In pursuit of fare gains, more cabbies defy rules
Nothing seemed amiss when the green 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis pulled up to a group of people near the corner of Mass. Ave. and Belvidere Street in late March. There was a "cab" light bar on the roof and a livery license plate on the back.
A nearby Boston police officer, however, found the sedan lacking one crucial bit of equipment: a Boston taxi medallion, the metallic symbol attached to the hood that serves as a license to operate a cab in the city.
Instead, the vehicle, according to police reports, was licensed as a livery service, meaning that passengers have to arrange for transportation in advance rather than from the curb. And though passengers may not see a big difference, city officials and longtime cabbies are taking notice.
Spurred by rising costs - particularly for gasoline and leasing a medallion, which can reach $700 a week - the number of drivers caught illegally cruising for fares on Boston streets is at an all-time high, city officials say.
The City Council approved a $500 fine for the offense in 2002 and in 2003 the Boston Police Department's Hackney Unit issued citations to 193 scofflaws. From January 2007 through last month, the total was 607.
Most of the offenders were out-of-town taxis. But some were like the Grand Marquis, so-called gypsy cabs that can be put together with spare parts bought on the Internet.
The standard black-and-orange, on-duty/off-duty top light, complete with six lamps, can go for $108, according to a website that specializes in taxi electronics. The Centrodyne Silent 610 Taximeter, considered by some to be the best meter in the industry, starts at $245.
Illegal taxi driving is "happening, quite frankly, at what I would consider an alarming rate," said Mark Cohen, director of the Boston Police Department's Licensing Division, which oversees the Hackney Unit.
John Ford, who owns City Cab and Top Cab and has been part of the local industry for more than 40 years, calls the increase "the worst it's ever been."
Boston, like most other Massachusetts communities, bans out-of-town cabs from soliciting fares in the city. But
Cohen attributes the jump to the rising cost of doing business. "When you're paying almost $4 a gallon for gas, you're much more protective of your work," he said. "It's sort of the perfect storm of a bad business climate for them right now, and cab drivers who are licensed are really feeling the pinch from folks coming in and picking up their work."
Larry Meister, who has driven a cab in Boston for more than 20 years, has seen it happen from behind the wheel.
"It's frustrating," said Meister, a member of the Independent Taxi Operators Association, "because we have to go out there and see them picking up all this work, and when there's one cab out there and two people are waiting on the sidewalk, that's when these gypsies will come in and pick them up right in front of you."
In a City Weekly review of citations issued over the last 16 months for unlicensed operation, almost all out-of-town cabbies were registered in Brookline, Cambridge, or Somerville.
Brookline drivers accounted for about 280 of the citations, records show, which raised a red flag with longtime cab driver and activist Bob Turner, who helps edit a local trade publication, Rear View Mirror.
For the past five years, Brookline officials have discussed the possibility of selling medallions to taxi operators, recently settling on a cost of $65,000 each, which they say could be tranferrable in some circumstances and payable over a seven-year period. That's up from the current annual licensing fee of $300.
The move, which may come together this year, could bring in about $12 million in onetime revenue and nearly $100,000 in annual regulatory fees, based on distributing 187 medallions, according to a subcommittee report issued by town officials last February.
That's a far cry from the $350,000-plus tag that medallions can carry in the Hub, where more than 1,800 are shared among an estimated 3,800 active drivers. Still, Turner contends the new costs for Brookline cabbies would increase their overhead and the temptation to cross the city line to help pay the bills.
"I think that's going to be the worst thing ever for Boston cabs," he said. "There's not enough work in Brookline for the number of cabs they have, so they're going to go where the business is, and there's a very small chance of being caught."
Cohen, of the licensing department, says Hackney Unit officers patrol the city for unlicensed cab drivers nearly every night, often standing by in busy spots like Faneuil Hall and South Station and hailing cabs that look suspicious.
"That's the best we can do, and it's effective on that level," he said. "The problem is that the number of scoopers" - unlicensed cabbies - "is beginning to overwhelm the number of officers available to stop it."
Former city councilor Paul Scapicchio, who helped spearhead the $500 fine in 2002, knows the life of a cabbie firsthand. While he was representing the North End, he started a part-time gig as a cab driver in the summer of 2004, and the fares helped pay his way through Tufts University.
"It is tough to go out there and try and make a buck off a cab," said Scapicchio, vice president of government relations for the consulting firm ML Strategies. "It's not an easy one."
That much was true for Tomas Jose, the driver of the Grand Marquis. According to police reports, the traffic stop in March was anything but routine.
When an officer asked the 41-year-old Lynn resident for his license, Jose allegedly shifted the car into drive and tried to bolt. The officer pounded on Jose's outside mirror and the car came to a stop, police reports say. According to Registry records, Jose's driver's license was suspended late last year after five surcharge incidents, including speeding and failure to use a turn signal.
Jose, who could not be reached for comment, was charged with failure to stop for a police officer and being an unlicensed hackney operator. He posted a $105 cash bail and is due back in Boston Municipal Court on June 13. 