CREST HAVEN — It is a long taxicab ride from here to Broome County, N.Y. Why there? Because both places share a similar problem: A fragmented approach to the regulation of the taxicab industry.
Barry Felice, owner of AA Plus Cab, LLC, based in Lower Township, brought that concern to freeholders’ attention on March 9. He cited Broome County’s (Binghamton area) plight, and noted what legislators there hope to do to rectify the matter.
He believes this tourist-dependent county should streamline cab licensing to enable taxicabs to carry fares from Cape May to Ocean City and back.
“I’m trying to streamline some taxi regulations, and bring them into the 21st Century,” said Felice. “We’ve got 16 different municipalities in the county, and 11 have a taxi ordinance. None are uniform,” he added.
“It’s not tourist friendly,” he stated.
Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel agreed; but cited state law does not permit a county to issue such a license. Any such a change would require action by the state Legislature, Beyel added. He pledged to confer with state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) over the matter.
Felice cited licenses that permit him to operate in such places as North Wldwood, the Cape May area, Lower and Middle townships, but often a fare will have to be told he can’t return them from the place he dropped them off.
Further, he added, since each municipality has its own regulations, “that entails a set of paperwork in each town. It entails myself and other drivers to get background checks and register with each police department. It’s not workable,” said Felice.
A law redefining limousines was passed in January. Among other things, it limits to no more than 14 the number of passengers allowed to be transported in a limousine.
Additionally, Assembly Bill A-1471 would permit municipalities to auction taxi licenses to highest bidder, and would require taxicabs to display taxi license numbers on the rear quarter panels and trunk.
Part of Felice’s concern was a loophole that allowed firms to operate with limousine license plates, while skirting more stringent taxicab laws. The new law mandates drivers to have a chauffeur endorsement on their driver’s license.
Felice said he even considered operating as a limousine, since it would allow him to operate countywide “and you don’t have to deal with this mess.”
Many of what Felice terms, “laxicabs” operate in north Cape May County, he said. They work in bar districts, and make short runs, he said.
“At times, they are bold enough to line up at taxi stands and take our fares. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck, a least that’s how the limousine industry sees it,” he stated. The fault does not fall only to the operators, but also the “governments’ feet. They have created an unworkable regulatory environment.
“Often, a taxicab company trying to comply with one municipality’s regulations will violate another municipality’s in doing so,” Felice stated.
For that reason, he called for the countywide system. “One set of rules, everybody on the same page.” Such a plan would allow taxis to deliver services that are needed, he added.
Mayors in Middle Township and Wildwood are familiar with Felice, since he’s been working with those municipalities for over two years, he said. Additionally, he’s sent letters to mayors of all coastal towns to alert them to the problem of the cab drivers.
Because of the county’s “fragmented approach to taxis,” Felice said some tourists are angry when told they cannot be transported.
Unaware of municipal borders and taxi prohibitions, vacationers “don’t understand when I try to explain what I’m up against. They don’t think it’s very smart,” said Felice.
Felice asked the board for “some support and help to move the idea along at the state level. Rules need to be changed.”
He added that the state was “dead last because of all the red tape and bureaucracy,” and that vacationers can just as easily fly to Cancun, Mexico for less money than traveling to Cape May County.
“We have to get competitive, even if it means changing the rules,” he said.
“Cape May (County) is a cash register for the state when they (tourists) come into town. We need first-class service, and I don’t feel like a professional when I have to say, ‘Sorry, I can’t bring you back,’” when he drops off a fare in some towns.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com
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