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NYT > Taxi and Limousine Commission

20 November 2023

NYT > Taxi and Limousine Commission

 

History of Transportation And Taxi-cab in the U.S.A

The history of taxi-cabs goes back to the beginning of the Seventeenth Century when human beings started using horse-drawn cabs for-hire in order to carry people and goods from one point to another. In the late Nineteenth century in Paris and the early twentieth Century in London and New York, people started to use motor vehicles as taxi-cabs which nowadays are trending to use of hybrid or electric vehicles.

Today, in order to solve and propose solutions to major problems that affect taxi-cab industry in the U.S., a federated national association has been created. The American Association For Taxi Cabs (AATC) has as its mission to protect the interests of members taxi-cab owners, drivers and the public.

In 1984, Congress enacted the Motor Carrier Safety Act which deregulated the trucking industry. The purpose of the act was to promote highway safety. On October 24, 1978, the Airlines Deregulation Act was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter. The main goal of the airline industry was to escape government control over prices, routes, market entry of new airlines and to promote safety, fair competition and low prices.

On October 14, 1980 with the Staggers Rail Act, Congress deregulated the American railroad industry.

Today, because of U.S. constitutional violations, antitrust problems, and other major problems caused by state and local governments, all conditions are met in order to deregulate taxi-cab medallions and the entire taxi-cab industry. The federal government should step in, in order to protect its citizens, tourists and visitors traveling in all fifty states. Deregulation of taxi medallions will facilitate more tourist activities between States.

Compare these three metropolitan areas:

In Los Angeles, California the price of the meter fare is $2.70 a mile and the waiting times are 30 cents for every 37 seconds.

In Miami, Florida, the meter fare is $2.40 a mile and the waiting time fare is 40 cents per minute.

In Washington, D.C., the meter fare is $1.50 per mile and the waiting time fare is 30 cents per minute.

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But what differentiates those three metropolitan areas?

Washington, D.C. deregulates its taxi-cab medallions and makes it accessible to all of its drivers. Chauffeurs with a current hack license can also have it. As a result, they do not have to pay $20,000.00, $30,000.00, $40,000.00 or $50,000.00 leases every year like they do in Los Angeles, California and Miami, Florida. As a result, taxi-cab rider in Washington, D.C. get the lowest price in our nation’s Capital (Public Transportation Association).

 

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