Councilors Look at New Ways to Improve City's Cab Services

City Councilors on Wednesday endorsed holding a public hearing to discover if a civilian commission could help make taxicabs more available for pedestrians and increase income for cab drivers.

Councilor Maureen Feeney put forth an order to form a commission, made up of ordinary citizens, representatives from the Boston Transportation Department and cab drivers that would regulate the city’s taxicab industry, currently controlled by the Police Department.

Given the rising cost of gas and the fees that drivers must pay to operate their cars, Feeney said, they deserve a greater say in the regulation of the business and a forum in which to state their complaints.

The Boston Taxi Owners Association has recently disputed several aspects of driving a licensed cab in the city.

Last year, the association filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city for not allowing cab drivers to run their business when their credit card machines weren’t working, according to a report by The Boston Globe.

The association also challenged having to wait several days and pay a $1.50 fee to collect fares paid by credit card, as well as having to pay a 5 to 6 percent fee on every transaction, the Globe reported.

Feeney said she also wants the proposed commission to make finding a taxi easier. She shared an anecdote of a man who went back to his downtown Boston office after waiting half an hour for a cab to take him home from work.

“We’re not saying we need more cabs,” she said. “I think we just need to look at how we can provide a better service.”

Police control questioned  

Feeney, with the support of other councilors, said that management of the taxicab industry shouldn’t solely lie with the Police Department’s hackney carriage unit.

A 1909 law gives the unit control of the industry, but Councilor Steve Murphy said there might be a way for the city to repeal it. Murphy said he supported the public hearing and proposed commission because he believed that captains of the hackney unit imposed regulations for drivers at whim.

“I just think it’s fundamentally wrong and fundamentally unfair,” he said.

Councilor Tito Jackson, whose father worked as a cab driver, also supported the order and including drivers on the commission.

“Taxis have changed since 1909,” he said, “and I think governance of them should change.”

The council voted to move the matter to the committee on public safety.

Other notable orders of business

• The city accepted $450,000 from the National Parks Service to design a pedestrian and bicycle network that would connect public transit stations to the National Park Service sites in downtown Boston and Charlestown.
• The city also accepted $5,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to collect and report data.