard working people make a decent living and make the owners work for themselves! I am paying $450 a week just to drive, plus an average of $200 a week in gas. Not to mention the insurance that we have is only for liability. If we drivers don't have to pay these outrageous prices, don't you think that the prices of the cab fares will go down and not up?

-- Libby L. Aspen, taxi driver

Anchorage

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