Taxi Firms Sue Commission Over Licensing Fees at Lambert Field

December 23, 2003

Taxi Firms Sue Commission Over Airport Licensing Fees
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO

  
Nine taxi companies filed suit Tuesday to challenge the licensing fees they pay 
to pick up passengers at Lambert Field. 

The companies say the Metropolitan Taxi Commission unfairly requires them to 
pay $1,100 a vehicle each year. By comparison, a second group of cab companies 
pays only $55 a vehicle. 

"The fees are arbitrary and capricious; that's a no-brainer," said Steve 
Goodman, an attorney who filed the suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court on 
behalf of the airport cab companies. 

The taxi commission was set up less than a year ago to replace separate 
authorities run by the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County. It sets license 
fees and maximum passenger fares, controls the number of taxi permits and 
determines where cabs can operate. 

For airport business, the commission kept in place a two-tier system. 

The first involves airport taxis, which are restricted to picking up passengers 
only at the airport. Airport cabs line up to pick up passengers on a 
first-come, first-served basis. These companies pay the $1,100 fees. 

The second group, on-call taxis, can pick up passengers anywhere. However, they 
can only accept airport fares when they get a specific call from a passenger, 
and they cannot get in the airport taxi line. Those companies pay $55 a cab. 

Michael Tully, director of the taxi commission, said the fees are comparable to 
what was charged before the commission was set up. Last year, airport taxis 
paid $1,000, while on-call cabs paid $25. 

"We really didn't increase it that much," Tully said. 

An on-call cab owner who doubles as a taxi commission member defended the 
difference in license fees. 

"All on-call cabs have to have separate businesses open 24 hours a day," said 
Dave McNutt, who owns Laclede Cab Co. However, airport cab companies "don't 
have any of that." 

McNutt said the airport cabs also don't have to worry about dispatching cabs or 
paying for expensive radio equipment. "If I only had to pay a $1,100 expense 
per cab, life would be great," he said. 

Goodman countered that, unlike on-call taxis, airport cab companies cannot pick 
up passengers on their return trips to the airport. 

The lawsuit seeks to overturn both the license-fee structure and the 
prohibition on picking up customers outside of the airport grounds. 

"It's not fair," Goodman said. "You're giving these on-call taxi companies a 
competitive advantage for no reason." 


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