Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-29
The Taxicah Mess.

With costly rights Of way and estab-
lished wage scales to maintain, COM
PEELED by law to assume financial re-
sponsibility and to operate on approved
schedules, the position of the street car
companies in relation to the unregu-
lated taxicabs is emphasized by the rate
cutting war from which the public is
temporarily enjoying the profits. Their
appeal to the Public Utilities Commits
sion deserves better treatment than a
vague promise Of further informal dis
cussion Of a subject that has become
one of the really serious problems con-
fronting the municipality.
1t is not the mere difference in rates
between the street cars and the COM
peting cabs, the favored position OF the
cabs in picking up passengers or the
fact that the companies are losing rev.
enue at the rate of about thousand
dollars o day that call for sympathetic
study of the street car corporations
predicament. If the street cars were
competing with the taxicabs on an even
footing one might agree that the Public
Utilities Commissions do-nothing policy
is the only logical policy to pursue. But
they are not competing on an even
basis. The street cars are regulated In
every step. They can make no move
without the approval Of the Public
Utilities Commission. The taxicabs are
utterly unregulated. Public Utilities
Commission orders, designed to regulate
them, are fiouted by the taxicab oper-
ators and no effort Is made to enforce
them. Even such innocuouS regulations
as those requiring taxicabs to paint
their identifying names in standard let
tering are cast to the winds when one
company pleads that its lettering has
already been done in a manner that
does not comply. Regulations requiring
that earnings, tariffs, ETC., be filed with
the commission are not obeyed. The
only requirements for going into the
taxicab business are an ability to oper-
ate an automobile and cab that has
strong enough brakes to pass routine
police inspection. The absence OF any
requirements for assumption Of finan-
cial liability Is well known.
The present rate war IS cut-throat
proposition, "ruggedly individualistic, f."
1t Is true, and temporarily Of benefit
to the public, but aggravating traffic
dangers and congestion and reducing
an already low-wage scale for taxi
drivers, who count on the vicious tip
system to pull them through. It has
all the characteristics Of any dog fight,
and will END the same way, with the
conflicting parties worn out and bruised
and worse OF than they were before.
Mr.. Keech's Intervention has come at
O time when the embattled parties are
growing weary Of their foolish tactics.
He has brought together some fifty
independent operators of from to ats
cabs and made them agree to file a
schedule of rates with the commission
on August /, the theory being that,
once filed, the schedules cannot be
changed without the Public Utilities
Commissions approval. In view OF the
history to date of the commissions
half hearted attempts to regulate taxi
cabs, the present agreement is nothing
to grow optimistic about. In addition,
1t fails to include, as parties to the
agreement, two of the largest Of the
taxicab companies.
Mr.. Keech, however, is to be COM
mended for at least trying to do some
thing about a ridiculous situation,
which is more than the Public Utilities
Commission has done. But no lasting
order will be brought out of the chaos
until the Public Utilities Commission goes
after the taxicab problem with potn
fists and demonstrates its ability really
to regulate public carriers in the Dis
trict of Columbia, with o view to assur-
ing both fair competition and the safety
end welfare of the public.
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