Some cabs in it for long haul

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Are Las Vegas cabdrivers long hauling their customers?

Some probably are. But nobody really knows how many.

The long-hauling issue — when cabdrivers take the long way to a destination in an effort to increase the fare — reared its ugly head this past week after a report aired on KLAS-TV, Channel 8.

Reporter George Knapp suggested cabs leaving McCarran International Airport via the airport tunnel connector are taking the long way to the Strip. Knapp had his crew take two trips from the airport to the Strip, and they said they were long hauled both times.

In 2008, there were 26 million known cab rides in Las Vegas. There were also 500 complaints for long hauling. And after the investigation and administrative hearings, 71 tickets were handed out.

The Taxicab Authority only began tracking long-hauling complaints and citations after Gordon Walker became administrator 16 months ago, so we have no idea what the numbers are for the years prior to last. In the first five months this year, there have been 124 complaints of long hauling and 61 tickets given.

Does anybody believe all those other cab rides were given on the up and up?

I spoke with Walker about the issue.

With the limited enforcement staff the Taxicab Authority has, Walker said, it’s impossible to determine how many customers are being long hauled. “We can’t be in every cab,” he said.

There are a couple of major problems when conducting an investigation into long hauling.

For one, in certain instances it’s legal.

Walker said under Nevada law, a cabdriver is allowed to take a longer route if he receives permission from a passenger to do so.

The anti-long-hauling law, as I will call it, is posted in every cab, albeit on the glove compartment in the smallest print on a page full of information, including ride costs, the cab’s number and how to comment or complain to the Taxicab Authority.

The law states: “The driver is not permitted to take a longer route to the passenger’s destination than is necessary, unless specifically requested to do so by the customer.”

If time is of the essence, getting a passenger’s permission to take the long way may not be too hard.

Consider that Flamingo Road, Tropicana Avenue and Harmon Road, all main thoroughfares going to Las Vegas Boulevard, are currently under construction.

Walker said a passenger may want to take the long way because it’s quicker. “And with that kind of construction, the shortest way may not be the quickest or the cheapest,” he said.

Cabdrivers have a “wait time meter” which adds about 50 cents a minute — or $15 every half-hour — for a ride.

Sometimes taking the airport tunnel to the Strip is cheaper, simply because it is faster, Walker said.

Good intentions aside, how many tourists would agree to do what a cabdriver suggests, like taking the airport tunnel to the MGM Grand, simply because they don’t know any better?

My bet would be quite a few.

From an enforcement angle, catching a cabdriver long hauling is not always as easy as just pulling a cab over.

In 2008, a night-shift sting operation saw 100 cabs pulled over after they entered the airport tunnel, Walker said. But only two complaints were filed by those passengers for long hauling.

It’s a safe bet that those two customers weren’t the only ones being long hauled. Walker explained that an inside trick is that a cabdriver, while being pulled over by a Taxicab Authority officer, will offer a customer a free ride if the customer tells the officer he agreed to take the tunnel.

So two out of 100 probably isn’t very accurate either.

In the meantime, I learned Friday that Gov. Jim Gibbons is paying attention to the issue.

“If there are problems, action will be taken,” said Daniel Burns, communications director for the governor. “We need to be fair to our visitors and the residents who use cabs.”

I don’t know what the governor will offer as a solution, but I bet hiring more Taxicab Authority officers won’t be suggested. The state’s economic woes won’t allow it.

So, my solution is to empower passengers.

The anti-long-hauling law and how to file a complaint should be visibly posted in the back seat of every cab along with a map of at least Interstate 15, the Strip, downtown and McCarran International Airport, and the estimated cost of the shortest ride to all the major resorts and destinations as is posted on the Taxicab Authority Web site.

Walker said he has had discussions about posting that information on signs in the passenger waiting line at McCarran.

That’s a good idea, too, but it doesn’t get the information to passengers who pick up a cab at a hotel.

I’ll wager if more passengers knew the law, the costs and the routes, either long-hauling complaints would go up or the practice would fade away.

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