Cabbies Give New Fare Plan a Cool Reception : Transportation: The MTDB proposal would create a two-tier, uniform structure, with one price for airport cabs and another, discount rate for city cabs.

A plan to simplify taxi fares by having a two-tier, uniform rate structure--one for airport cabs and another, discount rate available for cabs serving the rest of the city--met with a cool reception from several cab operators and owners at an informal meeting Monday.

The proposal, developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Development Board staff, will be presented Thursday to its board of directors, which is scheduled to take action on the proposal Jan. 11.

The proposal would require a specific rate structure for cabs serving the airport, including when the cabs are in other parts of the city. A fixed discount rate structure would be available for cabs not serving the airport. However, specific prices have not been proposed.

Among the concerns expressed by the cab owners and operators were the logistics in setting up separate fare structures.

“They’re advocating a system where one company has one rate on one cab and another rate on others. How can we have a city rate and an airport rate at the same time? It’s impossible,” said Michael Spadacini, director of Orange Cab Co., which operates 125 cabs in San Diego. “Airport cabs also run the city; they play both ends.”

Current rules limit the number of cabs that can serve the lucrative airport route, but allow cab companies to set their own price structure, with a ceiling of 20% above the average. The proposal represents an effort by the MTDB to eliminate the 10-year deregulated fare structures of the city’s nearly 900 taxis and 270 cab companies.

The plan addresses a major concern of the San Diego Unified Port District: the taxi fare structure of cabs from the airport. The district has jurisdiction over the airport.

“The port is only interested in a single fare for the airport,” said Louis Wolfsheimer, chairman of the Board of Port Commissioners. “If the MTDB can develop a single fare for the airport, that would be a great blessing for the city.”

Wolfsheimer believes a uniform rate would decrease congestion at taxi stands at the airport by reducing fare shopping.

“Getting a cab becomes a Turkish bazaar and a very dangerous situation,” he said of the cab stand at Lindbergh Field.

However, some drivers are upset at what they consider interference from “bureaucrats” at the MTDB, which began overseeing cab service at the beginning of this year.

“As far as I’m concerned, I would prefer the free-enterprise system where every cab company can set their own pricing,” said Jim Esposito, a lease driver at the Yellow Cab Co.

“What it amounts to is that they’re forcing the cab drivers out of the city so they can load their buses and load their trolleys,” Esposito said. (The MTDB also operates buses and trolleys in the city.) “If they want to regulate us, fine. Just don’t tell us how to run our businesses.”

The goal of the price structure change is to make it easier on tourists who may be confused by the current array of prices, said Thomas Larwin, general manager of the MTDB.

The proposal is based in part on a survey of 883 passengers, conducted by the San Diego Assn. of Governments. Among the findings is that a third of San Diego residents polled shop for taxi rates, contrasted with 13% of visitors. Also, according to the study, 82% of the respondents rated overall taxi service in San Diego good or excellent.

The survey also showed that, although the majority of people who shop for taxi service do so for reasons other than price, a low rate is the leading single reason for comparison shopping.

Barbara Lupro of the MTDB said San Diego would not be the only city with such a fare structure, although she could not immediately name another that uses one.