Cabbies Taking on New Cargo : They’re not about to do in traditional messenger services, but more taxi companies are touting themselves as speedy and low-cost delivery agents.

Earlier this year, the state Department of Conservation found itself in hot water for running up a $13,988 tab on cab fare for the delivery of documents around Sacramento. Controller Gray Davis initially balked at paying the bill, although eventually the cab company collected its due.

Package deliveries are a small, but potentially lucrative market for cab companies if they can persuade the American public that their drivers--typically independent contractors who lease the cabs--can reliably perform these non-traditional services.

At least half a dozen cab companies in the Los Angeles area advertise their willingness to deliver packages, but so far, the service probably accounts for less than 5% of the area’s biggest fleet operator, Taxi Systems Inc., which runs six fleets from Gardena.

The cabs--which run their meters as though the packages were human passengers--offer a service that is admittedly more costly than a scheduled messenger service. But in a pinch, Taxi Systems Vice President of Marketing Gene Hauck contends, cabs are cheaper and faster than calling for a messenger’s rush service.

Such a “valet” service, as Hauck calls it, must be built on public trust, because drivers aren’t insured to handle valuables. Hauck admits that such trust may be hard to establish in the United States where cabbies are often stereotyped as the shifty, abrasive dispatcher (“Louie”) played by Danny De Vito on “Taxi,” the long-running TV series.

In Canada, cabs are frequently used to deliver documents in the bustling city of Toronto, “although I think right now they are facing stiff competition from fax machines,” says Roy Van Veen, director of administration for the Metropolitan Licensing Commission. Van Veen says he can’t recall a single complaint “of something not being delivered,” even though drivers--just as in the United States--are not bonded.

Alex Winch, president of Grange Avenue Research Corp. in Toronto, said he routinely relies on taxis to deliver his own research reports to clients or “pick up annual reports or quarterly reports of companies.” He has the option of opening an account with a cab company, or simply accepting the cab driver’s estimate of the cost of the metered drive and paying the driver in advance.

In large metropolitan centers in the United States, however, cab company executives admit that some of their drivers have difficulty following complex instructions because English is their second language and the dispatcher cannot afford to spend too much time repeating instructions over the radio.

Although no data is readily available about the diverse languages spoken by L.A. cabbies, a New York survey turned up more than 70 languages or dialects, according to former New York taxi commissioner Gorman Gilbert, who now is president of Taxi Systems in Los Angeles.

Taxi Systems is installing computer display screens in half of its 550 cabs, with the remainder scheduled to be outfitted by January. The screens may boost “valet” services, according to Hauck, because more detailed instructions can be typed and retained on the screen. For regular cab customers, pertinent information can be stored in the computer’s memory.

The Taxi Systems executive says he is eager to explore the potential of such non-traditional services, both for his company’s revenue growth and the convenience of consumers. As an example, he cites his own recent experience after locking himself out of his car. After pricing the cost of hiring a locksmith on a Sunday morning, Hauck said he called a cab to deliver a spare set of keys from his home because the cab was cheaper and quicker.

Although such customers are atypical, some Angelenos already rely on cabs to transport elderly parents or even their children to after-school activities, Hauck says, while some big downtown law firms maintain an account for the sake of employees who need public transportation after working late at night.

Taxi Systems’ biggest customer for package deliveries is the American Red Cross Blood Services, which uses cabs to deliver blood to hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange Counties in emergencies. According to Hauck, the monthly tab climbed as high as $10,000 until the Red Cross reduced its usage.

“I’d rather not discuss the money volume,” says Jim Darden, associate director of product management for the Red Cross unit, but he confirms that the Red Cross uses the cab service when demand exceeds the Red Cross’ ability to deliver with its own 70 vehicles and employees. Darden says he tries to avoid using cabs because “they’re expensive.” But in terms of reliability, “they’ve been very good.”

In Sacramento, the Department of Conservation’s documents are routinely accompanied into the cab by an employee--and it was the human factor that recently landed the agency in trouble, according to Howard Sarasohn, the Department of Conservation’s chief deputy director.

“It was a case of a new employee who got a little bit carried away,” said Sarasohn, explaining that the messenger had an unfortunate habit of letting the cab meter run while waiting for documents on a return run. In three months’ time, the cab fare matched the agency’s normal cab expenditures for a full year.

The employee is no longer with the agency, and the state Board of Control eventually agreed that the cab company should be paid. Sarasohn, noting that his agency has six different locations in Sacramento, defends the practice of using cabs and notes that many state employees are authorized to use a plastic credit card to facilitate a cab company’s billing. “Actually,” says Sarasohn, “it is a very efficient way to operate if you need to go short distances in a crowded city.”