Yellow Cab only LR permit filer; plan to, rival says

The cab company that won a lawsuit last month challenging Little Rock's taxi-permitting process as enabling a monopoly hasn't applied for permits to operate this year.

That leaves just one applicant for officials to consider when approving permits at a Board of Directors meeting next week -- Greater Little Rock Transportation Services LLC, better known as Yellow Cab.

Yellow Cab has been the only taxi service operating in the capital city for years.

Ken Leininger, a former Yellow Cab driver who recently started his own company, Ken's Cabs LLC, requested three taxi permits to operate in Little Rock in 2015. He sued after the city denied the permits.

City Attorney Tom Carpenter said Leininger can submit an application at any time and still be considered for 2017 permits. Typically the city has issued permits only once a year, but that's primarily been because Yellow Cab has been the only taxi operator, he said.

The city used a portion of its transportation ordinance that requires officials to consider what effect new cabs would have on existing permit holders to justify its denial of Ken's Cabs in 2015.

Instead of reapplying a few months later in 2016, Leininger sued.

His attorneys said it was illegal for Little Rock to deny the permits based solely on the fact that Yellow Cab was already operating in the city.

They called it "the monopoly rule," and a judge sided with them in December, saying the city's permitting process violated the Arkansas Constitution.

The judge's official ruling in the case hasn't been submitted, and the city has 30 days after that order is put into the record whether it will appeal the decision.

Even with the judge's decision, Leininger would need to apply for 2017 permits. He has yet to do so.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Leininger said he's working on paperwork to "get everything prepared" to submit an application.

"There's a number of requirements in the city code for taxi businesses, and I want to get everything in order," he said. "Hopefully my application would be approved once I get everything ready."

Ken's Cabs has continued to operate in the city even without the permits, he said.

The ordinance up for a vote at Tuesday's 6 p.m. board meeting at City Hall will issue one operator permit and 120 taxi cab permits to Yellow Cab.

A separate ordinance on the agenda for Tuesday will change some provisions in the city's transportation code at the request of Yellow Cab owner Ellis Houston.

Houston wrote the city a letter in June, complaining about some of the requirements of taxis compared with the rules ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft are required to follow under state law.

City Manager Bruce Moore replied in August, detailing what changes he and staff members agreed to.

Currently, taxi vehicles must be no more than four model years old when they enter service and can only be in service for eight years.

The recommended changes would allow a vehicle to be placed in service if it is no more than seven years old and would allow a vehicle to remain in service for 10 years.

In response to questions from Mayor Mark Stodola, Fleet Services Director Willie Hinton said that is comparable to requirements for Uber and Lyft vehicles.

Stodola asked Hinton to look into what other cities require of taxi cab companies in regard to vehicle age and report back to him.

Other language proposed to be added to the code would allow for new technology to calculate fares, rather than taxi meters.

"The new dispatch technology my company will be employing in its fleet of taxi vehicles in the very near future will be touch screen tablets that will calculate customer fares through Global Positioning Satellite (GPS). This new technology will render the taximeter, as we currently know it, obsolete," Houston wrote in his June letter.

Houston also requested that taxi stands -- parking places designated for taxis -- be designated as tow-away zones for other vehicles. He said the stations were being "overrun" by Uber cars and private vehicles, especially in the River Market District downtown.

The city did not concede to that request.

"However, the Fleet Services Department will work with the Little Rock Police Department to enforce illegal parking in the taxicab stands," Moore's letter said.

Moore also told Houston the city was appreciative of the service his company provides.

Metro on 01/11/2017

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