Can we expect a completely different taxi landscape after the Games?

Well, maybe not yet.  But this is the press release that Black Top & Checker Cabs, the second largest company in the city, has just sent out:

For Immediate Release
February 8, 2010
Vancouver Taxi business “dead” just days before Olympics
Drivers unsure of how they will survive the next 2 months

Vancouver, BC – A combination of factors associated with the Winter Olympic Games have resulted in the slowest period for the taxi industry in the past 15 years, says Amrik Mahil, President of Black Top and Checker Cabs.

“I have never seen it like this, and I am very worried about the lingering effects from two months of this kind of business climate” said Mahil.  “While everyone thought that we would have too few cabs for the Olympics, the reality of the situation in this final week before the Games tells a vastly different story.”

There are dozens of temporary licenses that have been issued for the duration of the Games.  Taxi operators in the GVRD who cannot usually operate within the City of Vancouver are now able to deploy up to 35% of their fleet to pick up passengers at Olympic sites or anywhere else in the city.  The Olympic transportation plan and associated road closures make using taxis within the city to get to and from Olympic events very inconvenient (no right lane stopping, meaning the amount of cab stands is severely reduced during the Games).  Finally, the economy is still soft, making cab fares an expense that many individuals and companies have cut back on.

With fixed costs ranging between 80-$120 per shift, many cab drivers are having trouble breaking even.  In fact, many drivers are now contemplating a departure from the industry because of an inability to make ends meet.

The long-term health of the taxi industry in Vancouver is now at risk, according to Mahil.

“We would not be able to withstand a mass exodus of drivers from our company, and yet we cannot even guarantee these individuals a consistent income over the coming months” said Mahil.  “VANOC and the Passenger Transportation Board have grossly overestimated the need for taxis during the Games, and now we are all paying the price.”

Black Top is Vancouver’s second largest taxi company with 197 vehicles and over 50 years of service within the city.

Media contact:
Amrik Mahil
President – Black Top and Checker Cabs

The popularity of the Canada Line is just one of the many reasons that being a cab driver in Vancouver these days can be a money-losing affair.

I took a cab the other day, and as is my usual practice I asked the driver how business had been, particularly in the lead-up to the Olympics.

The answer was pretty much the same that I have got from 90 per cent of the cabs I have got into over the past year, but this particularly cabbie put it in a way that truly took me aback and forced me to type the quote into my blackberry:

“This is the worst slow-down in 15 years.  I have never seen it this bad in all the time I have been driving.”

Stark statement.  But unlike the predictions from those who preached about how the Olympics would be a boon to the local industry, this kind of an assessment is far from a surprise.

The Canada Line has eliminated a huge percentage of fares to and from the airport.

There are dozens of temporary licenses that have been issued for the duration of the Games.

Taxi operators in the GVRD who cannot usually operate within the City of Vancouver will be able to deploy up to 35% of their fleet to pick up passengers at Olympic sites or anywhere else in the city for a 60 day period (this means hundreds of additional cabs on the streets).

The Olympic transportation plan and associated road closures make using taxis within the city to get to and from Olympic events very inconvenient (eg. no right lane stopping, meaning the amount of cab stands will be severely reduced during the Games).

The economy is still soft, making cab fares an expense that many individuals and companies have cut back on.

And on top of that, I am hearing rumours not only from the taxi industry but from my contacts in the tourism sector that their bookings maxed out over a year ago, meaning that the expected rush in people for the city might not be what everyone is anticipating.

Combine all these factors together and the hindsight you acquire affirms the decision that the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) made last year not to approve any new permanent licenses for the Vancouver market.

PTB adjudicator Dennis Day analyzed two weeks worth of Black Top despatches in late 2008 covering 73,865 trips.  The results?  96.8 percent were serviced within 10 minutes or less.  The only exceptions were Friday and Saturday nights, when club traffic slows the response time.

Day concluded that “there is no evidence before me to support that the applicant has made any attempt to continuously monitor service levels in order to assess the impact of the last round of expansion or to substantiate the need for further expansion of the fleet.”

The life of cab driver – not necessarily of a cab owner – is not always such a peach.  12 hour shifts, 6-7 days a week of work (going far beyond the federal restrictions on the amount of hours permissible for drivers in a given week), a minimum cost of $70-$100 depending on the leasing arrangement, and the danger involved in picking up patrons that are often too intoxicated by one substance or another to drive themselves home.

So in spite of CTV’s ongoing war with the taxi industry and the ensuing negative stories that follow, I encourage people to consider the inhabitant in the front seat of their next cab ride before making blanket condemnations of the industry and the individuals that toil within it.