What is the price tag to blocking a small green business from getting a permit to operate in Austin? That number appears to be $36,700. That is the total of all contributions made by taxi companies and drivers in the last elections for every member of council including the mayor. This number does not include the over $10,000 given to other candidates such as Randi Shade who lost to Kathie Tovo this last election. Compare that with the mere $350 total given by the pedicab companies including Electric Cab of Austin, it seems to show that money matters.

Right now, the taxi industry is lobbying for stricter rules on pedicabs downtown including limiting their hours of operation and adding a minimum fare they must charge. In the Taxi Driver Association of Austin Report sent to Austin City Council before the February vote on resolutions pertaining to pedicabs and electric cabs, TDAA recommended that the city “Require training and tests for pedicab permits; Limit the hours of operation and busy streets for vehicles; Adopt a cap or a market saturation formula for pedicab permits and consider impact of additional permits on compensation of pedicab and taxicab drivers; and establish a set fare and additional passenger fee” among other pedicab restrictions and regulations.

The taxi industry is also opposed to the City of Austin giving permits to companies like Electric Cab of Austin, who wants to provide low speed electric vehicles (LSEVs) to shuttle downtown visitors, similar to pedicabs.  The company provides LSEVs wrapped in advertising to drivers who operate accepting tips similar to pedicabs. These vehicles receive rebates from the federal government and even the city! The Austin Police Department after three years and over 200 ticket citations (that have mostly been dropped in court) has begun arresting the drivers for accepting tip money.

Chris Nielsen, the founder of Electric Cab of Austin, received an email in which Kevin Leverenz of the APD stated, "If your drivers are collecting compensation without chauffeur's permit and the requisite operating authority, they are subject to same enforcement action that others are subject to when there is probable cause to believe they are in violation of a law or ordinance. I do not make policy for the City. I am merely communicating it to you as it has been communicated to me through my Commander, by those who work at Ground Transportation."

Right now, there are no laws pertaining to LSEVs. Nielsen has been working to gain these permits with the city for over three years now. With an additional arrest of one of his drivers for accepting a tip this week, he is more than anxious to get this resolved. Speaking about the recent arrests, Nielsen said, “We have a recent court ruling that has acquitted my company of any wrongdoing regarding accepting gratuity.  If we were judged and found innocent by a jury of our peers for our actions one would assume that would be enough for APD, it appears that it is not.”

Local activists have decided to take this issue head on, with several pledging to operate the vehicles despite APD's threat and continued arrests of the drivers giving people rides. Kris Bailey, a local activist and previous candidate for Austin City Council, said, "There is no law against giving people rides, I will be driving vehicles for Electric Cab around town now, if APD wants to arrest me and waste the people of Austin's time and money, let them." 

In a letter to the Urban Transportation Commission on November 10, 2009, TDAA stated, “As it stands, there is not enough business to justify adding new taxis. Today, there is just not enough business to go around! The overall majority of taxi drivers in Austin already work more than 80 hours every week just to scrape out a minimal living. As it stands, most are unable even take a single day off from work.” It was also stated that the current laws are there to prevent more companies like Electric Cab of Austin from launching.  “The idea that we need a new law to allow for so called ‘green taxis’ no less than naive. The City of Austin already has ‘green taxis’ by the use of hybrid vehicles which have proven to be safe and comfortable, while operating under established law. A new class of taxi and its subsequent regulation and enforcement is pointless since electric golf carts would be nothing more than a gimmick or novelty.”

However, Austin seems full of "gimmick and novelty" fun that is thriving. Just look at the Austin’s Pubcrawler that allows downtown visitors to drink while peddling a moving bar. Then, there is Car2Go, which would seem to take away from taxi business that operate with no problem in Austin; perhaps being made by Daimler Cooperation helps with the permitting process?

Another argument can be made that if Austin’s taxi drivers are having such a rough time making ends meet, how are drivers contributing thousands into the city elections? Also, most cab drivers refuse the short fares downtown that has created a demand for other viable transportation options downtown. The City of Austin held an online forum on taxi issues in 2010 in which the second highest voted issue was "Create New Permit Categories." After the vote closed, the site posted underneath this issue,  "The City of Austin recommends further study and consideration."

On February 11, 2011, Shade’s campaign received $3150 from the taxi industry. This was just weeks before the vote on Resolutions 20100527-055 and 20100225-060 which pertained to LSEVs and new pedicab restrictions. Between all candidates running, it was estimated that $30,000 was pumped into the election, as noted in a Statesman article by Ben Wear.  During that election on April 23, 2011, council voted to table the matter to resolve the LSEV permit issue. It seems that the Taxi industry has donated large amounts to all city council members and the mayor during election time, except one. Bill Spelman came out with only $350 in contributions from Yellow Cab. The rest did not “fare” so well. Taking in the most dough was none other than Mayor Lee Leffingwell with $10,500 in taxi contributions. Surprisingly, second was Tovo receiving $7,400. This does not speak well for her considering the upsetting news to her voters of reappointing Mike Levy to the Public Safety Commission after stating he was out. The rest follows with Council Member Mike Martinez receiving $6,650; Council Member Laura Morisson receiving $5,850; Council Member Chris Riley receiving $3,500; and Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole receiving $2,400.

The $36,700 comes from four cab companies: Austin Cab, Lone Star Cab, Texas Taxi, and Yellow Cab; along with self employed drivers, unknown affiliations, TDAA, and other PACs. The highest contributor with executives and drivers combined was Lone Star Cab contributing $19,450 to the current City Council. Yellow Cab was second contributing $8,400.  Many donations came from outside of Austin or were veiled with other company names. What it comes down to is $36,700 vs. $350. Do you think that the Austin City Council has been influenced by election contributions from taxi companies?

 Editor's note: Contributing blogger Jenn Studebaker does part-time work for Electric Cab of Austin.

Image courtesy of destination360.com