The Nevada Taxicab Authority has canceled a special meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, that had the makings of being one of the most volatile gatherings in the agency’s recent history.
Taxicab Authority Administrator Charles Harvey said Monday the board that regulates the operation of Clark County’s 16 cab companies received a notice to withdraw requests for reconsideration of two cab allocation orders from Frias Transportation Management, which operates five Southern Nevada cab companies.
Frias requested reconsideration of two cab allocation requests addressed in the Taxicab Authority’s Feb. 28 meeting. In that meeting — attended by more than 300 cab drivers pressing the board to deny allocations — regulators voted to deny additional cabs during the busiest days of the NCAA basketball tournament and substantially trimmed a request for more cabs for the March 11 NASCAR race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Harvey said Frias made the request for reconsideration shortly after the Feb. 28 meeting, but the earliest the board could be convened and still be in compliance with the state’s open meeting law was Wednesday, three days after the NASCAR race and one day before the first of the busiest days of the basketball tournament.
The Feb. 28 meeting drew a boisterous crowd, and Harvey again secured a meeting room at Cashman Center to accommodate what was expected to be an overflow crowd.
“Although we strongly believe the parties (cab companies) were not afforded a fair and equal opportunity to respond and present evidence to the authority, after careful consideration, we believe these matters are largely moot given that the hearing on our petition has been scheduled after the NASCAR races have been completed,” said Frias CEO Mark James in a letter withdrawing from the rehearing.
Cab drivers and their unions have stepped up their opposition to additional cab allocations, which they say make it harder for them to make a decent wage, since more cabs on the street mean revenue is split between more drivers. Cab companies generally favor additional cabs because they assure more revenue overall.
Some cab companies have said that because the Taxicab Authority approved six additional permanent cabs per company over the past six months they would seek special allocations for only the largest special events and major conventions.
Drivers and their unions have appealed the Taxicab Authority’s allowance of additional permanent cabs. By law, those kinds of appeals are heard by the Nevada Transportation Authority. That board was scheduled to hear the appeal on March 1, but when word was received that dozens of cab drivers intended to attend that meeting in the board’s tiny conference room, the hearing was postponed.
The appeal now is tentatively scheduled for April 19 in the Legislative Counsel Bureau meeting room at the Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.