Tuesday's upcoming City Council meeting could determine the fate of an one-man taxi cab company in Madison. At the last council meeting, Mike Roach's bid for a license was neither denied nor approved by the council.
Roach's attempt to start his own taxi cab company sparked debate among the council about the issue of deregulation of the industry. Currently only three cab companies operate in Madison: Badger Cab, Union Cab and Madison Taxi.
If Roach's motion is approved Tuesday, the proposal will be studied by city attorney James Martin and then returned to the Council for decision.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. said he supported Roach's proposal for a new company.
\Based on impartial third party surveys, Madison's cab fares are on the high end of fares nationwide,"" Verveer said. ""It is logical that if we had more competition, cab fares would be more affordable.""
According to Roach, the biggest obstacle to his license is the city's requirement that taxi companies operate 24 hours a day.
""It's like a requirement that all grocery stores be open 24 hours a day. It keeps Ma and Pa operations out of the market,"" Roach said.
Verveer and Roach both pointed out that the current 24 hour requirement may be in violation of state and federal anti-trust law. They maintained that the requirement is a barrier to access to the marketplace and severely limits competition in the market.
The cab companies argued that the 24-hour requirement is across the board, applies to everyone and is necessary to ensuring quality
cab service.
""We provide a public service in that way,"" Ramy Renor, dispatcher and a driver for Union Cab, said.
Rick Nesvacil, general manager of Madison Taxi said the industry must be regulated in the interest of efficient, safe and honest service. He added that deregulation increases the cost of the cities' regulatory budgets because there are more companies to monitor.
""We can't have a two-tier system of rules. ... We have two simple rules: citywide service and 24-hour-a-day service. If a company follows those rules, they should be allowed in,"" Nesvacil said.
Nesvacil also cited a series of studies that he said concluded taxicab deregulation has been a failure in nearly all of the cities that tried it.
If Roach fails Tuesday, his last option would be to go to court and challenge the legitimacy of the 24-hour requirement, according to Verveer.
""I hope the city attorney will recognize that the city is obligated to promote and maximize competition,"" Roach said.
