"Rule is unfair to Lambert Field cabbies, judge says"

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Rule is unfair to airport cabbies, judge says
By William C. Lhotka
The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch

 
A St. Louis County judge decided Friday to throw out a Metropolitan Taxicab
Commission rule that charges cabs based at Lambert Field 20 times more for
licenses than areawide cabs. 

Presiding Judge Kenneth M. Romines said the disparity "is arbitrary,
capricious, unreasonably burdensome to the airport taxicabs, and is without
a basis in a fair rational scheme." 

According to testimony this month, there are 230 airport cabs, each licensed
annually for $1,100. There are 724 so-called "on-call" cabs whose owners,
such as Laclede and County Cab, pay $55 per vehicle. 

Mark E. Goodman, attorney for eight airport cab companies, alleged that the
rules created "an unfair competitive atmosphere." 

Besides the fee structure, Goodman complained, airport cabs were barred from
picking up fares anywhere except at the airport, while "on-call" cabs could
pick up anyone - including airport passengers, if they called in for a ride.
Goodman said he interprets Romines' ruling as throwing that out as well. 

The ruling is subject to appeal. 

The commission was created by Missouri law in 2003 to license, control and
regulate cabs here. Patrick McCarthy, the commission's attorney, said the
license fees were adopted from the County Department of Public Works and
have been in effect since 1995. 

That reason is not good enough, Romines ruled. He said the rules created "a
grave commercial inequity." 

It was the position taken by Ioan Ziub, president of Airport Taxi Company
Inc., which operates 91 cabs at Lambert. He testified that airport
cabdrivers often wait for hours in line before getting a rider and average
about four fares a day, while working as many as 18 hours at a time. He
alleged that on-call cabs can make up to 28 trips a day from the airport. 

Romines' ruling means the commission will have to come up with a new license
fee structure.


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