The chaos of vying for a taxi among a crowd of rowdy bargoers on State Street has become a safety concern for police and resulted in a new city proposal for the creation of designated cab stands.
Recently, city officials started plans to reorganize the late night cab system due to confused riders - especially those who are inebriated - and to increase safety downtown from 11 p.m. through the early morning hours.
Madison Police Lieutenant Joe Balles, who patrols the State Street area in an unmarked police car on weekends, said the taxi situation is horrendous.""
""What I see happening right now downtown on State Street and University Avenue is absolutely ridiculous in terms of young people not being able to get cabs,"" he said.
Balles said on busy weekends State Street looks like ""the night of the living dead.""
""You have people walking into the paths of cars, just hoping it's a cab, doing anything to get a ride,"" he added.
Balles said the solution to the system he calls ""a black eye in the city"" is an organized mechanism that would get cabs off State Street and lined up on street corners.
The city is currently in the idea stage of a project to create cab stands that would provide structure and hopefully minimize the difficulty of calling a cab and finding the correct driver among a crowd of bargoers.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's assistant Joel Plant, who commissions the project and is the former alcohol policy coordinator, says the project would create cab stands that function like airport cab stations.
Cabs would line up and wait for riders, instead of accepting calls or taking customers flagging them down.
Madison's bus shelter structures would be used as make-shift cab stands after buses stop service.
""Bouncers and security folks can just point people to the nearest bus stops, and the cabs will be cued up,"" Plant said.
Officials hope the project will not only encourage people to behave in an organized fashion, but also to get into a vehicle with a sober driver instead of walking home alone.
Plant says it could encourage safer behavior from the beginning.
""When people go somewhere with structure and understand that there's a system in place, they're more likely to behave,"" he said. ""On a macro scale we see that at Halloween for Freakfest.""
Structurally, the city is ready to launch a pilot system, but Plant says it hinges on the collaboration of the three cab companies in Madison - Badger Cab, Madison Taxi and Union Cab.
The companies are in the process of surveying late night drivers on the issue and asking them to identify areas for potential stands.
John McNamara, accounts manager at Union Cab, said he is unsure if the current system is a big enough problem to fix, but said the proposed idea seems valid.
Still, his chief concern is driver safety. ""The determiner [of the project] will be how safe do the drivers feel.""
One Union Cab driver said driver abuse caused him to stop driving nights in the State Street area.
He said he changed driving times largely due to abuse from intoxicated student customers badgering him and cursing when he would not accept their ride requests when he was awaiting a call-in customer.
""The scariest thing is waiting in line in front of State Street Brats with the crowds coming at you,"" the driver said. ""People ask me if I'm scared to drive down by Allied Drive or Badger Road, I say no. I'm scared to be downtown on State Street at bar time.""
He said he would be in favor of some sort of system because drivers need more protection.
Although drivers would have to adapt to the new structured program, McNamara said it probably would not hurt profit. ""I personally think [revenue] would all come out in the wash.""
Plant said the project is relatively simple to implement and he would like to see a pilot version launched this winter. After that time, the city would evaluate feedback and decide if a permanent version is necessary.
Balles said he sees a lot of potential in the system. ""It would be a win-win for everybody. Instead of what we have now, which is basically chaos.
