Fewer drivers, tourists tax taxi industry in New Orleans
The New Orleans taxicab industry has been bottlenecked since Hurricane Katrina by a monumental loss of drivers and tourists and a service evolution changing the industry’s protocol.The industry is slowly coming back but it is in disarray, said Jesse Bridges, administrator with the city of New Orleans Taxi Cab Bureau. Of the 1,608 cab drivers in New Orleans pre-Katrina, only about 230 drivers have returned, Bridges said.The major problem is there is no housing available for drivers, said Bridges. But the other problem is the industry has changed and most business is via (two-way) radio. A lot of (companies) and independent drivers don’t have radios.Bridges said many drivers didn’t rely on radios pre-Katrina because they picked up most passengers by circling hotels and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport or by picking up pedestrians who hailed them. With fewer tourists, residents, flights and conventions, drivers today without two-way radios find it difficult to do business.The New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance Nov. 3 requiring all cabs to have functioning two-way radios. With resources depleted and drivers required to pay their insurance premiums and higher fuel prices, Bridges said many drivers can’t afford to remain in the industry.(Drivers) have to pay for insurance and gas and many drivers are not able to support their family, said Bridges. The cab workers have gotten salary jobs or jobs with FEMA and are making more money.Absent driversGene Alleman, general manager of White Fleet-Rollins Cab Co. and a 23-year industry veteran, is one of the taxi-industry employees who have returned to the city to work. Alleman said many drivers evacuated in their taxis and never returned.We were the first company to return to the city 12 weeks after the storm but there just still aren’t enough drivers for the calls all over the city, said Alleman. Alleman said the call volume is relatively high considering there are fewer people so demand for service exists. But the industry is stalled by its few drivers. Those lacking dispatch radios have a big handicap, he said.It should have been a non-issue because the city never should have let (drivers) take the radios out (of their cars), Alleman said. Right now, only United Cabs and White Fleet Cab Co. contain (two-way) radios in the vehicles.Alleman said White Fleet and Yellow Cab in New Orleans have combined their dispatch service because both have damaged facilities. Dispatchers take calls from their homes or remotely and send the drivers on routes. Alleman said the two companies have provided better service by joining forces.United Cabs President Patrick Murphy said business is down but the number of calls are decent considering the devastation of Katrina.We received about 3,000 calls a day before the storm and now we’re getting about 2,000 a day, Murphy said.Most cab clientele consists of commuters and residents traveling to devastated neighborhoods to see their property, Alleman said. Insurance issuesAuto insurance is also a concern for Bridges of the Taxi Cab Bureau.On Dec. 31, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco’s executive order prohibiting insurance carriers from canceling or not renewing coverage for three months expired. Initially, the order applied to a seven-parish area and was later pared down to Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes. J.E. Brignac, CEO of Imperial Fire and Casualty Insurance, which insures the vast majority of New Orleans cab drivers, said taxi drivers have until Jan. 15 to make a payment on their premiums before cancellation. Although premiums have accumulated for almost four months, we went in for the most part and have given concessions and waived some premiums to do our part to help provide coverage for these drivers, Brignac said.Brignac said his office sent between 600 and 700 cancellation notices to drivers Jan. 4 and there are many more he could not reach. Brignac said he is obligated to notify the regulatory New Orleans Taxi Cab Bureau of the canceled policies.Alleman said he is concerned about city maintenance of driver insurance coverage. We used to have inspections every six months and we hadn’t had one (since the storm), said Alleman. We don’t even know how many guys are out there running with no insurance.Because the post-Katrina tourism industry is unpredictable, Murphy and Alleman say cabbies will only slowly return. Alleman plans for heavy recruitment at regional job fairs. He said the need for cabs is imperative. The mayor said he wants people to come back to New Orleans but transportation is limited - there are no streetcars, buses are limited and cars were flooded, said Alleman. The city has to do something to bring these guys back to help with transportation because this is a service the city really needs.