OUTRAGE!

The HCTPC has raised the renewal fee for cab driver licenses from $10 annually to $75 annually.  This is an exorbitant rate increase and comes at a time when drivers can least afford it.  Considering the corruption that exist in that agency, and their track record with misappropriation of funds from the former commissioner, and the graft of the interim commissioner Caesar Padilla, this type of extortion is risky at best.

The Public Transportation Commission regulates limousines, taxi cabs and tow trucks. Cab drivers pay a  fee to maintain their licenses.  We can understand an increase if times were  better, but they are not.  Does the commission read the newspapers?  Times are hard.  Many drivers have been foreclosed on and have fallen behind on rent.  Many, like myself are barely surviving.  My bills are unpaid, and my credit is being ruined.  Part of the problem is the after affect of Greg Cox when he was commissioner.

In an interview two years ago with Janet Zink of the St. Pete Times, I told her that Greg Cox's deregulation of this industry would have a ruinous effect.  Unlike other trades which would have a "natural equilibrium" point, the taxi industry is regulated and the amount of drivers is set by the commission.  If that number is to high, the drivers will not make any money.  In my opinion, that number was set to high by the former Commissioner, who was operating on a false belief that the community needed 1 taxi for every 2,500 residents.  That figure should be more like 3,500 residents.  

Now that the economy is bad, very bad, our call count is at historical lows and we all are struggling to make a living.  

Fortunately for me, I work for Tampa's finest cab company-United Cab.  I have been there 14 years and have always been treated with respect and dignity, despite my eccentric ways.  I have always appreciated that. United cab has done everything they can to market and maintain an excellent operation, but unfortunately, the economy is just to bad.  

A friend of mine from Ethiopia crys every day because he cannot send his wife and children any money for months.  When he calls his wife, she does not believe him and thinks he has found another women.  He does not know if he will ever be able to return to his homeland.  And now, he is being evicted from his apartment and will soon be sleeping in his cab.  There are many like him.

What HCPTC is doing is wrong. They should have waited at least a year. Why does the HCPTC need our money anyway?

The agency has boasted for years it had more than $800,000 in a "slush fund."  Ostensibly, that was for the building of new office space.  That never happened and now more than half the fund is gone according to News Channel 10.

The interim Commissioner's salary has been doubled from $50,000 to $100,000 a year while the cab drivers starve and the cabbie cops write us $25 tickets for having a shirt with no collar or a taxi in need of a car wash. 

This is an outrage!

I wish the media would expose this.

Comments

[zak]

The increase for the hack license is because the PTC is now running FBI checks.

Any drugged out rapist can haul a load of prom kids into Tampa as long as the prom kids meet IMADRUGGIE Limo Service across the border so making those needing hack licenses pay extra for a deeper investigation makes perfect sense in the farked up world of the PTC.

[zak]

The PTC is attempting to jam all fees up. Especially hit hard are the intercounty motor carriers who are restricted to loading their passengers at the interstate transportation hubs for transport back to home county:
New Certificates - up 900% ($500-5,000)
Restricted Permits - up 233% ($150-500)

The fees increase is currently under challenge with the FL Division of Administrative Hearings. We are waiting on the PTC Motion to Dismiss under claim the DOAH has no jurisdiction to hear the case. If they win the dismissal, the case will be brought into the civil courts.

The increase does help solidify my federal case that the actions of the PTC violate the Sherman Act & place undue burdens on interstate commerce.