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Town set to tighten taxi rules
By Carey King
When Sylva residents call a cab, they should be guaranteed a safe ride, town leaders say.
To make sure that's so, the town's Public Safety Committee will present Sylva leaders with new guidelines for taxi owners and drivers April 1.
"It's been an issue for some time as to who can operate a cab and who can't," Chief of Police Jeff Jamison told the committee when it met to draft the rules. "There's never been any guidelines. We'd like to get away from this discretionary issuing that we've had."
Currently, potential taxi drivers must come before the Sylva town board to ask for approval, but town leaders have few legal stipulations to guide their decision, said town Manager Richard McHargue.
"We started talking about the issue, and discovered there's no differentiation between the owner and the driver of the car," McHargue said. "We're concerned with who's actually behind the wheel."
About eight taxi and limousine companies operate in the town's limits, estimated town clerk Tommy Thompson.
"What we want to do is break the taxi permit into a three-step process," McHargue said.
Owners would first apply to the town board and then pay annually for a privilege license. Drivers - whether the owners themselves or workers the owner employs - would have to meet health and safety requirements to get a town-issued "pocket card," which would be renewed every four years.
Fees for each step would be limited to an amount necessary to recover the town's administrative costs.
Drivers would have to be U.S. citizens, at least 21 years old, with two years of licensed driving experience. They'd have to pass a drug test, a criminal background check, and a physician's examination certifying they meet health and vision standards similar to those of school bus drivers, Jamison said.
Pocket cards would be denied to drivers convicted of going 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, driving while impaired more than once, or committing any violation that results in three or more points on their license. Applicants with driver's licenses suspended or revoked in the past five years would also be turned down, as would those convicted of a felony or prostitution.
"I think it's very reasonable," said committee chairman Maurice Moody. "We have an obligation to the public to make sure that the people driving them around are safe. Those cars are carrying elderly people who can't drive any more and mothers with children."
The committee debated following other towns' lead in demanding that cabs buy additional insurance, but instead left the level at that required for private drivers.
"I'm concerned about forcing a cost on them that might not be necessary to do business," Moody said. "They've got to pass those costs on. We don't want to raise rates so that the people who need the taxis can't use them."
Committee members also considered setting a town-wide price rate and mandating that taxis install meters, but settled on allowing cab operators to name their own prices as long as they're posted in the taxi.
"I believe in the free enterprise system," Moody said.
In his time as police chief, Jamison said he'd never heard from citizens about a passenger being overcharged. However, he has received complaints about unsafe taxi operators.
"We've got people on the road that haven't been through this permitting process," McHargue said.
Should Sylva officials pass the changes next week, the town will send a letter to current cab operators mandating a timeline for them to come into compliance.
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