Solve the cab mess with free enterprise

Why doesn't the PSC issue permits directly to drivers? Charge $1,000 for a permit, and, if only 200 drivers sign up, the state receives an immediate $200,000 windfall. Make the renewal fee high, perhaps $500 a year, and the additional income would continue into the foreseeable future. Prohibit the transfer of permits, and normal turnover would add to the pot. The taxpayers would profit, we'd get more cabs on the street without having to raise rates and the cab companies could stop worrying about finding drivers for their empty cabs and get on with the business of improving radio call service.

Is this is a radical proposal? It's called free enterprise. Let drivers have a fair share of the market, and stop the monopoly for the companies. The companies would fight it, of course, but who would benefit? Drivers, taxpayers and the cab-riding public. It's about time we insist upon better service, and free enterprise just may be the way to achieve it.

James Gashel is director of governmental affairs for the National Federation of the Blind.