Monday, April 27, 2009

Hailing A Cab in Los Angeles Has Become A lot Easier


Hail-a-cab Approved

The City Council approved a proposal that allows taxis to pick up hailing passengers in zones that used to be restricted to taxi cabs. This allows taxis to wait less in lines at taxi zones and allows them to roam free on the street looking for hailing customers.


The New Rules


  • Taxis are now allowed to pick up passengers in red zones
  • Taxis are also allowed to pick up passengers in lanes that become no parking zones during rush hours
  • Taxis are allowed to double park to pick up and drop of passengers
  • Taxis are NOT allowed to pick up or drop off passengers at bus stops


Around downtown signs declare the new rules to citizens, encouraging them to stick out their hands and hail a taxi like New Yorkers. Now that cabs are allowed to roam free and pull over wherever Los Angeles taxi cab drivers are happier and so are riders.



 "It is a lot better for me and for them. I don't have to worry about getting ticketed for picking up passengers and I get more business, and the passengers can get picked up when they want to," said taxi driver Finhas Gebrechal. 

Still working out the kinks 

Los Angeles still has a long way till it has a cab culture. Most people in Los Angles own cars, therefore the amount of people that use  public transportation does not compare to the number of people in New York City that use public transportation. But, they hope that the program will promote the use of public transportation and hopefully will prevent the LA traffic that we all know and love.


The fares for taxis in Los Angeles are still relatively high, which does not encourage riders take advantage of the new hail-a-taxi program. Whereas fares in New York City are a lot cheaper, due mostly in part to the fact that more people use taxis. 

But now that taxis are no longer waiting in lines as frequently they will be doing more short distance rides than they have done in the past.

Trial Period

The program will have a trial period of six months, where they will evaluate how it is working and what they can do to make taxis more efficient. The trial period is mainly being tested in the Downtown-area and in Hollywood. If it works there, they will think about expanding the program throughout the Los Angeles area. 




 








Related Links:

LA City Council Rethinks Taxi Restrictions


Taxi's Cannot Pick Up Passengers in ...
  • red zones
  • bus zones
  • no-parking zones
How Tough Regulations Are Affecting The City

When taxi cab drivers see a person standing on the side of the road with their hand in the air 9 times out of 10 they will not pull over. It is a common misunderstanding that it is illegal to hail a taxi in Los Angeles. Instead, most cab drivers do not pull over because they are scared of getting ticketed for pulling over to pickup passengers in one of the the three restricted zones. The safest place for taxi's to pick up customers is at taxi stands, of which there are 600 taxi stands in Los Angeles. 

According to the Los Angeles Yellow Cab company their cabbies spend 60% of their time waiting at taxi cab stands. Taxis would be more efficient if they were allowed to pick up passengers on the street. The City Council seems to agree with this statement. They would like to see the restrictions loosened or at the very least not as strictly enforced. 

Los Angeles v. New York City

While Los Angeles will never have a cab culture quite like New York City, some would like to see become more conducive to hailing cabs. But a cab culture seems nearly impossible in a city that is made up of several sub-cities connected by freeways. The city of Los Angeles may be too sprawled out to have the cab culture of New York City. This culture may only be possible in downtown Los Angeles or Hollywood. 

In Los Angeles compared to New York there are just not enough taxis to support the sheer number of people in the city. Los Angeles has roughly 3,500 licensed taxi drivers for a city of 4 million people. New York has about 47,000 taxi drivers for a city of 8 million.

Hail-a-cab project

Hail-a-cab project is what city council members and some taxi cab drivers are working on to have the restrictions limited. They hope that Los Angeles citizens will soon be able to hail taxis, keeping the taxis busy and transportation moving. 

Related Links: