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Crying Foul Over Fares
Exclusive Tweed-Metro deal smells fishy to smaller taxi firms
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Business New Haven
8/23/99
By: Michele Beck
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The Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority has signed a one-year exclusive contract with Metro Taxi, they say to insure quality of service for Tweed customers.
Edwin V. Selden, the authority's executive director, says he does not want to exclude any of the local cab companies. The authority board, he explains, wanted to establish service standards, including rates, condition of vehicles and conduct of both drivers and the cab company.
However, a number of small, independent cab companies are crying foul. They characterize the decision as a blow to free enterprise.
Gerald Walthall, an independent contractor currently working for Metro Taxi, says he can understand both sides of the situation. On one hand, using one cab company only may make customer service more professional and uniform.
For example? "Some of the smaller cab companies don't accept credit cards," Walthall explains. "Also, if they go with one cab company, [Tweed] will be able insure that the service is good."
The exclusive contract does not prohibit cabs from picking up fares at the sleepy flyway. Non-Metro cabs will be able to wait for riders in the parking lot. They will not, however, be permitted to wait in the "Q Line," the designated area for cabs to wait to pick up passengers.
Walthall says his concern is that cab drivers who have depended on servicing the airport in the past will no longer be able to make a living as well as they used to.
"When this project went out to bid, the smaller companies just couldn't compete with a larger company," Walthall says.
One criterion of the contract was that Metro Taxi must provide at least ten cabs in an emergency situation. Metro was the only cab company in the region with enough vehicles and drivers to fulfill this requirement, Walthall says.
However, Richard Spear, president of the Coastal Transportation & Lodging Corp., says the criteria for the bid essentially excluded the smaller cab companies in the region from bidding on the contract.
"They tailor-made the bid for Metro Taxi," Spear charges. "The owner of Metro Taxi and the airport managers constructed the deal. It violates, in my opinion, several constitutional rights and also constitutes the construction of a monopoly."
Spear runs Checker Cab, Hamden Taxi, Milford Taxi, and New Haven Taxi. Since none of these companies has more than six cabs each, it would have been impossible for them to bid for the contract.
Walthall and Spear also claim that they were not aware that the smaller companies could have applied as a single entity when the project went out to bid.
Selden says there were no restrictions, and that the smaller companies could have applied as a group to secure the contract.
"Several companies were initially interested in the contract," Selden explains. "Only one company applied for the position. If more had applied, we would have considered them."
Tweed airport is not the first such facility to establish a selective policy regarding taxi service, Selden points out.
"We are just trying to provide the best possible service to our customers," he says. "There are certain standards that Metro Taxi must adhere to. If a car or driver is not in compliance with the standards, they will be penalized."
Although Walthall says he understands the airport's stated position, he nevertheless believes that a better solution could have been devised.
"I think it would be fairer to inspect individual cars," Walthall says. "Then they could issue specific stickers and approve the car and the driver."
Spear says the airport authority will feel the impact of the deal when the snow begins to fly.
"Just wait until winter when [Metro Taxi] takes all the cabs off the road because of bad weather," Spear says. "Then they'll realize their mistake."
"I'm all for competition, but I'm not for restriction of trade," Walthall says. "Many of the players are centralizing the industry so as to smash out the competition."
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