Livery Ripoff Charge

Drivers make illegal pickups, charge double - study

By PETE DONOHUE
Livery car drivers illegally picking up street fares are charging passengers far higher rates than medallion taxis, a new study paid for by a taxi industry group charges.

"Illegal street hails undercut legitimate taxi service and make it very difficult for the industry to attract and retain drivers," said Ron Sherman, a fleet owner and co-president of the Taxi Policy Institute, which commissioned the study.

Drivers of yellow cabs are licensed to pick up passengers spontaneously on the street. Their fares are metered and established by the city.

Livery car drivers, also licensed by the city, typically work for car service businesses and are only allowed to take passengers who have called for a pickup. The services set their own rates.

Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus said the agency is cracking down on illegal street pickups by licensed livery cars, as well as unlicensed livery cars, often called gypsy cabs.

139 Cars Seized

Since last month, undercover inspectors have seized 139 cars and issued more than 1,200 summonses.

"We're in midtown and we are all over the city," Daus said.

The study for the institute, conducted in November by actually hailing cars, found:

41% of the 874 vehicles that stopped were livery cars. The rest were cabs.

Fares quoted by livery drivers were 97% higher than the estimated fare in a taxi.

Nearly 60% of livery cars were empty, meaning livery drivers cruising for fares unnecessarily clog streets.

As part of the study, livery activity was monitored at 52 locations, mostly in midtown Manhattan, the upper East Side and the upper West Side.

"They're going where the most business is," said traffic consultant Bruce Schaller, who co-authored the report with Sam Schwartz, the former city deputy transportation commissioner who writes the Gridlock Sam column for the Daily News.

Schaller said because of a perception that it's easier to be a livery car driver, some taxi drivers have switched or quit. Unlike livery car drivers, taxi drivers must take 80 hours of training and pass a test mandated by the city.

More Medallions Sought

Fernando Mateo, president of the state Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents about 20,000 livery car drivers, said a solution is for the city to sell taxi cab medallions to his federation members. Doing so would help areas where cabs are hard to come by, he said.

Daus agreed that "the supply of cabs at certain points in rush hour is not sufficient," and said the agency "is open to ideas and a long-term solution."

But he added: "We need to enforce the law. It's not fair to people invested in the yellow cab industry, who are trying to feed their families, to take legitimate business away from them."