Notes from TLAC (Taxi Limousine Advisory Committee)

[These are a compilation of our various notes taken at the TLAC meetings noted. They are presented in a "we heard", "we saw", "we felt" format. They may not cover all the agenda items presented by TLAC at that particular meeting.]

VFT presented its first Public Education Series to the TLAC members.  The 2-page discussion paper "What's the Right Number of Cabs? Debunking the Myths, Contronting the Realities", uses consumer-first language to discuss the issue from the perspective of the travelling public.  VFT was pleased that one TLAC member was interested in learning more about using performance standards as opposed to "plate to population ratios" as a measure of the (im)balance between supply of and demand for taxis.  The chair of TLAC demonstrated how much of an uphill battle this is, however, when she commented that "the industry lives this every day".  As though low-income seniors, the working poor, business travellers, people with disabilities and employees of the night-time economy aren't. 

Presentation By Out-of-Town Taxi Companies - Three out-of-town companies made a presentation to TLAC, asking for a change to the bylaw to allow them to pick up their out-of-town clients in Calgary for the return trip home (ie, from dialysis, airport trips, or a weekend night out on the town.)  That's right, not only does a capped taxi system protect the local taxi monopoly from competition within the city, it gives them everyone else's customers too.  There have even been examples of Rockyview Handi-Bus being stopped by enforcement officers for picking up their Regional clients at hospitals and clinics.  Interestingly, the out-of-town companies have been granted "permission" to pick up and return to the Region from anywhere in the city EXCEPT the airport.  Voters for Taxis thinks that that interpretation is particularly bizarre, and will be asking for clarification.  A copy of a letter was also distributed.

In Summary: Five VFT members (VOTERS) attended the first TLAC meeting of the new year, which was made easier by holding the meeting on a Tuesday afternoon, instead of the usual Friday afternoon timeslot.  One driver with a plate attended.  The change of day was made so it would be easier for drivers to attend, but it will take more than a different day of the week to encourage drivers without plates to pay attention to this committee.

TLAC Meeting 2009 October 16:

Taxi Fare Index: Despite the dollars  expended by TLAC for a major study by a knowledgable consultant, the best TLAC could manage in accepting his final report was to make a motion to "consider the report as a guideline for an annual review in making future taxi fare increases" or to use the methodology "barring any unusual circumstances".

Taxi Service Survey Results and Public Forum: the consultant made a screen presentation at this public meeting, but once again, those results are not being 
shared in any documented form (eg on the City's website) so that TLAC can follow what it considers proper protocol.  Indeed, the consultant abruptly concluded the screen presentation without even presenting or addressing "planned Next Steps" based on the Survey and  Forum results.

In a stunning reversal to what was our understanding, data that was shared with  TLAC from Voters for Taxis own survey, as well as data that was to be gathered from 3-1-1 complaints  (apparently numbering 50-60 a month according to Administration) is not being incorporated into the TLAC data base and into its report.

Our data has always been available, and  has already been shared with some  members of Council. We will continue to ensure that our data gets wider 
consideration than through TLAC's non-efforts.

Based on the survey data presented, there was also some spirited debate about the industry's image and the need for better marketing, including addressing customer expectations and business realities.

All this talk about marketing brings to mind the old saying: "If our customer service is not meeting your expectations, please lower your expectations."

Planned Taxi Bylaw changes: in a remarkable acknowledgement of its limited  interest in considering the public in its deliberations, TLAC, as a public Committee  of Council, had to be cajoled into agreeing to the possibility of another opportunity for public input into the draft bylaw changes before they are presented to Council's Standing Policy Committee meeting on November 18.

TLAC Meeting 2009 September 18:

• The results of the City's survey were presented, in a preliminary form. We will await the final results expected end of September before commenting. Suffice to say the taxi industry is no longer loudly putting forth its argument that "you can get a cab any time, anywhere, and there's no delay in dispatch response" after the preliminary survey results clearly showed otherwise. As one write-in radio listener stated to CHQR Radio after the industry made the same "any time, anywhere availability" comments when interviewed September 16: "What planet is this guy from?". Listen to that interview via our link on this page.
• the media was asked to leave this public meeting, prior to the rest of the agenda being completed. You can read about the media's take on this here. TLAC's approach to public involvement continues to offer ongoing surprises.
• Livery Transport Services (the taxi industry regulator) provided further insight into its plans to revise (the more frequent term used by all industry and regulator members is "tweak") the current bylaw. Apart from no indications of how or if it intends to narrow the demand/supply challenge, the regulator continues to demonstrate ever increasing evidence of "regulatory capture" (dominance of its agenda by industry) while addressing issues "at the margins".
• the taxi industry trotted out, for the first time, what it has been recently claiming in interviews and presentations as "utilization rates" for cab service in Calgary. We can only wait for the minutes of this meeting to become public in order to do justice to the data: mixed descriptions, confusing labels, garbled numbers. Breathlessly framed by one industry member on TLAC as "the computer never lies", the computer generated data is intended to show that cabs are currently under-utilized at any time frame on any given day. The industry promises more data to bolster this argument. It'll have to do better than what was presented in order to make its data coherent.

TLAC Meeting 2009 August 21:

• Today we finally got some clarity on the bylaw review and public engagement process. We’re a little confused that TLAC and Administration have separated these two events, and that they consider them to be two separate processes, but we remain optimistically hopeful.
• We applaud TLAC and The City for duplicating our survey process, in fact they confirmed they repeated many of the same questions. We remain concerned however, that the City's survey process, unlike ours, has no means to prevent "flooding", namely repeat submissions from the same sources to bolster desired outcomes.
• We believe we got commitment by Administration to share with us its 3-1-1 complaints and complaints to brokerages about taxis.  According to Administration, they are receiving between 50-55 complaints a month via 3-1-1.
• Administration has issued a draft of the proposed bylaw:
• for a copy from the City's website, go here
• here is a copy of the covering letter and synopsis of the industry based proposed revisions
• Regrettably, we will be addressing the manner and approach being taken by TLAC in dealing with public involvement at its meetings. It continues to chagrin us to no end to have to submit to the style and approach of certain members of TLAC. To the average citizen confronted by such a meeting style, this would be considered abusive behaviour. Indeed, a member of the public was in fact there (a hopeful vendor) who not only felt he had to apologize for an inadvertent choice of term, he had to be rescued by a member of Administration from further abuse. Not the comportment we should expect from an Advisory Committee of Council.