Taxi cab companies operating in West Hollywood, faced with major competition from services such as Uber and Lyft, scored a reduction in the fees they pay at the City Council meeting last night.
The city currently has awarded franchises to seven taxi companies to operate in West Hollywood with a total of 569 approved taxis. A city staff report recommending the reduction cited a story in the Los Angeles Times that reported there has been a 40% decline in taxi trips over the past three years with the entry of Uber and Lyft into the market.
A study commissioned by the city suggests that such “transportation network companies” (TNCs) are responsible for more than 78% of taxi trips in West Hollywood.
The staff report said representatives from the franchised taxi companies approached the City Council and city staffers with a request to reduce some of the fees. The taxi franchises also are donor to re-election campaigns for members of the City Council, which hasn’t acted on recommendations that its members not take money from city vendors or contractors.
The reduction in various fees approved by the council amounts to 36% for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, or a reduction of $261,796 in revenue to the city. The current fee is $1,215 per taxicab and the new fee is $778 per cab.
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Cabs are obsolete and they should do away with the whole system and the cabbies can become drivers for Uber or Lyft. This whole idea that cab drivers pay to rent the cabs from mafia style cab companies to drive the … cab they give them is stupid. The pay daily or weekly rates and they have to pay even if they don’t drive, and what are the paying for? In the past is was access to passengers because we were all forced to call cab companies because there was no choice. With the advent of technology we no longer… Read more »
Nothing makes sense about this second article in days about the city council voting to subsidize with City Funds the Licensing Fee it gets from cab companies because there is now real Competition in the long held monopoly held power of the Cab Companies. NY is the biggest example of the massive layouts and payouts of money, while the cab drivers share their cabs with one or two owners (so it can be in service collecting tolls 24/7, and no individual can afford the cab and the cost of the limited NY Taxi placards that are the only cabs allowed… Read more »
The taxis better lower there fares. There currently 3-4 times the price of Uber and Lyft! In addition there drivers are rude and hate or refuse to take credit cards! And I have been in taxis that were literally falling apart.