County Seeks to Correct Chaos in Southland Taxicab Scene

Richard Wilson’s job occasionally requires him to dress like a tourist, stand outside a Universal City hotel, hail a cab and innocently ask for a ride to the nearby Universal Studio Tours.

As overseer of taxi regulation for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, he has learned that L.A. cabbies like to cruise the freeways with the meter running and a short trip just isn’t hip.

But a driver who takes a circuitous route or flat out refuses the fare is another matter. Such actions violate county ordinances and if the driver is licensed in an unincorporated area, Wilson can issue a citation.

Unfortunately, most area cab drivers can ignore county law because they hold licenses from one of 86 separate municipalities with wildly varying regulations. As taxis routinely ferry passengers across town borders, the cab scene around Los Angeles has become as chaotic as a cloverleaf at rush hour.

Countywide Proposal

Things should clear up if the 86 cities agree to a proposed countywide system for licensing cabs. Wilson reports that the idea is working its way through various bureaucracies and recently cleared a big hurdle with approval from the Board of Supervisors.

The proposed ordinance, recommended by a special commission after an 18-month study, will establish “a much better system than we have now for everyone concerned,” says Wilson.

“At present, each jurisdiction licenses taxicabs within its borders,” he says. “Under the proposed system, all jurisdictions will contract with the county to issue licenses good for the entire area, with uniform fees and inspections.”

Both Sides Benefit

Passengers can look forward to improved service, he adds, and drivers will no longer suffer from unfair competition.

Wilson has found that consumers most often complain about drivers who can’t speak English, who don’t know where they’re going, who take extra-long routes to run up fares or who won’t go on short trips.

Drivers complain that they lose business to unlicensed “bandits,” he says, and that they must hold a variety of licenses to operate in neighboring cities.

“Let’s say a driver from West Hollywood gets a fare to a downtown hotel and then finds someone at the hotel who wants to go back to West Hollywood. If the cab isn’t licensed in Los Angeles--and usually they’re not--they’re forbidden to pick up that fare for the return trip.”

Geography and English

Countywide regulation of both drivers and cabs will eliminate a lot of problems, says Wilson. Drivers would be tested for their knowledge of local geography and their ability to speak English and deal in U.S. currency. Cabs would be inspected to see that the tires and engine are in good condition.

To beef up enforcement, the county would hire 15 to 20 extra employees, mostly civilians, who, like Wilson, would pose as tourists and cite cab drivers who violate regulations.

Bandit drivers would be a special target of enforcement crews, says Wilson.

“We have an awful lot of unlicensed and unregulated drivers, and they can cut fares almost down to nothing, whereas licensed companies cannot charge more or less than standard rates. The new system will get bandits in line.”

Cab Firms in Favor

Wilson reports that municipal governments have had mixed reactions to the proposal because, “You know how cities are. They don’t like to relinquish power.”

But the area’s 60-plus registered cab companies “are 100% for it,” he says, “because they know there’s a problem.”

Wilson reports the proposed system is modeled after the countywide health department, established in the early 1960s when officials realized the Los Angeles megalopolis needed something more than fragmented regulations from different townships.

For the last two years, he says, “we’ve conducted surveys of taxicab licensing in 20 major U.S. cities and we’ve found that, with 86 separate jurisdictions so close to each other, we have a unique situation here.

“If all the cities don’t want to go for this,” Wilson says, “then we’ll just have to deal with the chaos we have now.”