Fed-up with limos, cabbies boycott hotels

Cabbies are fed up with downtown hotel doormen calling town cars and limousines, instead of everyday taxis, and allege the doormen get kickbacks for steering business to limo and town car operators.

Cabbies attempted to boycott some downtown hotels this past week, and at least one hotel manager was concerned enough about the taxicab revolt that he decided this week to no longer permit town cars to line up for customers at the downtown Omni, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

“Believe me, the taxi community is a vital part of our service chain, and if they’re concerned about something, I want to do whatever I can to help them fix it,” Brian Hughes, the general manager, told the newspaper.

“We had allowed town cars to stage on the curb for guests who wish to take that option, usually to the airport, but that is stopping immediately. Still, I am confident there’s nothing underhanded going on at the front door with our doormen,” Hughes said.

Cabbies, regulated by the Metropolitan Transit System, say there is little enforcement of state-regulated town car and limousine services. “I feel so upset,” said driver Ibrahim Mohamed, waiting in line for 45 minutes outside the Omni, hoping to pick up a customer.

“You can’t make any money, and I know this is happening because (hotel doormen and valet workers) are getting paid. I don’t want to pay them.”

Limousine and town car operators are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission and permitted to operate only on an on-call basis, PUC spokesman Andrew Kotch told The Union-Tribune. Kotch acknowledged that enforcement of town car and limo operations is difficult.

Dwight McCoy, owner of San Diego town car company A Aventine Transportation, said he only provides car service upon request. “(Cabbies) say we’re taking away from their families, driving down the business, screwing it up for them,” said McCoy, a former hotel doorman.

“I’m called because someone wants a town car, something that’s a little more presentable, and we take credit cards.” Cabbies are not allowed to take tips from doormen.

More than 1,220 taxicabs operate in the area. The dispute came to a head this week when a cabdriver with Yellow Radio Service started circulating fliers, urging all cabdrivers to stop picking up passengers at hotels that are “selling our business to the town cars.”

Fliers were made for prospective passengers, pleading with them to “save our taxicab business.” “Don’t let the front desk or the doorman of the hotel choose for you when you ask for a taxi,” the flier read. Anthony Palmeri is president of Yellow Radio Service, a company that serves Yellow Cab and affiliated drivers.

“I understand the drivers’ frustration,” Palmeri said. “It’s a bad economy, and they can’t afford to lose the fewer trips they’re getting to a black car or a town car.

“The point is, when a customer comes out and they want a taxicab, they should get a taxicab. They shouldn’t be talked into something else.”

Tags: cabbies, hotel boycott, SDNN

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