LAS VEGAS -- Nevada's beleaguered Taxi Cab authority is vowing to make big changes in the way the taxi industry is regulated and in the way customer complaints are handled.
The TA has a new chief administrator and a new chief of enforcement who both say one of their priorities will be to crack down on drivers who purposely take their passengers the long way.
The 8 News Now I-Team has been reporting on problems within the TA for the past few years and now there is a new regime. The Taxi Cab Authority has a job that is critical to the Las Vegas economy. Visitors need to know they are not being ripped off by being long hauled; a practice that even the drivers say is out of control. But will the new regime at the TA stand up to the politically powerful taxi cab companies? The I-Team finally got to sit down with the new boss who laid out lofty goals.
If you grab a cab at McCarran airport and ask to be taken to the Las Vegas Strip, there's a strong likelihood the driver will head south through the connector. It's a longer route that adds several dollars to the average fare. By law, drivers are supposed to ask the passengers for approval to take the long way but after numerous undercover cab rides dating back over the past three years, the I-Team has never had a single driver do what the law requires. Not one.
Long hauling fleeces huge sums out of the pockets of tourists. The previous administrator, Gordon Walker, of the TA said long hauling enforcement was a big priority.
In reality, long hauling enforcement has been almost non-existent for years. Former airport control officer Scott Lewis -- and several current officers -- told the I-Team they were ordered to stop writing citations by longtime Enforcement Chief Joe Dahlia.
Taxi drivers say they are forced to rip off passengers in order to keep their jobs since they compete against drivers who have no qualms about it. The drivers say the practice is not only allowed but encouraged by taxi companies.
"It's a new day at the Taxi Cab Authority. The chief of enforcement and myself will be looking at these matters," said Charles Harvey, TA administrator.
Harvey, the new administrator, was appointed by Governor Sandoval to clean up the agency following the resignation of Walker and the early retirement of Dahlia. Harvey has worked for troubled agencies in the past. He was an assistant under Clark County Recorder Fran Deane when Deane was arrested for selling public documents out the back door. He was hired by the governor to oversee federal stimulus funds and says he volunteered for the TA post.
"I knew there had been a lack of management, a lack of leadership over there. I knew that, in the absence of strong leadership and management, there is usually chaos," Harvey said.
He and his brand new enforcement chief are vowing to shake things up at the TA. His plan for cracking down on long hauling is to let passengers know when they're being ripped off.
"One of the other key measures we are going to do is to put approximate rate information in the taxi, in the headrest in the back seat. When the rider gets into the cab, they have a few seconds to see the approximate rate they will pay when they get to their destination. The officers do feel it is a threat to the image of Las Vegas, as do I. Any single incident is one too many in my opinion, so we are looking into this matter seriously and we will take appropriate action," he said.
Informing the passengers is seen as a key part of stopping long hauling but it will require the approval of the taxi board, political appointees, who have long been viewed as overly accommodating to the industry they oversee.
Harvey says he's already spoken to the board informally and thinks his proposed change will be approved. He also vows to employ undercover stings to catch long haulers and has instituted a streamlined process for handling complaints from passengers and drivers.
"I have put into place a new policy that each complaint we receive is noticed to myself and the chief. We then assign a tracking number to those complaints, enter it into a data base. It is then assigned to an investigator, investigated, then handled properly."
As for allegations that some longtime TA personnel have become too cozy with the taxi companies, Harvey stopped short of saying he plans to clean house but did say he is reviewing personnel records.
"We are looking at all internal processes. We are looking at the way we do business, the way we've done it in the past and the way we will do it going forward."
George Knapp: "Do you have the full support of the governor?"
Charles Harvey: "Like, hey, I want you to go in and fix this? Yes. Yes we do."
When reminded that his predecessors had also promised to clean up the agency and the industry, Harvey told 8 the I-Team it can return in a few months and see how he has done.
Harvey is inviting taxi drivers and passengers to file complaints at the Taxi Cab Authority website and says he will read every one of them. He says he, and his chief, have been taking cab rides just to gauge the experience.
Charles Harvey
