Matt Karolian reports a harrowing ride today with a cabbie who refused to accept that city regulations prohibit him from charging the cost of the return toll to people headed to East Boston - a ride that ended at Boston Police District A-7, where the cabbie wanted Karolian charged with fare evasion and Karolian threatened to press a kidnapping charge.
As any East Boston resident will tell you, city taxi regulations bar a toll charge for one-way trips to East Boston, but as the cabbie approached Karolian's house, he not only refused to accept that, he began racing to the police station to have Karolian arrested.
"The cabbie just kept insisting this must have been my first time taking a cab in Boston," Karolian said. "He refused to stop and ran stop signs to prevent me from leaving the car. I advised him that I would have him charged with false imprisonment or kidnapping if he did not let me pay the fare and leave."
"This is a consistent issue for people who live in East Boston most of the time the cabbie will make a huge to-do about the toll to go back into Boston," he said. "If the driver says nothing, I generally give him the toll money anyway and thank him for being a professional."
That didn't happen in this case. Karolian said that after hearing both sides, a desk officer at A-7 ordered the cabbie to accept his meter-based payment and let Karolian go.
Karolian said he walked home from A-7.
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Comments
Well, duh
By Will LaTulippe
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 2:51pm
You see what happens when the city makes the prices, and not the free market? A cabbie pays X for the finite right to ply the trade in Boston, then can only accept Y in payment. Clearly, Y is not covering X suitably. How about we start electing people that can do math?
In the meantime, why wasn't the cabbie arrested anyway? The passenger did not ask to be taken to the police station. That's a kidnapping. Jail him.
The real problem is that the
By anon
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 3:31pm
The real problem is that the tunnel rips off airport passengers by charging taxis $5.25, versus the regular $3 FastLane toll.
So then the city tries to give a political favor to East Boston residents by forbidding taxis from charging the toll to passengers. And the cabbie gets squeezed, since the fare often doesn't even cover the toll.
So cabbies refuse to go to East Boston. And there's no way to get there once the T closes for the night.
The solution? Lower the round trip taxi toll to $3 like any other car, and allow cabbies to charge passengers the one-way toll of $1.50. Everyone pays for the cost of what they use, nobody gets a freebie at someone else's expense, and people are no longer stranded downtown.
The solution
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 7:59am
Follow the rules or lose your license or face criminal charges.
If cabbies want sympathy, they need to stop attacking, lying to, cheating, stealing from, and threatening customers.
Even if there were new rules, the basic problems of fundamental lack of clue will remain, and cabbies will still lie, cheat, threaten, steal, attack, abduct, etc. because they are being allowed to get away with it.
Thats the way the system is set up.
By anon²
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 11:46am
There's a reason why the guy in the car is on the phone with someone half way around the world, and has NO IDEA where he is and where you want to go.
My success rate for a career cab driver in Boston, that knows the roads, the road closures at night, and can get me somewhere quick is about 10-15%.
Although I do have to say the cabbies in Southie seem much better at knowing the city, and are more over friendlier in my experience. No idea why, but props (and good tips) to them.
Simply put it, many more medallions need to be made to drive down the costs of running cab businesses, and force price competitiveness and quality of service; or they need to be eliminated completely.
There's simply some regulations and government actions where it make no sense to regulate so strictly. This is one.
We're regulating taxis in Boston with limited, expensive medallions like they do in London; without requiring them to be held to the same standards (to the public benefit) for that government enforced oligarchy. In Londo you're tested, without a map, on the cheapest fair from point A to point B. Fail and you;re out of luck in the job. Service is great, prices are reasonable for that service, and quality is through the roof.
New medallions ≠ cheaper medallions
By aragusea
Thu, 01/05/2012 - 10:37am
For what it's worth, the last time Boston auctioned off new medallions in 1991, the price went up, not down, due in part to speculation.
My old reporting on this: http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/02/15/cab-regulat...
I'm not asking for sympathy
By anon
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 1:39pm
I'm not asking for sympathy for cabbies. I'm asking for a system that allows people to get home.
You can make the penalties as strict as you want, but that won't help the guy on the street who has a dozen cabs refuse to take him to East Boston because they'd lose money.
Um, the last time I checked, there is
By roadman
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 2:21pm
no toll to drive to East Boston from downtown. So your one way toll would be $3.00 for the cabbie's return trip into the City.
However, a much better solution to the problem would be to allow the cabbie to pick up a return fare in East Boston once they drop off their passenger.
Boston taxis are allowed to
By anon
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 1:20pm
Boston taxis are allowed to pick up street hails in East Boston. But finding such a passenger is unlikely, especially at 2 AM.
It should have been obvious from my post that I'm intimately familiar with the toll structure, and that the $1.50 I proposed was apportioning half of the one-way $3 return toll.
How about those credit card fees?
By Boston_res
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 3:35pm
You know the ones. Most cabbies will get angry about them, and will refuse to take a credit card.
Taxi drivers should be
By anon
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 4:27pm
Taxi drivers should be fighting the state instead of the passengers over the toll fee to East Boston. If the residents and taxi drivers don’t get along, more people are going to drink and drive instead of taking taxi's home.
The next article that should be written is why it cost $9 + tip + ~voluntary toll~ one night to go from Faneuil Hall to Eastie, and $25 another night going EXACTLY THE SAME ROUTE. Who would want to give THAT driver $25 + tip + ~voluntary toll~ for the same ride???
Taxis drivers
By anon²
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 5:40pm
are only worried about their bottom line. Because of the messed up medallion system and state/private oligarchy on taxis, they rent out their cab and try to make back their money + whatever they can get.
It also tends to attract the worse of the worse to the business, as it's a quick buck machine. Major holders hold all the medallions, the drivers are renting the taxis and the customers are getting screwed.
Boston really needs to do away with this antiquated, patronage system. I'm actually with Will on this one.
Get a commercial license for driving people, and follow the common sense regulations, and ANYONE should be able to open and operate a cab business in the city. There's really no rational public interest to step in the way of the market here. It only serves to limit service and artificiality keep prices higher.
We sure as hell aren't getting better service, as was probably originally promised.
Alternatives
By karenz
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 4:40pm
For cab drivers that give you a hard time about the toll, tell them they don't have to take the tunnel back to Boston. They can take Route 99 via Chelsea to get back to 93 South and avoid the toll. If they still protest get another cab - they're not worth that kind of stress!
Taxi Rant
By BlackKat
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 5:50pm
That driver that kidnapped Matt Karolian should have been charged with kidnapping and lost his medallion for taxi law violations. Not just let go.
Had a cab driver pull the old "my card reader is broken" spiel the other night, which when told he should not be on the road per rules he then said "oh look I got it working". Then told me there was a "$15 credit card minimum". Fortunately this was near the beginning of the trip so I said "You know what, if you're going to keep lying to me and trying to scam me, pull over right now." And I got out right then and there. Too bad this stuck me on a little, isolated road where I then had to walk 15 minutes before finding another cab - who fortunately did not complain about the card.
Any cab driver that bitches about credit card fees (covered by a fare hike) or the tolls (which they pass on to customer) can kiss Ron Jeremy's hairy ass. Cabs in Boston charge far more money per mile than even NYC (our consistently more expensive comparative city). [check here to confirm: http://taxiwiz.com/?lang=en ]
Oh and try to get a cab to come to Roslindale or Mattapan or any other outlying part of Boston some time... good luck.
And try getting a cab driver who is not on the phone with someone the whole time. I don't care if they're wearing a "hands free" Borg earpiece. They need to hang the fuck up and pay attention to the road when they're driving.
Maybe Boston's medallion system is not perfect, but it's as much a fault of the buyers and sellers of said medallions as the city. And the taxi companies would throw a hissy fit if the city tried to reform matters because they know it would end up with a NYC style system.
And correct me if I am wrong but I am fairly sure one of the things that keeps the T from running late is the lobbying done by taxi company owners.
I could keep ranting all day about taxis...
Taxi deregulation
By fenwayguy
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 8:59pm
So let's get the ball rolling.
At what level of government is the medallion system mandated? Just the city, or is there some arcane role for the county or the legislature -- or god forbid, the Governor's Council?
Reaganomics = Fail
By BlackKat
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 2:16am
De-regulation is the diametric opposite of the right solution.
Taxis need to be so heavily regulated into submission that they become a de facto second wing of the MBTA. They need to be mandated to be cheap and efficient, and the drivers to be courteous, skillful, and responsible.
They should be run as a single, state-entity. The town rules don't work where taxis can't pick up fares in towns outside that which granted them a medallion when Boston and the surrounding suburbs are so close, sometimes intermingling such as Brookline. I don't think that those rules can change so long as each town/city has its own Taxi Commission.
You need to bump it up to the state level and I think the legislature is the best fit. I would be leery of handing it to the governor's council. That entity seems to be even more capable of being bought and sold than the legislature with all its lobbyists. That could be a perceptual failing on my part, but I don't trust the council.
Why do you think that will work?
By Matthew
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 3:41am
Also, a second wing of the MBTA? Is that supposed to be a good thing?
Why wouldn't liberalization of the taxi market be good for availability and efficiency, by creating a competitive market?
Stockholm did it. They just mandated a consistent way of displaying price information so that customers could decide fairly.
Seems like a better way than our medallions.
Get rid of the medallion system
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 7:55am
That would be a "deregulation". However, it would enable all kinds of meaningful regulation - like, follow the rules or lose your right to drive a cab.
I think that anyone who presents with a vehicle that meets strict minimal requirements and has met strict minimum driving and instructional targets should be allowed to drive. Let the market decide the number of vehicles and their timing on the road. It would also enable strict enforcement - follow the rules or lose.
What? Are you serious?
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 3:43pm
So let me get this straight; what you propose is that anyone with a vehicle that can pass an inspection should be allowed to start driving people around for money? And who do you nominate to oversee what seems to me to be almost anarchy on city streets?
Do you even know how much a medallion costs in this city? Do you even know who regulates taxis in this city? Who regulates limousines?
How long the waiting list is for the hackney course in Boston? How much Boston cabs charge per mile?
You'll excuse me now, I have to get back to driving my sedan. In Fantasyland.
Limo Services
By Udonymous
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 3:57pm
Do they meet minimum standards?
Yes, anyone who can get a cab driving license and have a car that meets requirments for a taxi should be able to operate as a taxi - unless they kidnap fares and lie and cheat and park in bike lanes. Then they lose their license.
Other cities have no problem with this. Boston isn't special.
Limo services
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 9:58pm
have to meet minimum standards. You charge more for your service than cabs and thus if you are not up to the standards your clients expect there are plenty of other services they can use. Cab drivers for the most part don't give two shits about the person in the back.
Also, limos have to maintain a million dollar liability insurance and workmens comp on their cars. Last I checked cabs do not.
Also, please cite which cities allow unfettered access to their city streets to just anyone with insurance, I'd love to know which ones you refer to.
What part of ...
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 7:19pm
"qualified vehicle" and "qualified driver" did you not read/understand?
Why shouldn't anybody who meets the driver training/licence qualifications use a qualified vehicle meeting standards be able to work as a cab driver? And why shouldn't any driver who can't follow the rules be removed from service?
The "system" we have now is defunct. Actually the "racket" we have now is defunct.
Because, my dear Swirly
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 10:11pm
You obviously don't spend a lot of time in Boston or Cambridge cabs, do you? I ask because if you had, you'd notice that the drivers in these vehicles already meet the lowest minimum standards possible and they are among the worst in the nation.
And in case you hadn't been driving around Boston or Cambridge lately, you'd notice that an overwhelming majority of the cab drivers in those town are flagrant and frequent violators of even the most minor of traffic rules. Add to that a hackney division that is considered one step below the pawn shop unit in terms of assignments at the BPD and you have a bureaucracy that's already overwhelmed when it comes to both training and street enforcement.
Huh?
By anon²
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 11:53am
Regulation for regulations sake is not a good thing. The opposite is true too (look at the finance sector).
Regulations need to be in the public interest, and as it is now regulating taxis is only in the interests of the politicians and the taxi medallion owners. Yes they should be held to fuel standards and quality of service, and other normal business regulations and standards.
But the artificial medallion service that limits ownership and operation isn't introducing any benefit to the public. It's keeping other service off the road to the public determent, as we see in Boston.
Check out http://thinkprogress.org/tag/transportation/
Lots of smart (mostly liberal) ideas on transportation policy in the real world, including the fact that there's not much smarts in heavily limiting taxis medallions in cities, because of regulatory capture and what it really ends up doing to service and prices.
Cab's too/from west roxbury
By anon
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 12:56am
I have resorted to just calling veteran's taxis (I believe based out of newton). They have never once given me any problems, always arrived when they said they would, and never have once had a problem with driving me to west roxbury anytime.
"And correct me if I am wrong
By anonon
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 10:58am
"And correct me if I am wrong but I am fairly sure one of the things that keeps the T from running late is the lobbying done by taxi company owners."
You're not wrong completely, but the main reason the MBTA doesn't run at night is to allow for work. 1-5 AM is the only time to do work in the tunnels, and let me tell you based on experience that the time is not enough to do what needs to be done - even 7 days a week. New York benefits from double tracks in both direction and can shut portions of the system every weekend for repairs
Some 2-track subways run 24
By anon
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 1:37pm
Some 2-track subways run 24 hours. Philly's Subway Surface line only shuts for maintenance 1 night per week. Chicago has some 24-hour lines. And plenty of New York's lines are only 2 tracks.
But the real problem is that there are no 24-hour buses in Boston.
And the reason is the union contract which gives double pay after 2 AM.
If Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Phoenix can have transit until 4 AM, why can't we?
thats the problem.. they ALL
By ColombianBean
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 4:31pm
thats the problem.. they ALL give you a hard time!!! they need to just keep the train running 24hrs from Aquarium to Maverick! that would solve a lot of problems!
Or run a single T bus back
By anon
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 1:41pm
Or run a single T bus back and forth through the tunnel at night.
Or ask for bids from a private contractor to do the same. Whoever does it for the least subsidy gets the contract.
I'm so sick
By anon
Tue, 01/03/2012 - 5:57pm
of hearing these cabbies whine and complain. It's easy, try to get the rules changed, or find another job. We all have rules we need to live by in our "careers".
There wouldn't be people lining up to drive cabs right now? There's plenty of out of work people around.
Non-Taxi Car Service loophole
By anonuber
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 10:44am
I think this concept deserves its own Uhub post:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technocra...
Ever been in an Uber vehicle?
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 3:47pm
It's great if you speak Arabic, Farsi or Russian. Or if you feel like directing your driver to stop talking on his cell phone long enough to give him directions to where you are going.
Pricing...
By Kaz
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 4:17pm
I'll admit I haven't taken a cab in Boston lately, but Uber has a $15 minimum per ride. It's also $7 base fee just to get in the car, $4/mi after that, and $0.85/minute on top of that too.
It's about 3 miles, 10 minutes, from my previous office to Fenway Park and according to taxifarefinder.com that's about a $15 fare (that's including a 15% tip as well).
Using Uber, that'd be $7 + $12 + $8.50 for a whopping total of $27.50 (and that includes the tip as well in the pricing). So, twice as much to take Uber than the regular cab rate? No thanks.
Also, they charge $55 from Logan to anywhere in Boston. $65 from Logan to Cambridge! (It's closer to parts of Cambridge from Logan off the Pike than it is to parts of Boston)...AND neither of those prices include the tolls at all!
I've never been in an Uber
By Nonymouse
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 6:41pm
I've never been in an Uber vehicle, but you just described 97% of my experiences in Boston cabs.
So the man paid the cab fare
By anon
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 12:17pm
So the man paid the cab fare to the police station and was not brought to his destination? Still got ripped off...