The Spokane City Council is considering a controversial new taxi-cab monitoring system that would require cab owners to buy permits, called medallions, to operate legally within the city limits.


Councilman Bob Apple says the medallion method would reduce the number of illegal transports in Spokane by providing a more efficient way of enforcing industry regulations while also improving customer service.


With the new convention center and other buildings going up here, we have to do something about the state of our taxi services, he says. If we dont have clean, decent cars available to customers downtown, it will hurt our businesses and reputation.


Under the proposed system, cab owners would pay around $150 a month for a medallion, which would be attached permanently to a taxi, says Apple, who is in favor of the change. Only licensed drivers could operate the vehicles, which would be inspected every six months, he says.


Brian Klein, who owns four taxi cabs through Raven Investments LLC, of Spokane, and operates them through Spokane Cab Dispatch Services, says legitimate members of the industry are demanding better enforcement and are willing to pay for it.


Right now anyone with a stencil kit can drive cars masquerading as taxis (with cab company signs on their doors) around the city, he says. The medallion system guarantees licensed operators a certain piece of the pie.


Others in the industry differ.


William Anderson, who owns Andersons Taxi, of Spokane, claims that illegal taxi drivers dont present a significant problem here, and complains that the medallion system would make it harder for legal operators to stay in business.


I think its crazy to have the medallion system in Spokane, he says. There are already laws in place to ticket illegals.


Apple says the proposal will be brought before various committees and boards before the Council would vote on it, probably next fall. The details of the plan are still being worked out, but the city would offer a limited number of medallions each year, he says.


Around 100 licensed cabs currently operate in Spokane, and owners pay $100 to $200 a year for their licenses. Apple claims that illegal operators, who havent purchased a license or undergone the required safety and meter tests, often listen to citizens band radio transmissions between licensed dispatch services and cab drivers to beat them to customers.


Owners would have to pass those tests and document their vehicles with the city to buy a medallion. A police officer employed full time to monitor the system would research records upon a customers request to find out if someone were operating illegally, Apple says. The office would slap lawbreakers with heavy fines and impound their cars.


Currently, licensing and enforcement of taxi regulations fall under the purview of both the citys Police Department, where one police officer monitors the system part time, and the building and code enforcement departments weights- and-measures services.


Apple says the medallion system would be able to fund itself, because he expects revenue from the sales of medallions would be used to run the program.


Although taxi owners would pay higher fees to license their cabs than they currently pay, Apple says the system can benefit them more in the long run by giving them a better chance to obtain financing to start up a taxi company. The medallion system also could lower the cost of taxi insurance, which now is up to $4,500 a year per vehicle, due to problems caused by illegal operators who overcharge customers credit cards and lease vehicles to unlicensed drivers, he says.


Under the proposed plan, he says the city would place a cap on the number of medallions each company could purchase at one time, so that one cab owner couldnt monopolize the industry. Owners would need to submit a request and would receive a medallion, be denied, or be placed on a waiting list.


Some companies may not receive medallions right away, but thats just the way free enterprise goes, Apple says. In business, you dont always get what you want when you want it.


He says if the council approves the plan and it runs successfully, he plans to ask the city of Spokane Valley and Spokane County to work together with the city of Spokane to regulate the cab industry regionally.


Apple says he brought the proposal to the council about a month ago, after cab drivers and other cab industry workers approached the city seeking more effective regulation.


Klein, of Raven Investments LLC, says illegal drivers hurt the industrys reputation and that he, and other legitimate cab operators have been fighting an uphill battle to overcome the bad cab driver stereotype in the midst of deficient enforcement of existing regulations by an overstretched Police Department.


The type of people attracted to the industry right now are the guys smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes in their cars with the windows up while wearing a dirty T-shirt and sweat pants, Klein says.


Medallions would put a higher value on taxis here and help the people who are trying to play by the rules by making it easier to catch those who dont operate legally, he says.


Klein adds that if the City Council passes the medallion proposal, owners would incur most of the cost of the medallions, and would charge drivers, who are essentially independent contractors, rather than employees, an extra $5 to $10 per shift.


Alex Schmall, deputy sealer for the citys weights-and-measures services, says he has mixed feelings about the proposed systems benefit to the city.


Theres no doubt that Spokanes taxi industry is a mess right now, he says. Yet, he says, The problem is that all the enforcement needs to be under one roof rather than scattered across departments.


Schmall says he thinks the city needs to strengthen current regulations and allocate more money to enforcement, rather than implement a new system. Taxi-meter inspection represents only 15 percent of weights-and-measures $170,000 annual budget. Schmall can issue citations, but only the Police Department can revoke licenses.


He says the number of taxi meters he has inspected dropped to 40 this year from 118 four years ago, which means that fewer taxis are getting licenses to operate legally.


Schmall says he used to have a heavier hand with lawbreakers, but doesnt have the time or budget anymore to pay workers to search for unlicensed cabs.


A number of other cities, including Seattle, Portland, and New York City, use a medallion system. Rather than implementing a medallion system, Schmall believes Spokane should adopt a strategy similar to one in the Puget Sound area. There, cab owners are forced into regional associations, making it easier for cities to regulate the industry and pull licenses on entire associations if they dont regulate their members, he says.


Unless Spokane County takes measures that are similar to what the city of Spokane does, the medallion system will fail because unlicensed drivers from Idaho and Spokane Valley still will come into Spokane, Schmall contends. The county currently doesnt have any agreement with officials in North Idaho to regulate the taxi industry, he says.


Medallions will just hurt the people who pay for them because the county isnt leveling the playing field, he asserts. If the council wants to limit the number of cabs here, thats fine, but get the outlaws out of Spokane Valley first, too.


Anderson, of Andersons Taxi, says the medallion system would raise prices for taxi services, because owners either would have to charge more money per mile to offset the cost of the medallions, or go broke. He argues that the only party to benefit from the proposed system would be the city.


Anderson owns and operates one taxi cab. He says medallions would hit his pocketbook harder than larger taxi companies that can afford to pay a little extra money for the new system.