Dragged, kicking and sceraming

Into the real world.

Seattle’s experiment with hybrid only cabs is failing

A year ago, it seemed as if Green Cab Taxi had won the golden ticket–or, to be precise, the golden licenses. King County, which hadn’t issued a new taxi license in 17 years, agreed to give away 50 of them to a fledgling, mostly Ethiopian-run company that had agreed to adopt new eco- and labor-friendly policies in a sometimes-abusive industry. Other competing cabbies were incensed at the way Green Cab won the coveted licenses and sued. Yet now Green Cab stands on the verge of financial ruin.

..Green Cab itself can’t get drivers, according to Aboye. He notes that the company is obliged to operate differently than other cab companies. Most cabbies are self-employed. They either own a license or lease a taxi from someone who owns one. But the county, trying to ensure that drivers could earn a living wage and benefits without being subject to the whims of license owners, mandated that the new company be run according to a traditional employer-employee relationship. Green Cab would pay drivers regular salaries and allow them the opportunity to unionize.

Just a little bit more background information on the malfunctional cab situation in the greater Seattle area:

First, you cannot flag one down. It is illegal for the driver to stop for you if you attempt to do so. You have to call their phone center, who send the job to a dispatcher, who sends it to the cars and the first car to accept it gets the fare.

Secondly, the major commercial/passenger airport in King County, Sea-Tac Airport, has their own taxi service: STITA. They are the only ones allowed to pick up at Sea-Tac. They are also not allowed to collect fares outside of the airport’s boundaries. So each trip is a dead-head return for them once they leave. And for the other taxi companies, each fare taken to the airport is a dead-head until another fare calls in.

STITA is subsidized by the King County government. That is the only way they can stay in business.

The other companies scrape by.

But these bad business models won’t be shown for what they are. I fully expect Mayor Nickels and the City Council to vote to “buy back” some of the taxi licenses, at a higher than average price, to help Green Taxi keep the lights on. Since they won’t have licenses for them, Green taxi will then have to sell their high mileage Prius’ to the highest bidder. My guess is that The City of Seattle will buy them, at above market price, to beef up their fleet of parking enforcement cars.

All of this money was wasted in the name of Gaia.

But don’t worry, I’m sure this was just a glitch. After all, Nickels wants to tack on an average of $49 extra per year to the city’s property tax levy to pay for more “affordable housing”.

That couldn’t have been mismanaged at all, could it?