Begich announces and the taxis begin to roll in the television ad war
SENATOR MARK BEGICH: GET USED TO IT: Surprising no one, Mayor Mark Begich yesterday annouced he is forming an "exploratory comittee" in what now appears to be an almost certain bid for the United States Senate later this year. Filed with the Federal Election's Commission, paperwork creating the creating the "Alaskans for Begich Exploratoy Committee which allows Begich to begin raising millions of dollars necessary to defeat incumbent Senator Ted Stevens, now 84 years old. To see the Committe's web site and preview what Mayor Begich will say duirng the next eight months, go to: http://www.begich.com/COMING SOON ON YOUR TELEVISION: Go to the Utube link listed below for a sneak preview of a spicy ad which will run soon on local television in the 2008 version of the Taxicab Wars. Prepared by a goup of drivers, operators and holders of taxicab permits, the spot raises issues voters will hear lots about before voting on the April 1, 2008. The issue is whether to repeal municipal limits on the number of taxi cab permits available to operators and open the industry to semi regulated competition. Currently, the city limits the number of permits available to taxi cab operators; as a result, taxi permits are valuable investments and the means by which several hundred are employed are employed in the industry. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i-ogp_GS_I
posted by Allan Tesche @ 9:59 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
The UTube ad is deceptive and misleading. As a veteran of Anchorage Taxi War I, I assure you that the Municipality can as could the former GAAB regulate public safety standards, rates and fare gouging, vehicle standards, and criminal background checks without protecting cab monopolies or taxi dynasties in restraint of trade. Kenneth G Norman.
Yep, Ken, the municipality could regulate the glut of cowboy cabs just like APOC regulates Dan Coffey.
The reality is twofold... when permits can be got for next to nothing, what motivation does a cab have to comply with regulation anyway? Particularly when they're not earning as much because there are twice as many cabs out there?
Second, the brutal truth is that in other cities in the US that have tried this, open entry has categorically led to higher fares and worse service... price gouging, circuitous routes, older cars, less maintenance and safety, hey forget about that carwash today, trip refusals, no shows, gluts of cabs at airports and hotels... YOU NAME IT, it all gets worse.
Get off this 25 year old woooo hooo deregulation, free market kick and understand that it was debunked in the taxi industry years ago. That's why the vast majority of cities in the US have regulated service. Because deregulation doesn't work.
Well, where to begin.....
Let's begin down the line:
Mr. Moore asks what motivation will an owner-operator cabbie have to comply with regs under an open-entry system? Same as he/she does now: If a passenger notices him doing some nonsense they can complain to the TI. Retribution will follow.
Which is far more accountable than the current system. Now, most permit holders have nothing to do with the actual running of cabs, many don't even live in Alaska. All they do is hold a permit. So if some nonsense occurs under their permit, they say; "I didn't have anything to do with it! Go after the driver, not me!"
But under our proposed initiative, it would be quite different. Only taxi owner-operators with 2 years experience would be able to get a permit. And so they would be directly accountable. And likely they would take pride in running a clean & honest ship.
Mr. Moore claims open-entry leads to all sorts of bad stuff. This is simply false. Listen, Wasilla is open-entry, it has lower fares and better service. The cabs are on average 2 years newer the last time I checked. A lot of Anchorage cabs are old beaters.
The bottom line for me are these three inescapable facts: no new general taxi permits have been issued since 1984, population of Anchorage has steadily increased since then, price of permits are jumping exponentially. Pretty damning facts in my humble opinion.
Ivan Moore tries to disparage this open-entry movement as some kind of political has-been. Quite the opposite is true.
Various jurisdictions are going after their local taxi cartels:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8326637
http://www.ij.org/economic_liberty/mn_taxi/10_29_07pr.html
What Ivan Moore is all about is protecting his clients from competition. He is a hired gun and nothing more.
Senator Begich! God help us. All we need is for the state being in the same mess this city is in!
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