Remote Alaska town is cab capital

BETHEL, Alaska — You won't find a luxury hotel or concert hall in Bethel, and you probably can't even get a decent bagel here. But this remote Alaska town has at least one advantage over New York City: It may be the nation's taxicab capital.

Situated on the tundra about 400 miles west of Anchorage, Bethel has 70 taxis for a population of just 5,900. That's one cab for every 84 people.

That's better even than New York, the ultimate cab city, where there is one hired vehicle — such as a taxi, commuter van or livery car — for every 149 people.

"It's most likely by far the highest ratio of taxis per residents in the United States," said Alfred LaGasse with the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association.

The main reason for the big fleet of taxis: Bethel, which is surrounded by thousands of ponds in a delta plain, is inaccessible by road. People must fly cars in or bring them in by barge on the Kuskokwim River — and that is way too expensive for Bethel's many poor.

"I bought a small Ford Focus and it cost $2,000 to fly it in," said Mark Springer, chairman of the local transportation commission. "Then, of course, there's the cost of gas, almost $5 a gallon here. Cabs in Bethel are very, very convenient."

Fewer than half the adults have their own car or truck. Some families own snowmobiles, but those are good only in winter.

As a result, taxi drivers — many of them non-Alaskans, mostly notably Koreans and Albanians — have flocked here to fill the gap. Cabs are seemingly everywhere, squeezing in passengers who pay $4 to go anywhere in the main part of town and $6 to the airport three miles away.

The high number of vehicles for hire was a big surprise when Wally Baird moved here from Nebraska two years ago to take a job as city manager.

"In every place I've ever lived and worked, you're lucky to see even one cab."

Gim Jong-ihn, 72, was visiting his hometown in South Korea when he saw a TV story about the scores of cabbies working in Bethel. He came here two years ago to drive a taxi after retiring from asbestos-removal work in New York.

He may not have realized exactly what he was getting into: When he arrived in Anchorage, he naively asked where he could get a Greyhound bus for Bethel.