Cab Companies

The Maryland Public Service Commission today approved a 19 percent increase in Baltimore taxi fares.Frank Fulton, PSC spokesman, said the new rates would be effective Sunday.According to the PSC, the increase means that an average 5-mile trip, including a 2-minute waiting period, will cost $6.80 compared to $5.70 under current rates.Fulton also said that in an effort to alleviate taxi shortages, the PSC would be releasing 68 cab permits that have been held in abeyance. The permits will be awarded by lottery at a date not yet set. Only drivers with six months of taxi-driving experience in Baltimore will be eligible.

Baltimore cab companies and an advocacy group have reached an agreement that could mean improved taxi response to telephone orders.The group, the National Federation of the Blind, has alspromised to support a proposed increase in taxi fares in the city in return for the improved service.Under the broad outlines of the plan, people ordering cabs by telephone would be charged an extra 75 cents or $1, but they would not have to pay the fee if a cab arrived more than 15 minutes after the agreed pickup time.

This is how bad taxicab service has gotten in this city:Last month, James Gashel of the National Federation of the Blind, was scheduled to meet with members of the Taxicab Owners Association to talk about the problem of poor cab service.So, the president of one of the city's largest cab companies sent one of his taxis to pick Gashel up."The cab was 15 minutes late," said Gashel with a sad chuckle. "In fact, as we were heading out, we got a radio call from the dispatcher because [the president]

Deploring the service provided by city taxis, especially for disabled customers, a Public Service Commission hearing examiner has turned down a 19 percent rate increase request by cab companies.In an unusual decision issued Thursday, Examiner O. Ray Bourland III rejected a proposed rate increase that had been agreed to by the PSC staff, the people's counsel and the cab companies.The financial earnings of the cab companies, after the emergency 10 percent rate increase granted for higher fuel costs in November, are "within the lower zone of reasonableness," Mr. Bourland said.

Citing poor service to customers who call for cabs, a hearing examiner for the Public Service Commission has rejected a 19.3 percent rate increase for city cab companies.The surprise decision came despite an agreement among the cab companies, the PSC staff and the Office of the People's Counsel that such a rate increase was appropriate. But testimony by a group representing the blind persuaded hearing examiner O. Ray Bourland 3rd that the cab companies should not get the increase."The call service provided by Baltimore taxicab companies is, if not inadequate, close enough to it as to warrant substantial improvement," Bourland said in his decision, dated yesterday.

Baltimore taxi rates will increase by 19 percent if the state Public Service Commission accepts a settlement presented today to a PSC hearing examiner.The settlement among the taxi companies, PSC staff and the People's Counsel, which represents rate payers before the PSC, would allow cabs to charge $1 a mile. The current rate is 80 cents a mile. The initial charge, or "drop" fee, will remain at $1.40, but it will be for the first tenth of a mile rather than the first eighth. The cost for keeping a cab waiting will increase from 20 cents a minute to 25 cents a minute, said PSC spokesman Frank B. Fulton.

Taxi cabs and garbage lead the list of topics up for discussion at tonight's County Council meeting.A public hearing will discuss forming a city-county task force that would study cutting Anne Arundel'sgarbage by 50 percent in the next nine years. The resolution to create the task force is proposed by Councilwoman Maureen Lamb, D-Annapolis.And, for the first time in four years, the council will consider restructuring fares and licensing fees for the county's taxi cab companies. Amendments to the county's taxicab ordinance, sponsored by County Executive Robert R. Neall, also would require cab companies to transport animals licensed to assist the handicapped, such as seeing-eye dogs.

Competition among cab companies could return to the city.The City Council learned at its regular meeting Monday that a Finksburg resident is considering buying and resurrecting Westminster Taxi Service,which shut down in November.Cab driver Leroy Turnbaugh told the council he was looking to buythe company's license and equipment, and asked whether the council would approve transfer of the license.The council said it could not approve the transfer until a sale had occurred, but members told Turnbaugh they saw no obstacles to processing the license transfer.

I LISTEN to all these taxicab experts, not one of whom drives a cab, and I laugh. I'm just a cabbie, not a taxicab expert, but I have a few ideas of my own on how we can improve cab service in Baltimore. Here they are:First, I'd charge at least $2 every time I responded to a call less than 30 minutes old and didn't get a paying fare for my trouble. Or, if I couldn't collect, I'd want the company to put that address in its computer so the next driver could get the money. And if the people weren't there a second time, I wouldn't send them any more cabs until they paid up. This would eliminate all problems with radio call service, because radio calls would become profitable for the drivers.

An emergency 9 percent increase in Baltimore taxi fares, effective immediately, won approval yesterday from the Public Service Commission after a consortium of cab companies said it was needed to offset soaring gasoline prices.The commission also voted to hold a hearing on a separate request by the same companies for a permanent increase that would raise the fare of a typical ride 91 percent. That hearing is expected in the next few months.By a 3-0 vote, the commission approved the emergency increase, which raises the price of the average cab ride from $4.40 to $4.80.