Rider Survey to Ask If Cabs Pass Muster

Starting in about two weeks, Lindbergh Field taxicab customers will be asked to issue a report card on their drivers. Are they clean? What is their attitude? Can they speak English? Is the taxi dirty?

The questions, contained on a stamped post card, will form the basis of a the Airport Taxi Service Survey, a project approved Tuesday by port commissioners.

The San Diego Unified Port District, which operates the airport, has for the last year or so waged a campaign to bring order to the sometimes chaotic and almost always hectic business of taxi service at Lindbergh Field.

As a result, cabdrivers now have a dress code, must pass a competency test and are restricted as to how many days they can work at the airport. Now comes the survey.

A Fly in the Ointment

But there’s one problem, according to Port District officials. Though a city regulation requires cabdrivers to prominently display their county sheriff’s taxi permit, compliance is inconsistent.

It wouldn’t do much good to have a passenger from Topeka take the time to fill out the survey card if he can’t identify the driver. So the Port District is giving drivers until May 1 to make sure their photo identification cards are easily seen by their passengers. If they still refuse, the Port District plans to keep them out of the cab line in front of the airport.

As for the survey, it is expected to last about 90 days--once the 50,000 or so post cards, all with 15-cent stamps, are printed. Depending on the results, the survey might be continued on an intermittent basis.

Airport passengers going to the taxi line for a ride would be given the post card by the Port District traffic enforcement employee on duty. It would then be up to the passenger to fill out the card and mail it.