Nearly six months ago, the Chicago City Council passed a taxicab law that aldermen and Mayor Richard Daley predicted would shake up the industry by requiring taxis to serve areas usually shunned by fearful or money-motivated drivers.
Now, though, it seems the predictions of lawmakers were at best premature and at worst entirely wrong.
In recent weeks, people standing on corners still waiting for those cabs to come say they have yet to see an influx of taxicabs from downtown or the highway corridors to O’Hare International Airport itnto their predominantly minority or lower-income neighborhoods.
Officials in the Department of Consumer Affairs say it is still too early to tell but contend, as they did six months ago, that improvement will be evident in six months.
Cabbies complained loudly before the ordinance passed 44-1 in December and have staged several protests since. They argue that the measure is a heavy-handed political move that forces them to drive in “bad” areas where they can’t make money.
Many cabbies covet a long and lucrative drive from a Loop hotel to O’Hare, where dangers usually involve bent fenders and tips often are fueled by a businessman’s expense account. And many don’t like sacrificing precious time driving to a low-income area, where tips are understandably smaller and cabbies sometimes are injured or even killed.
But those arguments are little solace for urban residents who for years have waited in vain for cabs to come into their neighborhoods and are complaining that the waits continue.
“I work late at night, and the city said they are cutting out weekend and late service on the Blue Line of the `L,’ so I might have to start taking a cab,” said Derrick Williams, 28, who lives in the Chicago Housing Authority’s Rockwell Gardens development on the city’s West Side.
“But I’ve had to take cabs before, and what I’ve found is if you are young, black, male and live in the `hood,’ most of the time you are out of luck. If you call a cab and aren’t standing on the curb when they pull up, you miss out. And you have to call because they don’t just cruise through here.”
The West Side is not the only area still waiting for cabs.
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“There have been times when I stood out on the corner for nearly an hour waiting for a taxi–in the cold,” said Flora Garza, 31, who lives in the Pilsen neighborhood on the West Side. “Usually, I try to call first instead of just standing there, because not many cabs come through here.”
But even calling ahead didn’t solve Carlos Echevarria’s problem when his girlfriend became ill during an evening out a few months ago. After hailing a cab in taxi-rich Lincoln Park, they were told by the cabdriver his trip to their Northwest Side Humboldt Park neighborhood would end at Logan Boulevard and California Avenue. They had to walk the last several blocks to Echevarria’s home.
“I see cabs always near Damen and Armitage (Avenues),” Echevarria said. “But drivers look at this neighborhood, this area, they get scared.”
Constance Buscemi, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Consumer Services, emphasized that the ordinance provisions are being phased in during the year. Cab affiliations–groups of cab owners operating under the same name, vehicle colors and radio dispatch–largely are policing themselves.
The cab firms have until mid-November to submit a detailed report of their plans for their respective “underserved communities” to Department of Consumer Services Commissioner Caroline Shoenberger. They are supposed to include data on response times within specific areas. If service levels have not increased, the firms will face new city mandates, Buscemi said.
Consumer Services employees have been conducting their own undercover observations of cab service and see some progress.
“We have been told by people that there are now cabs where they have not been seen in the past, so things do seem to be improving,” Buscemi said. “But (service) still is not where it needs to be.”
The new law requires cab companies to respond to service calls within 30 minutes in all neighborhoods, with violators subject to fines up to $750.
“If it doesn’t get better after a certain time, people are going to have to complain,” said Ald. William Beavers (7th), whose South Side ward is among those targeted for improved service. “In order for the city to enforce it, they have to have the complaints. Once they have the complaints, then they can tell where and in exactly what areas people are not being served.”
Steve Weidersberg, president of the Chicago Professional Taxi Drivers Association and a cabbie for 15 years, said he is tired of drivers, many of them from minority groups, being portrayed as racist and rude.
“Cabbies aren’t racist; we drive everywhere,” he said. “But mama raised two sons and no dummies. . . . You do whatever it takes to watch your back, if you don’t you (want to) become a statistic.”
Constantin Talpav arrived from Romania in 1996 and quickly found work as a cabdriver. He said that unlike some other drivers, he will travel anywhere.
“For my safety, it’s not good, but I never refuse nobody,” he said. “My opinion is that everybody has rights.”