City officials will continue to search for outside funding to staff a downtown taxi stand after representatives from two of the three participating cab companies announced they are not able to provide the money at a Tuesday meeting.
Badger Cab, Madison Taxi and Union Cab all send taxis to the late-night weekend stand located on the 600 block of University Avenue. Madison Alcohol Policy Coordinator Katherine Plominski declined to identify which two said they couldn't help fund the stand, but said the third company needed more time to decide.
It costs about $3,000 to run the stand for one year, which goes toward staffing the stand with a sober monitor to supervise the line and put customers into cabs. The stand is currently being funded by Madison's Central Business Improvement District, but the $1,000 start-up money provided by BID will run out at the end of October. Until then, Plominski said the stand will operate as normal while officials try to find outside funding to sustain the project.
Plominski said she and cab company representatives also discussed hopes for opening a second stand in the downtown area, but will be forced to postpone those plans until funding is secured for the first stand.
I guess we just have to keep working through it,"" she said. ""It's really a service for the whole community.""
Additionally, Plominski said she and Madison Police Department Central District Lt. Joe Balles will meet with each cab company individually to tweak details of the program until all parties are satisfied.
""We really just want to find something that all three cab companies can support and use regularly, so we're just really trying to get their significant buy-in,"" Plominski said.
After a recent rash of violent crimes targeted at students in the downtown area, UW-Madison senior Claire Marcus, 21, said the taxi stand provides guaranteed safe transportation to late-night partygoers.
""Madison has been getting a lot more dangerous, and I definitely think it would be used and helpful,"" Marcus said. ""I think now people are more inclined to be safe, and I feel like a taxi is better than walking home.
