Better Taxi Service

Los Angeles Taxi Co. promised the city better cab service when it sought a franchise a year ago. It has delivered. Complaints about all taxi service are down significantly, in part because of the competition from the company’s newly trained drivers, who are, by most accounts, typically courteous and know their way around with or without a Thomas Bros. map book.

But L.A. Taxi is losing money--close to $70,000 each month. The company wants to eliminate massive expenses by treating drivers not as salaried employees but as independent contractors who would be responsible for their own Social Security, unemployment insurance and state disability payments. To do that, the company needs the approval of the Los Angeles Transportation Commission.

The commission, which has until May 30 to decide, should agree. The changes are not revolutionary. Most cab drivers operate that way. It is not as though L.A. Taxi is asking for subsidies. No city money is involved. Best of all, the changes would keep more competition in the taxi business.

That competition is needed. Visitors from Eastern cities are appalled at what Los Angeles considers cab service. Tourists and other passengers have complained for years of drivers who refused short trips, overcharged, took circuitous routes, couldn’t find addresses and couldn’t speak English. L.A. Taxi promised to train drivers, test them on their ability to find addresses, check their ability to read and write English and investigate past driving records.

That competition plus tougher city requirements and stricter enforcement has improved taxi service, according to city transportation and enforcement employees. The city received only 169 complaints in 1984, fewer than in the previous year. Between February, 1984, and February of this year, complaints dropped by nearly half.

As a company, L.A. Taxi drew a paltry 0.044 complaint per cab; only two cab franchises did better, and one did six times worse. However, L.A. Taxi has also had problems: A fare that was quoted over the phone as $28 from Glendale to Los Angeles International Airport was actually $42; a driver who was asked to take surface streets from the airport took the more expensive freeway route. Because of employee changes, some complaints have been lost and never resolved. Passengers who have been cheated by any cab driver will get more satisfaction from the city than from the franchises.

L.A. Taxi started less than a year ago--in time for the Olympic Games, in time to be hurt by the unanticipated slump in local businesses. Demand for taxis was off 30%.

Even in the best of times, however, Los Angeles is no cabby’s paradise. Its area is too big. Most residents own cars and rarely need a taxi. So it is no wonder that only 1,000 cabs roam our streets in comparison with the 12,000 Yellow Cabs and the 35,000 regulated gypsy cabs that serve a much smaller New York City.

Los Angeles may not need that many cabs, but in the absence of a subway system and more buses this city needs decent taxis. Tourists use them. Carless Angelenos use them for rides to the grocery store, hospital and other places. We use them for trips to the airport and when the car breaks down.

The Transportation Commission should make the changes and keep L.A. Taxi’s 274 clean, well-maintained and competitive cabs on our streets.