In his final report delivered to the City Council April 19 Mundy noted that city taxis are serious polluters. Cab companies maintain fleets that are 10, 12 and even 14 years old. Mundy also found that many drivers are not qualified and make less than minimum wage. In order to fix the city's broken system, Mundy recommended that all cab licenses be made to expire. Then, the cab market could be opened up to competition. Companies could compete for between two and four franchise licenses, which would allow new companies to provide potentially better service.

The taxi companies insist the situation is not that bad and more minor tweaks to the city's existing taxi regulations would suffice.

Taxi attorneys hired professors from the University of Utah and Utah State University to review Mundy's report. One U. marketing professor, Gary Bamossy, noted:

"Given the inadequate sampling, the small sample size and the clear likelihood of non-sampling errors in the administration of this survey, the results in this study do not merit consideration, nor would they be useful as information in decision/policy making."

USU economics professors Tyler Bowles and Cris Lewis said the franchise recommendation doesn't make sense.

"The fundamental recom-

mendations made in (the) report are largely arbitrary, not based on sound principles of economics, unlikely to solve the problems and probably would have significant unintended consequences," the pair noted.

Others have lauded Mundy's recommendations. Russell Ridge, an industry critic, has unsuccessfully sought a license to operate a new cab company in Salt Lake City for five years.

"I loved it," Ridge said, adding that Mundy's finding validate the criticisms he's been launching at the city's cab industry for years.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com