Cabbies Seek Council's Help To Bypass Hotel Doormen
Comments (0)
Cabbies look on as the city's transportation committee discusses the proposed law.
(Natalie Ragus)
Armonz Hairapedian has driven a taxi in Los Angeles for 20 years.
When he first started out, he says, the money came fairly easy. However, the recession has snapped up Hairapedian and other cabbies' customer base. As fewer people could afford a night out, and airport traffic dropped, so did the number of fares a cabbie could expect in a shift, forcing drivers to work almost non-stop.
"Before, (within) eight or 10 hours, you make your money," he said. "But now, 10 to 16 hours...We can't survive."
Cab drivers have become increasingly dependent upon business generated from guests staying at any of the hundreds of hotels scattered throughout the city. While cabbies have plenty of competition amongst themselves, they also face stiff rivalry from an unexpected source -- limo drivers.
It has become common practice for limo drivers to tip doormen or concierges in exchange for special access to walk up customers, leaving taxi drivers to spend several hours in a shift cueing for one of these fares.
To compete, taxi drivers must reach inside their own pockets and tip hotel employees.
"We pay for (leasing the cab), we pay for insurance, plus this!" said an exasperated Hairapedian, throwing up his hands. Leasing a cab can cost up to $550 per week.
Taxi drivers say especially infuriating are doormen who convince customers set on grabbing a cab to take a limo instead, often with the promise that the limo will cost the same as the cab. Hairapedian says things have deteriorated to the point where he has actually had customers lured from the inside of his taxi into a waiting Town Car.
Rarely does a limo cost the same as a taxi, Hairapedian said, because Town Car drivers often bait and switch customers by tacking on extra fees at the end of the trip not quoted in the original price.
Fed up, L.A. cab drivers have banded together to push for a city law that would make it illegal for hotel employees to accept payment for directing walk-up customers to vehicle-for-hire drivers, a broad category that includes both limo and cab drivers.
Employees caught violating the proposed law, which sailed through the Los Angeles City Council's Transportation Committee on Tuesday, could face up to six months in jail or a $500 fine. The law, which is modeled after another San Diego passed 20 years ago, is scheduled to go before the entire council on March 19.
Taxicab Administrator Tom Drischler said the law would protect vehicle-for-hire customers first and foremost because when a driver has to tip to get a fare, he or she "will want to pass (the cost) onto the customer somehow."
This marks the second time the city council has attempted to pass such a law. Though the dispute between cabbies and limo drivers has only recently come to a head, it has raged on for years.
Taxi drivers first voiced their concerns over the tipping practice to the city's Taxicab Commission around 2003. Two years later, the commission drafted a law similar to the one proposed Tuesday. However, the council scratched it when the Los Angeles Hotel Association promised to self-police without a formal law in place.
But that never happened.
Ruben Gonzalez, executive director of the Los Angeles Hotel Association, said he does not oppose the proposed law. However, the city should make sure it validates all complaints before meting out fines or jail-time.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who heads the committee, said he expects an easy victory.
"I don't think there will be any opposition from the council," he said. "This is important."
