New revisions made to taxi regulations
Advisory Committee approved; cab association lawyer pleased with changes
BY MARY LANCASTER
The selectmen have reviewed and approved revisions to proposed changes in the town's taxi code, which will now go to a Taxi Advisory Committee for specific wording. The new committee will also further examine the use of taxi meters and make a recommendation to the board in the near future.

The selectmen held a public hearing on Sept. 20 regarding amendments to the code, prompted by requests that began last fall from A-1 Taxi owner John Grangrade for selectmen's approval to transfer his four licenses to his manager Lisa Fisher. Since September, after local cabbies objected to being excluded from revision discussions, the staff comprised of Town Administrator Libby Gibson, Assistant Administrator Tracy Murray and Police Chief William Pittman have met with members of the taxi industry and its association attorney Stephen Cohen to alter proposals met with opposition or confusion.

The revisions addressed seven points including how fares are charged; issuance of a license versus a medallion; number of licenses allowed per person; how licenses are issued; the legacy exception for license transfers; license requirements; formulation of a taxi advisory committee and the cab driver dress code.

"I really appreciate that the town has put a lot of time in with the taxi community and is trying to come up with a good update to the taxi regulations," Cohen said. "The proposals are in the public interest, but seem to be fair to the drivers and businesses, too."

Cohen spoke on the most pertinent topics, saying he believes the best thing to come from continued talks is the advisory committee so that policy recommendations may be debated at a level relieving the current burden on selectmen and police, even though the committee would not diminish the authoritative power of either entity.

"Complaints should be going to a group that says we should make a policy change," said Cohen. "The selectmen would still make those decisions."

Major changes from September involve keeping the unofficial but traditional license waiting list and the proposal to mandate cab meters. Instead of doing away with the list in favor of a lottery system, the recommendation now is for the town to maintain and codify the list making it official with reasonable eligibility requirements. The town may consider charging a small fee to be on the list to offset the additional administrative burden. Cohen said any pre-qualification matters would be worked out, but considering there is currently a threeyear old in the queue, age may be a factor.

Because the majority of taxi complaints revolve around real or perceived overcharging, the September

revisions included installation of electronic meters that cab owners would purchase and use to calculate trips by mileage instead of by the present island zone system. Meters would also produce an itemized receipt of charges. The newest revisions recommend staying with zone outlines because most trips on Nantucket are either short or long and some are short but start far out of town.

Cohen explained that short trips out of town might be from Tom Nevers to 'Sconset, but it can take up to 45 minutes of a driver's time to get to the initial pick-up from town, drop off the passenger and return to town for a very small fare. With regard to the meters, it is now suggested that a pilot program be initiated with a couple of cabs for a couple of months to see how well the system functions. If possible, the meters would be programmed for the established zones. The recent proposal is for the town to buy the meters in bulk and add the cost incrementally to the annual license fee. In the alternative, drivers could be furnished with pre-printed cards with zone and other charges listed for a check-off that would serve the client and create a trip record.

In other points, the new recommendations include staying with town-issued annual licenses rather than allow medallions that can be sold or transferred, retaining the cap of four licenses per person, and that licensees must personally interact with the town for applications, renewals, violations and other cab-related matters.

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