Headaches and Poetry of Traffic

If your taxicab driver paused an extra second before honking after the light turned green, you can thank the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. And if you notice that the cab’s meter is moving faster than usual and you’re paying an extra dollar for your journey, you can also thank the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. The commissioners decided last month to hike the charge for traffic “wait time” from the current 20 cents a minute to 40 cents a minute. “Walk next time you’re stuck in traffic,” a driver in the holiday spirit told me Wednesday night.Welcome to New York City where the Taxi and Limousine Commission decides who can drive a taxi and how much he may charge for the ride. It’s no small industry that the TLC controls: According to the New York City Taxicab Fact Book published by Schaller Consulting, in 2005 there were more than 241 million passengers and a total revenue of more than $1.8 billion for the taxicab industry.Taxicab numbers in New York City have been restricted since 1937, when, as the fact book explains, “to address the problems of oversupply … the City Board of Aldermen enacted an ordinance … that froze the number of taxi licenses at 13,595, the number then outstanding.” Today there are still only approximately 13,000 yellow cabs in operation. The cost of a medallion — permission from the city to drive a taxicab — “reached record-high levels in 2005, $336,000 for individual medallions and $379,000 for corporate medallions.”So while free-market proponents triumphed over natural-monopoly apologists in the electricity, phone, and even airline industries — all of which were deregulated across the country — lobbyists for the city’s taxicab owners still manage to convince our politicians that surface transportation in New York should remain a cartel. Pan Am really hired the wrong lobbyists.Are New Yorkers getting good service in exchange for having the government restrict taxicab numbers? According to the fact book, “taxis receive relatively low ratings for being able to get a cab when you want one, value for the money, safety from accidents, driver understanding of directions and driver courtesy.” In addition, “passengers filed 17,350 complaints with TLC in fiscal year 2005. Traffic violations, service refusals and rudeness head the list of complaints.”On a more basic level there is the question of why the city should be restricting taxicab numbers. Why is New York City different from places such as Seattle and San Diego, where, as Gaurav Tiwari of the University of Missouri’s Center for Transportation Studies notes in a 2005 paper, “there are no entry and exit conditions … thus giving rise to an open market oriented economic model”?Mr. Tiwari notes that in New York City “for more than five decades, no new taxi licenses have been issued making the taxicab medallion the central symbol of the regulatory system.” He concludes that “the growth of the taxi demand in New York City far outstrips its supply leading to highly inflated medallion prices. Policy makers must revisit the demand requirements and initiate a more open-market oriented regulatory approach.”To be sure, it’s important to acknowledge the standard arguments against ending this monopoly:(1) Traffic: It is said that more cabs mean more traffic. But you can’t move in midtown at rush hour anyway, and you certainly can’t find any cabs at that time either. If traffic is the concern, then restrict the number of cars coming into the city. Cabs are used by city dwellers. As the Taxicab Fact Book details, 71% of all taxi rides transport Manhattan residents.(2) Pollution: Some say more cabs mean more smoke. But as with traffic, if you’re concerned about pollution, then target cars, not cabs.(3) Safety: Regulation is needed to ensure that taxicab drivers aren’t murderers or rapists. True, but safety isn’t an argument for restricting the number of cabs.(4) Prices: Some say cab fares will rise if the industry is deregulated. But the evidence from other industries is not on their side. The airline industry, despite its bumps, is a good comparison here. Before the skies were opened up to competition, the same dire predictions about rising prices and warnings of the hardships commuters would face were heard. But after deregulation, prices actually fell, more people started flying, service standards increased, and air travel became safer.What regulating the taxicab industry does do is prevent those who wish to drive for a lower price from picking up consumers who can afford only a lower price. Competition is in the public interest. It raises standards. With private, non-yellow car services that you can book on the phone, the drivers are usually polite — or at least more polite than taxi drivers. The seats are clean, and the air conditioning actually works. They know if you get bad service you’ll call a different company next time.Opening up the taxicab industry to competition would also improve service for New Yorkers who currently use the non-medallion — illegal — taxicab industry. New Yorkers who can’t find a cab because cabs don’t at the moment go into their neighborhood often resort to illegal transportation, such as the gypsy black cabs or the jitney, shared taxi, operations. The prevalence of these illegal operations demonstrates the high demand that exists for more travel options.Scrapping the medallion system and bringing these other transportation methods into a legal framework would only improve the quality of service for New Yorkers.Every New Yorker has a cab horror story, or, probably more accurately, stories. I’ve got more than my fair share. Last month there was the driver who barely spoke a word of English and assaulted me when I asked him to drop a girl I was with at her apartment building rather than three avenues away. My biggest cab horror story, though, is that every time I enter a cab, it reeks of failed policies. Forget yellow cabs, I see red.Mr. Freedman is editor of the online edition of The New York Sun and blogs at www.itshinesforall.com.In November the Sun ran a series of honkus, haiku poems about traffic rage. From time to time this page publishes honkus by Aaron Naparstek; here are some more by him:Cop car up aheadSlow down from 90,and try to look innocentWent for oil changegot transmission, clutch, muffler —bye-bye OahuGas-guzzlers flying littleAmerican flags — the Saudis thank youDrove six hours tothe Mall of Americagot some McNuggetsLAX pickupDante never mentioned thistenth circle of hellYou know traffic’s badwhen you envy the hombreselling orangesAlaska’s melting — hope your Yukon Denali doubles as a boatIf you really loveAmerica, hang that flagon a bicycleDad, are we there yet? About five minutes later … Dad. Are we there yet?Highway signs tell of food, gas, lodging, and pervert — an Amber Alert!Need a few days off after Sunday-night drive fromthe vacation houseAggro tailgate man next time make it a grande ProzacaccinoJust got my license adulthood, power, freedom let’s go to the mallWashington, D.C. capital of the free world and of potholes tooSeething in gridlock bike-borne I pass you, each block we do the same danceSeattle traffic — The one thing capable of stopping MicrosoftIf, in fact, TOMRULZ would he need to announce it on vanity plates?Sign says 65 speedometer 130 God bless USA

Headaches and Poetry of Traffic

Headaches and Poetry of Traffic

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