12/14/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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, there was an element in the discussion suggesting that this was an experi- . me nt. He felt if the Finance Department knew what the rates were, they could use that information later. Mr. Floqstad said one of the purposes of posting was to avoid rate increases every other day and to encourage the taxi companies to charge the rates that are posted. Therefore, the companies could not reduce or increase rates on the spot. Mr. Bradley wondered who the major single users of taxis in town happened to be. Mr. Miller responded it was pretty hard to tell, as in the summer there is a lot of transient use from conventions and in the winter cabs are used mostly by local people. He estimated 25 percent of his business i was from people 65 and older, 50 percent were steady customers of just the general public. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Ms. Smith, to instruct staff to prepare an ordinance proposing deregulation of taxi rates. ... Mr. Haws noted he would like to have some vehicle for implementation of not ifi cat ion for the general public as to taxi rates. Mr. Bradley expressed opposition to the concept of deregulation of local taxicab businesses in the city. He said it would not allow any guarantee that the people in the city would be protected by deregulation. He said it seems the staff had taken the position that it was difficult to set the rates and since it seems difficult and inefficient, it would be better to let the market place dictate those rates. He felt if Council wanted to protect the public, it should take the opportunity of at least e setting a maximum rate and allowing the free maket to establish the minimum rate. Mayor Keller responded that this particular action had come as a result of previous Council action expressing a desire to remove itself from the business of regulation of rates. He felt Mr. Bradley was now sayi ng the amount of time spent by the staff was a waste of time and this was not the intent of Council. He felt Council should be either in or out of the cab business. Mr. Bradley responded that if Council were looking for a procedure in which the Council would not be involved, but could still regulate rates, perhaps having a hearings official to estab- lish regulation of rates would be a good idea. He felt it necessary to have a different method than deregulation in which to regulate rates in order to protect the general public. Mr. Delay said he had seen no evidence of the need to regulate in this - particular case. He said if the result of the new ordinance produces deterioration in the level of services or creates other problems for the public, then Council could look at the problem again at that time. However, he saw no evidence not to deregulate rates, with the potential of the zone system and better posting of rates. Otherwise, there were only two options open to Council; to either set rates as it had done in the past, or to set a very high rate. e 12/14/77--7 92.b