S.L. taxicabs need to spruce up — show up

On a recent trip to New York, my wife and I exited LaGuardia Airport to find a line, about 20 yards long, of people waiting for a taxi. At the front, a driver was slowly loading suitcases into his trunk, acting as if he had all the time in the world.

It was a muggy afternoon. We were tired from a long flight. When a mysterious man appeared next to us and said, under his breath, that he would take us into town for a price comparable to what a taxi would charge, we were more than happy to accept. Despite the frequent warnings about so-called "gypsy" drivers — unregulated entrepreneurs looking for a fast buck — we got where we were going quickly and in relative comfort, along with several other riders who accepted a similar offer.

To us, it was a simple free-market decision. We had a demand, and the mysterious driver was able to fill it on terms we found acceptable. The supply of regular taxicabs was woefully inadequate.

Salt Lake City International Airport has a different problem. On any given day, dozens (sometimes as many as 100) taxicabs swarm a lot near the terminals, waiting for the chance to transport an arriving passenger. Get off a plane here and you're virtually guaranteed a wait-free ride into town. Some of the drivers sit in the lot for as long as three hours. And when they deliver their passengers, they hurry back to get in line again.

You don't have to be a trained economist to recognize this as irrational behavior. As Ray Mundy, a taxi industry consultant, recently was quoted in this newspaper, "There is no economic rational theory that says why anyone would sit at the airport for three hours except that they like the company." Sure enough, the airport cab lot has become a social club of sorts, with drivers chatting, playing games and having a generally good time.

No doubt you're asking yourself why you should care. Why, if cab drivers willingly pass up opportunities to make money elsewhere in town so they can play another round of checkers, should that be anyone else's concern?

Which brings us to another, more central question confronted from time to time by city councils everywhere. Why should governments regulate the taxi industry at all?

Mundy delivered a report to the Salt Lake City Council last week that provides answers. Perhaps the simplest one came across in the survey he did of taxi users within the city. They often have to wait awhile for a cab downtown because too many drivers are at the airport.