Taxi Franchises Los Angeles

In an acrimonious session, the Los Angeles City Council tentatively voted Wednesday to give a Burbank-based taxi firm a franchise to serve the San Fernando Valley, breaking an eight-year monopoly held by Valley Cab Co. The unanimous vote culminates more than three years of lobbying efforts by Babaeian Transportation Co., which spent more than $100,000 on attorneys' fees and focus groups aimed at winning the franchise and on campaign contributions to city officials.

One of the first things you notice about New York City is the ubiquitous taxi--a lemming-like lemon-colored assemblage, shuttling time-pressed New Yorkers, many of them business people. As a child growing up in Chicago, I remember the collection of cabs that operated a jitney service--taxis that ran (more or less) fixed routes, transporting workers and grocery-toting shoppers up and down the main streets of my grandmother's working-class neighborhood.

The Los Angeles City Council's Transportation Committee recommended Wednesday awarding a second taxi franchise in the San Fernando Valley to a Burbank-based firm, despite questions raised by a citizens panel about the company's financial strength. The recommendation to award the franchise to Babaeian Transportation Co. came after some experts have said there is not enough business in the Valley to support another taxi franchise.

The solution seemed simple enough: To address the problem of illegal "bandit" taxis, Los Angeles transportation officials decided in 1994 to allow Bell Cab Co. to absorb and legalize 250 of those cabs. It now looks like that was a wrong turn. Today, Bell Cab, the largest taxi firm in the city, is in bankruptcy proceedings and is racked by a nasty internal power struggle that has pitted the former bandit cabbies against a management firm supported by most of the company's original drivers.

A Los Angeles cab company has agreed to pay the state $45,000 in penalties for repeatedly making illegal contributions to City Hall politicians. The tentative settlement between Bell Cab Co. and the California Fair Political Practices Commission is part of a three-year series of state and local investigations of campaign money laundering in Southern California that has netted more than $1 million in penalties.

A Los Angeles cab company has agreed to pay a $40,000 fine for making improper campaign contributions totaling $10,500 to City Council members and candidates in 1990 and 1991, according to documents released Tuesday. Bell Cab Co., which operates across large areas of central and western Los Angeles, admitted 54 counts of campaign money laundering and violating political contribution limits as part of a proposed legal settlement with city ethics officials.

The United Independent Taxi Drivers will take over for a Burbank-based firm that served the San Fernando Valley before it filed for bankruptcy last year, the Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday. The transfer was requested by a bankruptcy judge who selected UITD as the winner of a competitive bid process. The taxi company offered to pay $1.4 million for the franchise permit previously owned by Babaeian Transportation Co.

A Burbank-based taxi firm that was temporarily suspended this week for operating without insurance may face another suspension for allegedly failing to provide taxi services that were promised under a city of Los Angeles operating agreement. Checker Cab Co., one of only two taxi companies permitted by the city of Los Angeles to serve the Valley, was notified Monday that it could not operate its 55 cabs until it obtained new insurance coverage.

The Los Angeles city Transportation Commission on Thursday gave the embattled Valley Cab Co., now the San Fernando Valley's only taxi franchisee, until Sept. 12 to demonstrate that it has an adequate self-insurance program. The deadline was set following a series of questions from the commission staff and rival taxi firms about the credibility of a financial statement Valley Cab was required to submit to the state Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain approval of its self-insurance plan.

As the Los Angeles City Council saw things last summer, the New Year would mark the beginning of a kinder, gentler era for taxi drivers and their passengers. Cabbies would adhere to a dress code that banned such items as tank tops and cutoff shorts. New drivers would undergo training programs and veterans would attend refresher courses. "Communications skills" and "passenger relations" would be emphasized. Neatness and cleanliness would be stressed.

The United Independent Taxi Drivers will take over for a Burbank-based firm that served the San Fernando Valley before it filed for bankruptcy last year, the Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday. The transfer was requested by a bankruptcy judge who selected UITD as the winner of a competitive bid process. The taxi company offered to pay $1.4 million for the franchise permit previously owned by Babaeian Transportation Co.

Los Angeles transportation officials recommended Friday transferring a permit for taxi service in the San Fernando Valley away from a bankrupt Burbank-based firm and awarding it to a company interested in taking over the firm. United Independent Cab Co. has offered to buy the bankrupt Babaeian Transportation Co. for $1.4 million and has requested Babaeian's city franchise permit.

Westlake Village is considering revamping the rules for its city-subsidized senior citizen taxi service for the convenience of riders. Under current city policy, a rider taking an out-of-town trip to, say, Thousand Oaks, can only go to one location in that city. If a rider wants to go to another location, he must go home, then take another taxi back to the second location.

A Los Angeles transportation panel has recommended that the city hold hearings to gauge the public's demand for taxis in the San Fernando Valley before considering a plan to expand cab service here. The city's Transportation Commission, an appointed advisory board, had previously recommended that the city revoke a franchise permit for San Fernando Valley Checker Cab, one of only two taxi firms serving the Valley. The firm, owned by Burbank-based Babaeian Transportation Co.

A Los Angeles City Council committee Monday recommended revoking the operating permit for a taxi company serving the San Fernando Valley and called for an alternative transportation plan for local residents. Babaeian Transportation Co., parent company of the San Fernando Valley Checker Cab Co., should lose its license because the company failed to provide state-of-the-art services as promised, said Councilman Nate Holden, chairman of the council's transportation committee.

A Los Angeles city transportation panel recommended Thursday that the operating permit of one of the two taxi companies serving the San Fernando Valley be revoked, citing the firm's repeated failure to provide promised services. But at the request of the financially troubled San Fernando Valley Checker Cab Co.

Over opposition from other cab drivers, the Los Angeles City Council gave its approval Tuesday for a new taxi firm--Bell Cab Cooperative--to begin picking up riders in the city. Bell, which will be owned by its drivers, was given the right to put 80 cabs on the street in a wide area from east of downtown Los Angeles to the ocean. It includes the lucrative downtown business district and most fancy Westside hotels. Bell will be barred, however, from serving Los Angeles International Airport.

A proposal to put more taxicabs on Central Los Angeles and Westside streets won key support Monday when City Councilman Michael Woo dropped his opposition and said he wants city regulators to study the plan. After Woo's announcement, the council's Traffic and Transportation Committee voted to have the city transportation commissioner study giving Bell Cab Cooperative permission to have 80 cabs, 15 fewer than the number Bell requested.

A Burbank-based taxi firm that was temporarily suspended this week for operating without insurance may face another suspension for allegedly failing to provide taxi services that were promised under a city of Los Angeles operating agreement. Checker Cab Co., one of only two taxi companies permitted by the city of Los Angeles to serve the Valley, was notified Monday that it could not operate its 55 cabs until it obtained new insurance coverage.

A judge Friday ordered the city of Los Angeles to halt consideration of a plan to increase the number of taxis in the city. Superior Court Judge Robert H. O'Brien issued the temporary restraining order after Yellow Cab Co. maintained that the city plan jeopardized a 1992 settlement in which it agreed to pay Yellow Cab $12.75 million and to allow the firm to operate a 400-vehicle fleet. The city sets the number of taxis allowed to operate in its jurisdiction.