A late-night taxi stand serving downtown patrons on the weekends may be in jeopardy if organizers cannot find funding to continue the project, according to city officials.
The stand, located on the 600 block of University Avenue, uses Badger Cab, Madison Taxi and Union Cab companies to pick up customers at a common meeting point in order to provide safer transportation options.
The stand began as a pilot project in April and resumed business in late August after a summer hiatus. Madison's Alcohol Policy Coordinator Katherine Plominski said the stand, which runs on Friday and Saturday nights from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m., currently averages 200 to 250 rides per weekend.
Despite the positive response, Plominski said the money needed to run the project will run out at the end of this month, leaving the future of the stand uncertain. Plominski and representatives from the cab companies, Madison Police Department and the city's traffic engineering department will meet Thursday to discuss potential plans for the stand.
Plominski said it costs approximately $3,000 to run the taxi stand for one year. All of the money needed for the stand goes to paying a monitor for the stand to supervise the line and usher customers into taxis. Plominski said the position is vital to running an organized stand that caters to patrons of popular downtown bars nearby.
If people were sober at the stand that would be one thing and it could be orderly '¦ but with intoxicated groups it doesn't work that way so you have to have someone out there literally to manage the line,"" Plominski said.
""Even if no one else is in that line they know that there's a sober professional there. It's a safety factor as well.""
During the pilot phase of the project, volunteers staffed the position. When the stand relaunched at the end of the summer, Madison's Central Business Improvement District provided $1,000 to pay for the monitor. BID Executive Director Mary Carbine said the organization only intended to temporarily fund the stand with the understanding that other means of financial support would be sought.
""We were willing to pitch in for our share to fund a pilot so that this could become a self-sustaining business opportunity,"" Carbine said.
Plominski said she is exploring several possibilities for funding the stand, including sponsorships from beer companies or splitting the cost between the three participating taxi companies.
Madison Taxi General Manager and current stand monitor Rick Nesvacil said his cab drivers and customers alike have utilized the stand and the company's participation in the stand has been a good business investment so far.
On the issue of continued funding for the project, Nesvacil said he would have to evaluate the stand from a business perspective to see if it would be worth putting money into. Additionally, he said collaborating with the other two cab companies as well as the city would be a crucial aspect of keeping the stand open for business.
""We can't do it alone,"" Nesvacil said.
