Zoned pricing on Strip could help Taxicab Authority eliminate long-hauling problem

By Richard N. Velotta

Friday, June 25, 2010 | 3 a.m.

At next week’s meeting of the Nevada Taxicab Authority, board members will discuss one of the most vexing problems of the industry — the illegal practice of long-hauling.

Long-hauling occurs when a customer hires a taxi at McCarran International Airport, usually asking to go to a Strip or downtown location, and is taken there by way of the airport connector tunnel.

The Taxicab Authority has regulations prohibiting the practice, but there are exceptions that allow drivers to take their customers the longer, more expensive route.

Cabdrivers are well-informed about the volume of traffic in town and know when special events or conventions are going to add snarls and delays. They’re also connected via radio to dispatch centers that can alert them to unexpected traffic jams.

The most direct route from the airport to the Strip is along Paradise Road. But when there is additional traffic at the Las Vegas Convention Center or the Sands Expo & Convention Center or a big concert or boxing match at the MGM Grand Garden, the Paradise route may not be the fastest way to get to the customer’s destination.

If the cabdriver informs passengers that the longer route could get them to their destination quicker but that it may cost a little more, the driver is in the clear.

Things get complicated when the customer demands to be taken the shorter route, but it costs more because taxi rates have “wait time” charges that kick in whenever a cab is traveling less than 12 mph, such as in heavy traffic. When cabs slow to less than 12 mph, wait time is assessed at $30 an hour, or 20 cents for every 24 seconds the cab is stopped or running at the low speed.

One concern the Taxicab Authority has is how the options are presented.

Is the longer route adequately explained? Do drivers give a reasonable estimate on how much more it’s going to cost a customer to take the longer route? Do drivers give full disclosure about how the wait time charges could affect the cost of the trip? And maybe the biggest question: Are there drivers out there long-hauling customers without giving them any explanation?

Taxicab Authority Administrator Gordon Walker has a difficult job protecting consumers and enforcing regulations against long-hauling. His small enforcement staff can stop cabs emerging from the airport tunnel to investigate whether a long-haul has occurred. Walker said one problem is that when a long-haul incident occurs, aggrieved customers don’t want to spend the time filing a complaint — they just want to get to their destination so they can go about their business.

When board members meet at 9 a.m. June 29, they’re scheduled to talk about long-hauling and whether any new regulations, rules or policies should be considered.

Hopefully, the board will discuss an obvious solution — creating a zoned-pricing system for all trips to the Strip.

Other cities have effectively implemented such a system for common destinations.

In Las Vegas, it could work something like this: Any trip to a Strip property south of Tropicana Avenue is one rate. Any trip to a Strip resort between Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road is another rate. And anything between Flamingo and Spring Mountain Road is another. And so on.

It wouldn’t matter whether the trip is made by way of Paradise Road or through the airport tunnel, the cost would always be the same.

Maybe the Taxicab Authority could consider a hybrid rate that includes wait time charges. Or it could keep wait charges on the rate card and add them to the zoned rate.

Zoned rates would eliminate the issue of long-hauling, keep cabdrivers from suspicion and protect consumers. If drafted properly, such a system would generate as much revenue as now.

The statistical resources of the city’s cab companies and the Taxicab Authority can be used to determine a fair zoned-rate structure.

With the long-hauling issue behind it, the Taxicab Authority board could then find some creative solutions to another industry problem — diversion. That’s the illegal practice of taking a customer to a location other than the one specified by the customer. It happens most frequently when a customer asks to be taken to a strip club, but a cabdriver — who gets a financial kickback from a rival club — talks the customer into going elsewhere.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

McCarran fines online

It’s now possible for people who have received citations at McCarran International Airport to pay their fines online.

The Clark County Aviation Department has set up a payment website at www.mccarran.com.

Although the site was set up to make it easier for people to pay — especially those from out of town — the system also should increase revenue for the airport. How much is anybody’s guess, McCarran spokesman Chris Jones says.

“It’s impossible to say how this online payment system will affect the percentages of revenue collected,” Jones said in an e-mail. “It is a new system so we have no basis to offer a projection. But its intent is to make things easier, allowing those who wish to pay to do so with greater convenience.”

In 2009, McCarran personnel issued 8,662 citations and the airport had a 67 percent success rate of collecting the fines. A year earlier, McCarran handed out 14,009 citations and collected on 70 percent of the fines.

There’s also some good news on a matter that should help people going to the airport avoid a citation or at least a confrontation with some of the airport’s traffic enforcement personnel.

A few weeks ago, online readers weighed in on some comments about the need for a “cell phone lot” at McCarran.

Readers shared that several of their favorite airports have dedicated parking for people who arrive to pick up a passenger and wait in their cars for a cell phone call from the arrival.

McCarran still doesn’t have such a lot, but managers are offering the next best thing — a free grace period in all but the valet lots in the parking garages.

People waiting for an arrival can pull into the short- or long-term parking areas and take a ticket from the automated dispensers. From the time the ticket is pulled, the motorist has 15 minutes of free parking to wait for the arrival. When you leave, be sure to insert the ticket at the machine at the lot exit. If you insert the ticket to any of the free-standing machines in the walk-up pay stations, you’ll get charged $2 regardless of adhering to the 15-minute grace period.

A 15-minute grace period doesn’t offer much leeway for meeting up with an arriving passenger, and I’m betting there will be lots of people taking advantage of the grace period and exiting the lot when 15 minutes is up and returning for a fresh ticket and a new 15-minute period.

Like I said, it’s not perfect but it may be the next best thing.

Food event flourishes

The organizers of Vegas Uncork’d, the Mother’s Day weekend special event that called attention to the city’s fine-dining offerings with celebrity chefs mingling with enthusiastic “foodies,” said the event grew substantially this year.

The event had 5,050 ticketed guests, an 18 percent increase over 2009. Of those attending, 76.4 percent were from out of town (up from 72 percent in 2009) and 12 percent were from other countries (up from 9 percent).

The organization’s research indicated that Vegas Uncork’d guests spent $1,604 while they were here, up 16.9 percent from 2009 and 172 percent higher than the $590 the average Las Vegas visitor spent in 2009.

Event guests gambled less this year than last — but the $596 average gaming spend was 24 percent higher than what the average Las Vegas visitor did in 2009.

Two new hotel partners — Wynn Las Vegas and Venetian/Palazzo — joined Bellagio, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay on activities this year and 56 restaurants from 16 resorts participated in the event’s signature attraction, the Grand Tasting. Seventy-six chefs were involved with this year’s event, compared with 54 a year ago.