"Taxi monopolies" or "Why are there so many drunk drivers on the roads

[yukoncpa]

Hey, what’s up with this weird taxi cab monopoly crap. Before moving to San Diego, I lived in Anchorage Alaska. Cabs were ubiquitous throughout the city and cheap. Most anyone leaving a bar caught a cab because of the low rates and because of the availability of cabs. If you already had a DUI, not a problem, just call a local cab company and make a deal with them. For a $100 a month, they would give you unlimited rides, meaning they would pick you up in the morning, drop you off at work, take you home, take you to the bar, back to your house etc.

If anyone had a car stolen in Anchorage, it was common knowledge that if you called the two or three major cab companies and offered a $100 reward for your car, it would be returned to you within a few hours, pretty much guaranteed. The thief wouldn’t go to trial, unless you wished, but he might very well be beaten up or at least scared half to death. Calling the cab companies was way, way more efficient then calling the police.

If your battery was out on your car, you could call a cab and for $20 he would come and jump start your car, same fee if you were out of gas anywhere ( you just had to also pay for the gas ).

When in San Diego, I had left my door open and ran my battery down so I called a cab company and they laughed at me. When my friends car was stolen, I called the cab company, and they were down right rude to me. Further more, it was prohibitively expensive to drive a cab from a bar to your home, so most everyone didn’t bother.

As it turns out, there is some sort of wacko monopoly system on cabs in San Diego. Can anyone elaborate on this weirdness? Evidently, there is some committee at the MTS or Metropolitan Transit Service that figures out the best way taxi companies can serve the public. From what I’ve seen, these folks on the committee are doing a horrible job.