Proposed ordinance update will set the maximum for taxi fares

CEDAR RAPIDS - There's a difference between freedom and a free-for-all when it comes to taxi fares.

For that reason, the city's proposed update of its taxi ordinance will still keep the city in the business of managing taxi fares, though the proposed update will allow taxi drivers and companies to charge less than a maximum rate if they so choose.

Brad DeBrower, the city's transit manager, on Monday said the proposed ordinance update will set the maximum taxi fares at the spot where the current ordinance sets the fares, $3.50 to start a cab ride and $3 for each mile of the ride.

By calling these rates maximums, the proposed ordinance update will allow cabdrivers and firms to give discounts to, for instance, frequent customers. He said cab companies in the city now complain about each other providing such discounts, which are not allowed in the existing city taxi ordinance.

At Monday's City Council Public Safety Committee, council member Chuck Swore wondered why the city had anything to do with fares.

DeBrower noted that he discussed just such an issue with cab companies and drivers in a previous meeting only to learn that 90 percent of them wanted the city to regulate fares. Without some regulation, they worried that drivers and companies would undercut each other in a “sloppy, cutthroat” way, he said.

DeBrower said companies might constantly change what they charge without some set, maximum charge.

Tim Bradshaw, director of The Eastern Iowa Airport, backed the updated ordinance's call for a maximum fare, which he said would protect customers using the airport from being “gouged” by unscrupulous taxi drivers.

The council committee forwarded the proposed ordinance update to the full City Council for a vote on June 14.

The committee agreed to include in the ordinance update a change that will raise the minimum liability insurance from $250,000 to $500,000 for taxis. DeBrower said the insurance change is in line with other large Iowa cities and will protect Cedar Rapids customers in the event of a catastrophic accident in a taxi.

The proposed ordinance update initially tried to address guns in cabs, but the ordinance will remain silent about guns as it does now and leave the issue of carrying guns up to state law.