By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer |
An underground market in city-issued cab permits in New Orleans has seen more than $8 million change hands among industry leaders in the past two years with barely any revenue going to the city, records show.
The city could not easily tell The Lens who owns how many of its 1,600 cab permits because the records are kept in paper files and not computerized. Instead, we requested records showing the transfer and cost of all taxi certificates since 2009 (Excel), and found 340 transactions took place for a total of just over $8 million over the period. Meanwhile, the city made just $350 per transfer, for a total of $119,000 in transfer fees on those deals.
In other cities, permits are non-transferable and officials retain control over the process to earn more money for the public from the sale of cab permits. New Orleans city officials say they want to reform the taxi department, but it’s unclear whether a change from the market-driven system is likely.
A recent analysis in Washington, D.C., cautioned city leaders there against implementing a closed-market system such as the one in New Orleans.
Closed markets enrich the well-connected while lowering standards of service, creating longer waits for cabs, leading to higher fares, and encouraging illegal cab companies to start up because they cannot afford to enter the legitimate market, according to research by the city’s chief financial officer.
In theory, New Orleans cab drivers can purchase a Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience — or cab permit — from the New Orleans Taxicab Bureau for $250. But city rules written decades ago limit the number of certificates to 1,600. City officials say it has been at least five years since the city sold a certificate, but most cab drivers say it has been closer to 20 years.
That gives cab drivers with a certificate a rare and valuable commodity, which they can sell on the private market. Though six sold this year for $67,000, the average transfer price in the past two years has been just under $26,000, records show.
A cab certificate is different from a driver permit to operate a cab, and one cab certificate can cover several permitted drivers working the same cab. A driver needs a New Orleans certificate to legally pick up fares in the city.
There are no test requirements to receive a cab certificate, but a separate driver’s permit costs $40. To get a permit, drivers must be 18 and pass a series of safety tests. They must also be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, which is also a requirement for certificate holders.
Businessman Symon Garber runs New Orleans Taxi Brokers out of the Checker Cabs building on Euphrosine Street, and is hardly your run-of-the-mill cab driver. A photo of Garber and his wife with President Barack Obama hangs on the wall, not far from a notice that shouts out: “We want to buy your CPNC. Ready, willing and able buyers. Fast transfer! We pay top $$$!! Call us now!!!”
Gene Gekker is registered with the Secretary of State’s Office as Garber’s business partner at New Orleans Taxi Brokers. Together or independently, Garber and Gekker are also associated with a string of other companies out of the same building on Euphrosine Street, including New Orleans Carriage Cabs, Yellow Cab, and New Orleans Triglobal Financial Services. Those companies have bought 91 cab certificates since 2009 for a total of $2.7 million, records show.
Gekker and Garber responded to inquiries from The Lens through their attorney Daniel Davillier, who said they now control about 300 cab certificates in total, or almost 20 percent of the New Orleans market.
“These guys run large taxi companies in New York and Chicago,” Davillier said. “If you look at what they are doing, they are trying to bring a new standard of taxi service to New Orleans.”
Davillier said all of Gekker and Garber’s cabs are less than five years old and feature modern equipment including global positioning systems, two-way dispatch and credit-card systems.
Gekker and Garber are attracting attention from cab drivers around the city. At the White Fleet cab company on Bienville Street, a handful of cab drivers expressed discontent that Gekker and Garber’s companies are driving the price of cab certificates beyond the reach of local buyers. None of the drivers wanted his name printed.
One of Gekker’s own drivers, parked outside the Hilton hotel on Poydras Street, said he was upset about his boss’s dominance of the license market, but the driver did not want his name printed because he wanted to keep his job.
“The problem is, the city gives the CPNCs to businesspeople, not to us who want to make a living driving people around,” said the driver, who works for Yellow Cab. “City Hall kills the driver. They have no respect for us. So they deal with these millionaires instead.”
Nasser Barakat is more magnanimous when discussing his crosstown rivals. Barakat runs the American Taxi company from an office on North Claiborne Avenue in the shadow of Interstate 10. Secretary of State records show he is associated with 11 broker companies. Those outfits have bought 60 cab certificates since 2009 for a total of $1.6 million, according to city records.
“They’re nice people, actually,” Barrakat says, of Gekker and Garber. “They came to New Orleans from Chicago to organize the city. They’ve brought in some newer vehicles and newer equipment.”
As a driver came into the office to pay Barakat for the lease of one of his cabs, and to make an insurance payment, Barakat explained that in his view, the buoyant private market in cab certificates helps stabilize the taxi industry.
“If I spend money on this cab, I want a return on the investment,” he said. “We invest so much in the system that we want to be able to protect the value of our investment.”
Still, one of Barakat’s own drivers said he is frustrated at having to rent a cab for $350 a week, simply because he cannot afford his own cab certificate. Waiting in line at the Hilton, American Taxi driver Abdul Mohammad approached a reporter from The Lens and said he hoped that readers would hear the truth about an “unfair system.”
“If I go across the river to Jefferson Parish, I can get a CPNC straight away,” Mohammad said. “But there’s no work over there. So I have to pay $350 a week to rent a cab in Orleans Parish when the city isn’t charging anything for that CPNC.”
Asked whether he was concerned about reprisals for speaking out, Mohammad said he felt it was more important to tell the truth.
“If somebody makes money off me, then that’s not right,” Mohammad said. “It should be a fair system, for anybody who wants a certificate. The city is too close to the rich guys.”
Barakat said he is open to reforms in the system but that he spends a lot of money on lawsuits brought against his drivers, and that he does not make much money once overheads are taken care of.
“You’re killing me with these lawsuits,” Barakat told a sheriff’s deputy who happened to drop in with a subpoena during a recent interview.
Davillier said his clients have followed all of the rules and that they are doing their best to improve the image of New Orleans taxi drivers. He did not address the driver’s concerns about perceived unfairness directly but insisted repeatedly that his clients have invested heavily in the city’s cab industry.
•••
The city could have retained control of the market for cab permits over the years and capitalized on their value to offset the cost of taxpayer-financed services such as libraries, parks, or policing.
“At a time when the city is looking for additional financial resources, we should explore all possible revenue streams,” City Councilman Arnie Fielkow wrote in an emailed statement.
The City Council’s Transportation Committee Chairwoman, Kristin Gisleson Palmer, went much further, although she would only address the industry generally, and not discuss specific companies.
“I believe the whole system needs to be reformed, and we’re working with the administration to do that,” she said. “This system with CPNCs being sold even though it’s technically the city’s property, the city of New Orleans has seen no economic benefit from those transfers, and I’m not sure whether all of those transfers have even been notified to the city.”
She said she wants changes that will make it easier for drivers to get a certificate.
“I think the process also creates a system where the little guy cannot afford to purchase a CPNC number, and has to lease out the use of the number,” Gisleson Palmer said. “So you have many drivers out there without benefits, medical, who are just leasing the CPNCs, and you create a system of indentured servitude.”
Lax regulation of driver permits has also led to a handful of alleged rapes by cab drivers over the last two years, Gisleson Palmer said.
“There’s a total lack of enforcement, background checks and everything with the transfer of these CPNCs,” Gisleson Palmer said. “These people may be leasing a CPNC number, but that doesn’t mean that their driver permit is actually on file. There’s a whole violent side of this that people aren’t aware of. There’s a shocking number of complaints against cab drivers in this city.”
In addition to working with the administration, Gisleson Palmer has introduced a series of ordinances through the Transportation Committee to improve conditions for customers. These include posting a passenger’s bill of rights in cabs, and removing a line from the city code that lets drivers charge more money for people who are disabled.
“We’re very much focused on cleaning up this industry, but there are a lot of things that we need to wait until various investigations are completed,” Gisleson Palmer said. “In the meantime, we are doing what we can.”
Deputy mayor and former State Sen. Ann Duplessis — whom the Landrieu administration brought in on a mission to clean up the taxicab bureau last year — said the city does not collect sales tax on the transfer of cab certificates because they are considered “property rights” by the city — “This is property being transferred,” Duplessis said.
Like a handful of other American cities, New Orleans has sat back for decades while cab companies have gotten rich trading cab permits.
Nothing requires a certificate holder to actually use a cab certificate. If a company chooses to stash away certificates, those in use or dribbled onto the market become more valuable. The city does not track the use of certificates.
One retired cab driver told how he sold his license to Gekker and Garber at New Orleans Taxi Brokers for $65,000 in April. He had not driven his cab in five years, but held on to the certificate and watched it rise in value.
“I just sold it to ‘em. There was a word on the street that they were buying CPNCs,” said Edward Dufaur. “My wife died four years ago. I’m 76. I was just interested in how much they were paying.”
Dufaur originally bought his certificate from another driver in the 1980s, but he said he has forgotten how much he paid for it.
A handful of other cab certificate brokerage companies are also capitalizing on a recovering market for cab certificates since Hurricane Katrina. The storm slashed values in New Orleans from around $60,000 before the storm, to around $10,000 in 2006, several cab drivers said.
These brokerages are sometimes affiliated with cab companies, but usually registered as separate entities with the Secretary of State’s Office.
•••
New Orleans cab permits are sometimes called medallions, but the certificates are not quite the same thing. Medallion systems are in operation in Chicago and New York City, and drivers are able to borrow against their value at a bank. But for reasons that remain unclear, drivers are not able to borrow against the value of a CPNC even though the pieces of paper clearly have a monetary value. None of the people we spoke to for this story was able to explain why.
Barakat is hopeful that New Orleans will move to a medallion system soon, both so that he can borrow against the value of it but also, so that the city can reap more revenue from cab regulation.
“If they would make them into actual medallions, which we hope for, then we could borrow against the value of the medallions, instead of just these pieces of paper,” he said. “And the city could take a bigger cut from selling the medallions, too. They’re not getting very much revenue out of the deal right now.”
Davillier said Garber and Gekker would also support a move to a medallion system with a 5 percent transfer fee going to the city, providing that they were reimbursed for the value of the certificates they have already bought, or if the ownership was transferred from certificates to medallions.
•••
Other cities have found that the system used in New Orleans is a bad idea for taxpayers. For example, a proposal to institute such a system in Washington, D.C., stalled recently after a damning report from the office of city’s Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi.
“High lease amounts for medallions wipe out any above-normal earnings for drivers who lease medallions, and deprive them of the chance of accumulating long term wealth through ownership,” Gandhi’s analyst concluded.
As a result of the report, the city continued issuing unlimited taxi licenses, said Dena Reed, general counsel for the Washington Taxicab Commission. Enrollment for licenses opens and closes periodically, depending on a city council vote, but when enrollment is open, licenses cost just $200 a year, and are non-transferable. About 7,800 licensed taxicabs are on Washington’s streets.
By comparison, the closed-market New York City system of medallions created a market where these change hands for more than $700,000, freezing out small business people and encouraging unlicensed private cabs to take their chances on the streets, Gandhi’s analyst wrote.
Jefferson Parish offers unlimited non-transferable cab licenses. A certificate costs $200 a year, and the licenses are always available, a spokeswoman for the taxicab department said.
“Anyone who meets the criteria can come get a CPNC in Jefferson Parish,” said Tiffany Wilken.
The Landrieu administration still is uncertain whether it will put a stop to its closed-licensing program in New Orleans.
Deputy Mayor Duplessis said the administration is reviewing the section of city law that governs cab regulation to see what changes might be made. But the review will not be complete until sometime in 2012 and even then, Duplessis isn’t sure whether the city should change.
Duplessis said one of the priorities for the overhauled department was “building a brand” for the city’s cab industry, and that opening up the market for cab certificates may, or may not, come later.
“But we’re definitely going to look at it,” Duplessis said.
One reason it is difficult to reshape the system is that private interests stand to lose a great deal of money from any reforms, and the administration has been meeting with cab companies as it looks to shape its new approach.
“There will always be people in these entrenched industries with interests at the table,” said Landrieu spokesman Ryan Berni.
•••
Whatever the city decides to do about its cab certificates, the taxicab bureau is unlikely to be spared from controversy over the coming months. Three inspectors have resigned from the bureau since Landrieu brought in Duplessis, and two more remain on emergency suspension.
Neither U.S. Attorney Jim Letten nor the administration would confirm or deny reports that the department is under federal investigation. Duplessis said the administration is cooperating with an investigation being conducted by city Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux, who confirmed that an investigation is being conducted at Landrieu’s request, but declined to go into details. It is expected that the investigation will be released to the public in early November.
Back on the street, cab driver Mohammad is skeptical about the reported investigations.
“I hear that the feds are investigating, but they don’t seem to have come up with anything,” he said. “All I know is that those people at City Hall don’t care about us. They don’t want us to make a living.”
Duplessis recently hired a new director for the bureau, Malachi Hull, from Atlanta. Hull replaces former director Mike Lentz, whom Duplessis fired in early August for unspecified reasons, after his emergency suspension in mid-April.
Hull said there are closed-markets in cab licenses in other cities but he would not say either whether the idea is a good practice, or be drawn on whether it should continue in New Orleans.
If it is any indication of how taxicab licenses might be regulated in the future, the city just started issuing licenses for pedicabs. They are non-transferable.
Please do a follow up on the amount of liability insurance drivers are required as per city ordinance. Taxi fleet owners $0.00— drivers $25,000 I was run over as a pedestrian by an American Taxi cab. My medical bills alone are in excess of $350,000. The owners of American claim that drivers with the colors,name,emblem,phone number and logo don’t work for them. They are independent operators thus leaving the fleet owners with no liability and the victim has to settle for the minimum insurance. Compare the insurance required in other cities.
Welcome to “The New New Orleans”. I am a New Orleans Taxi Driver.I am very excited about the changes to come in the Taxi Industry. I support the Landrieu administration in it’s daily commitment to move New Orleans forward. My hope is that they don’t allow hope to escape. Hope will provide them with the necessary wisdom to bring our city forward.Again I welcome you all to “The New New Orleans”.
Cab Industry in New Orleans is the most corrupt and unregulated, They need to start by taking care of the driver first. Take all these CPNC numbers back and give it to the drivers who are out on the street risking their lives everyday and then you can expect the driver to have a newer card, provide better service, etc. These Cab companies are getting fatter by the day and the drivers are starving, wake up city hall and do the right thing.
My hat is off to Deputy Mayor Ann Duplessis. She has already done more to clean up the taxi industry than her predecessors did in 30 years! Mr. Hull is a no nonsense regulator with EXPERIENCE and not a political patronage appointee. This is a first for that position since the mid 80’s. I applaud his efforts to take New Orleans from the most dangerous, oldest and technologically deficient cabs in the nation to the best. We are a service economy that is harmed every day by the expensive and substandard taxi service offered to visitors and residents alike. As for the drivers, increase driver standards and strict enforcement and the bad ones will fall by the wayside creating more income and opportunity for the taxi professionals. New Orleans also needs to go back to cabs being 1-4 passengers which will not only save fuel thus increasing drivers take home earnings but it will mean more trips and income for the industry. If all cab drivers provided good service, it would bring more business for everyone!
I would Like to say thank you American Taxi for being part of this industry we as customers appreciate you being in New Orleans. We hope that with the new deputy director our city can come back and shine to become one of the top five best American city for cab service.
Thanks for all your comments, guys. A few things:
Not sure if they misled you or not, all I know is that there is a moritorium on CPNC’s in Jefferson Parish as of right now according to actions by the council back in the beginning of the summer I believe.
Also in the article they say how great carriage cab is and how they bring state of the art GPS technology here. Well what they dont say is that all of the other companies that these Russians own are low class, look up the feed back on their companies in Chicago. Results are extremely negative.
Also here is the city their cabs are a joke and most are diplorable.
Maybe these are the cars that he had to remove from Chicago’s fleet because they had salvage titles? They had to pay fines to the city of Chicago of almost 1 million dollars and remove cars from service because they had salvage titles which is against the law their, Im pretty sure those cars taken out ended up here.
City of New Orleans has issued approximately 1600 CPNC numbers for drivers to drive the Cabs (which is a property of the City of New Orleans) and make a living, So how did these numbers end up with Cab Companies that charge drivers up to $450.00 a week to rent a cab or $500.00 a month to lease just the CPNC number. Currently a CPNC number is black marketed at around $75000.00.
Carriage Cab of New Orleans came to new Orleans in 2008 and started buying CPNC number and now have racked up 350 numbers, their cabs are the most nastiest and filthiest but they still charge up to $450.00 per cab per week which in terms of money is ($450*52weeks a year*350cabs =8,190,000.00) a lot of money. This money should deservingly go to the drivers who are risking their lives on a daily basis dealing with the elements of the society. I understand that the Cab companies need to make a profit too but if we cannot even feed our families and afford basic necessities, is it right for the cab companies/CPNC owners to make a fortune of us? Especially due to black marketing practices. There are some individuals that own several numbers and they do not intend to drive a cab or do not intend to spend a dollar in the New Orleans economy. These individuals are making money from the property of the city of New Orleans. Other cities like San Francisco allow only drivers to have CPNC not companies or individuals that do not intend to drive a cab.
The simple and easy solution to these issues is to revoke the CPNC numbers that are being used as anything other than as a number holder/driver , all the remaining number should be turned back to the city and the city may collect $150.00/monthly per CPNC number instead of collecting $150.00 yearly renewal fees. If the city collects $150.00/month per CPNC number *12 months *1200 numbers = 2,160,000.00 estimated. With this money the City can fund New Cabs/Schools/Hospitals/Roads/Housing for poor or any other city program.
The reason that I am choosing to be Anonymous is that if the company that I work for finds out who I am, I might loose my CPNC lease contract. Believe me my friends have suffered this in the past. This corruption and Nonsense needs to stop from this city in order to look forward to a better industry.
As I heard from reliable source,these are all true. If the drivers are getting CPNC no from city and thus money goes to the city of Nen Orleans than it is better in all respect. City hall could make the money and use it in lot of philantrofic services. Thus poors drivers will be more than happy to give their money to city hall.carriage cab are holding more than 350 numbers and most of CPNC numbers are with their cab co. Most of cabs in that co are very old .
It’s really true that what is going on very very shameful , new Orleans ground transprostion derpterment don’t care about poor drivers in the city they only care for millionears ? But they don’t want to listen the poor drivers. Drivers are suffering more and more for paying the high amount of CPNC rent.companies owner are doing blacking marking in buying the CPNC number. Thus they always increase the CPNC rent and we the poor drivers are sufferings. Thank you for information that the carriage Co brought aii the salvage cab from CIcago.we got some information that every companies are getting some commission from insurance Co. In that way they making money From all the individuals drivers. We like to humbly request the city hall, please investigate all the matter proerly.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Cabs-Pay-1M-For–118904114.html
And all those cars ended up here in New Orleans. All their cars are 2005 and newer but are so worn out a ragged that they are a disgrace.
since Russian owner coming in the city new orleans,they made every company and cpnc holder very low class and very greedy and aggressive with drivers,this city not like chicgo, new york or sanfrancico, here only realy 7 month have business, city business owner they know what is realy true,but cpnc holder greedy people they dont think for drivers, even summer they need their money, drivers making nothing before cpnc we pay $200 rent now $500 monthly with car and cpnc $250, now $350 to $450 every weekly, How drivers can afford it? city hall dont listen poor drivers , they listen millioner? if you put $50,000 in bank you will get intersted $500 dollars? It is nice black marketing cpnc business from poor drivers? we pray to lord brings here one big big haricane and cleaning all black marketing cpnc business and nonsence and greediness from poor drivers city of new orleans!
Attention Drivers:
Taking on the Taxi Cartel
Milwaukee Cab Drivers Join Forces with National Public Interest Law Firm In Major Legal Challenge to City
New Orleans Cab Bureau is as dysfunctional as the rest of our city. It’s a wonder they can find their way to their office, let alone figure how to issue more CPNC’s. Not only that, but they’re in a constant war against cab drivers. They HATE cab drivers and do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to make their lives as miserable as possible on the job. The day to day business of the “Cab Bureau” is done by a couple of “old bitty” ladies, who absolutely HATE cab drivers, I’ve been told. (Of course, this is probably wrong, and I’m probably wrong for mentioning it. They’re probably sweeties – just like the NOPD guys.)
On top of that, they have a “kangaroo” court for cab driver infractions of the rules. If a driver gets a ticket from one of their enforcement people, he has to go to a hearing in front of an administrative “judge”, who isn’t even allowed to find the driver guilty or innocent. The department member doing the “prosecution” does the job of “finding guilty or innocent” – at a later time (???). The poor drivers never stand a chance. I have a couple cab driver friends and have seen several cell phone videos of the “proceedings” and was shocked. If you are a non-owner driver, you’re making less than minimum wage, so hiring an attorney to represent you at the hearing is out of the question.
carriage cab owner Russiana mafia may be givine black money to city hall mayor and taxibrueau ground transportaion industries thats why city hall want to changes to chapter 162,it only for favor Russiana mafia only , if city hall want to change to chapter 162, mr hull and mayor do favor for city taxi drivers,but city hall ,they’re in a constant war against cab drivers, they HATE cab drivers and do EVERYTHINGS POSSIBLE TO MAKE THEIR LIVES AS MISERABLE AS POSSIBLE ON THE JOB, WE WILL GO HIGHT COURT WHAT GOING ON AGAINST TAXI DRIVERS CITY OF NEW ORLEANS! MILWAUKEE CAB DRIVERS JOIN FORCES WITH NATIONAL PUBLIC INTEREST LAW FIRM IN MAJOR LEGAL CHALLENGE TO CITY’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAXICAB LAW.
How do they get away with it?
FIXED VOTE = NO VOTE http://www.flickr.com/photos/66799032@N08/6120141236/in/photostream http://edwardmd.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/fixed-vote-no-vote-i-will-not-assist-thin-air-vote-counting/
German High Court Outlaws Electronic Voting
Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 9:45 am
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0910/S00187.htm
Hacking Democracy
Matt Davis please, just call FBI AND IRS on carrige cab Russian owner and American taxi owner and white fleet owner they are most corrupt and dysfunctional and greedy peoples in our city, they make cab drivers life miserable day by day, cpnc rent high, from insurance company they getting commission,and drivers pay high insurance, they dont like their drivers ,they like drivers should making money for them! one from Russia, another from middle east,other one vampire sucking poor drivers blood!
our city hall also involved with those so call company!wonderfull, marvelous, excellent job city of NEW ORLEANS! TAXI CAB INDUSTRY
You were misinformed on this article. CPNC in Jefferson have been frozen since May but the company who the Parish contracts (Viola) to issue them still gave them out. I tried to get one last week and was denied. So I say all CPNC’s issued by them after May should be revoked because they were given out illegally! Plain and simple. Call them and correct your article because you were mis informed. Kenner is locked also. All beacuse of the greed in New Orleans, just think if the City of Kenner and Jefferson Parish say that no cabs can operate in the city or parish limits unless they have a Kenner city or parish CPNC
If the City of Kenner and Jefferson Parish put it into their ordinances that you must have CPNC from Jefferson or from Kenner to operate in their parish then how will the cabs from town at the airport work. The airport is owned by the City of New Orleans but is outside the City Limits so they have to abide by the laws and ordinances of that City/Parish because New Orleans policy ends at the Parish/City line. And if they make the Airport exempt for New Orleans Cabs to operate T atheists airport
If they make the Airport exempt from those policies and allow all cabs to work there then why doesn’t the convention center, superdome, the arena and other main affairs have taxi lines for out of Parish cabs also. I thought the original plans of the Superdome had a taxi line for out of parish taxi cabs.
My other post was cut off I did not mean to say atheists airport, sorry it was the autocorrect on my software.
please lensnola org come city hall 10/21/2011 has meeting for public suggestion please fox8 and matt Davis come to city hall 9am to 11 am morning
please come and listing what poor taxi drivers want to say to city hall? please help us? Thank you
to all cpnc holders you are the holder not the owner u know befor u spend $35.000,$46.000,$75.000 dollars thats a black market.the city of new orleane is the owner .the cpnc holders want to open alowsuit if city retern all cpnc or give to divers ,the city owns cpnc who are u ? i agree with cresent city driver new orleans cab industry the most corrapted unregulated take all the cpnc number back and give to drivers out the street or issued new and revok the old , every driver can have one. mr hull do the wright to all drivers ,i am not adriver or cpnc holder i was apassengre and the driver was respectful.
i agree wiht terisa its cashe many did IRS know the many did they file income tax every year for all the cpnc numbers most of them have from 2 to 10 cpnc or more emagen when they rented from $300.00 to $500.00,$600.00 they wanted to pay by cash if you give them ck or many order or you go to drivers meeting they take cpnc from the driver,Mr hull do writ welcom me and all the drivers of new orleans.
to all taxi drivers you need to atend in any meeting for your wright some one will take your job or cpnc holders will charge you more many they don’t care about you or any one.
I think that several of these posts are from people who are uninformed and are just slinging allegations. It is illegal to collect a commission on insurance if you are not an agent – where is the proof? Please people, stop making allegations regarding the cab industry, unless there is some actual proof, or you truly understand what is going on here. What the drivers do not seem to realize is that the CPNC’s are supply and demand items. If a driver cannot find a number in the city and comes and offers $1000 a month – who is to blame for accepting that? The company, the owner or the driver? Also, these drivers keep saying that their companies are evil – yet please ask them who they go to for assistance when they need it? The drivers also do not seem to understand that when the company is sued for the drivers’ actions, the company is the one that pays the filing fees and legal fees. In Orleans Parish, to file a response to a lawsuit it is $350. If the owner is only collecting $350 or $400, it doesn’t even cover the legal fees for what was the driver’s fault. Please research the whole issue before you make comments on it.
I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE JUMP ON VEHICLES,FAKING ACCIDENTS TO GET MONEY,SOMETIMES I JUST LAUGH AT THEM WHEN THEY DROP ON THE GROUND ASKING PEOPLE TO CALL AN AMBULANCE,LAZY PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO WORK TO MAKE A LIVING,JUMP ON YOUR CAR ON CANAL ST,POYDRAS AND OTHER PLACES I SEE THEM EVERYDAY. AS FOR THE CITY,SHOULD GIVE THE CPNC TO THE DRIVERS NOT TO THE BLOODSUCKERS’VAMPIRES’
THEY GOT THE CPNC FOR FREE,THEY DO NOT DRIVE ANYMORE AND THEY CHARGE PEOPLE WHO REALLY WANT TO WORK FOR THE CITY TOO MUCH MONEY.
I WISH KATRINA WAS BACK AND WASHED AWAY ALL OF THESE VAMPIRES MAKING MONEY AND GETTING FAT WITH THE SUFFERING OF THE POOR TAXI DRIVERS. THEY SEAT AT THE OFFICE ALL DAY AND THINK OF HOW MUCH MONEY THEY WILL CHARGE THE DRIVERS NEXT MONTH.
Hull is a man every place a low income try yo make a living he com and chase you away he did it in atlanta i hope the mayor take him to angola with him because thats where hes going when his time is up