Uniform Taxi Fares OKd for Airport Only : Transit: Cab company officials fear confusion and problems from the plan. They say regulation is needed throughout San Diego, not just at Lindbergh Field.

Transit officials on Thursday ignored a recommendation to require uniform taxi fares in San Diego and instead approved a plan requiring cab companies to charge $1.50 per mile for trips to and from the airport.

At a rancorous meeting, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board voted, 8-5, to reject a recommendation by its own staff for standard fares within San Diego, including airport trips, and opted for a proposal that left many cab owners angry and confused. Afterward, several cab company officials complained that board members have no knowledge of the industry they are supposed to be regulating.

The new fare, including $1.40 for the flag drop, will become effective June 1, said Barbara Lupro, MTDB paratransit regulatory administrator. Thursday’s approval is subject to two more reviews by the board, usually the routine second readings of a new ordinance that are required by law.

Some board members argued against doing away with the current variable rate structure on grounds that such a move would be regulatory and counter to the free enterprise system.

“This free enterprise is a bunch of garbage. We have no free enterprise,” said Alfredo Hueso, an owner of USA Cab Co. “We feel that we enlightened these people two months ago to the need for a uniform rate. Now they’ve turned around and are acting as politicians. I don’t know of any industry that is not regulated. This whole notion of maintaining a free enterprise system is a very simplistic argument.

“The problem is that we have a group of politicians regulating the taxi industry who don’t know the first thing about the business,” Hueso added. “The sadder thing is that they aren’t trying to learn. I saw members there who had never attended board meetings before and they participated in the vote like they knew what was going on.”

Hueso and a majority of taxi owners favored a uniform rate for cabs in order to end complaints from tourists and visitors who are unaware of the city’s variable rate system and often complain of being ripped off. It is not unusual for a cab rider to pay different rates going to and from one location, if he uses different cab companies.

“For the most part, the industry wanted a uniform rate throughout and was very emphatic about letting the board know,” Lupro said.

The board’s decision to limit uniform fares to airport trips was intended in part to placate Lindbergh Field officials, who receive dozens of complaints every year from irate passengers who think they are victimized by the variable fares.

San Diego is the only major metropolitan city in the United States that does not have uniform taxi rates. The MTDB staff had recommended a fare structure of $1.60 per mile and $1.40 for the flag drop. The proposed fares would have put San Diego in line with fares charged by cabbies in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Anthony Palmeri, vice president and general manager of Yellow Cab, the largest taxi company in the city, warned that the board’s action will create more problems than it solves. Palmeri tried unsuccessfully to tell transit officials that some cab companies that currently have cheaper rates will be required to charge higher fares for airport trips.

“It’s going to be cumbersome. Some companies are going to have to install two meters in the cab. One for downtown trips and another for airport trips. If the cheaper companies charge the cheaper rate for airport trips, they’ll be breaking the law,” Palmeri said. “Can you imagine telling a tourist that the fare painted on the door doesn’t apply to airport trips? That it’ll cost you more to go to the airport?

“It’s crazy. They’ve made a mistake. If they’re going to take this route, what they should do is limit the $1.50 per mile fare to trips originating at the airport.”

About 900 cabs operate in San Diego, but only 450 are authorized to pick up passengers at the airport terminals. Of the 450 cabs with airport medallions, only 150 are permitted to work at Lindbergh Field on any given day, and a cab can work at the airport only on every third day.

Cab fares in San Diego range from $1.20 per mile to $1.80. Palmeri said that, with the exception of Coast Cab and Co-Op Cab, most cab companies currently charge $1.60 per mile and $1.20 for the flag drop.

Vic Burnett, a member of the Co-Op board of directors, said his company’s fares are $1.40 per mile and $1 for the flag drop. Coast charges $1.20 per mile and $1 for the flag drop.

Burnett and Parvis Ebrahimi, owner of Coast Cab, were the two biggest opponents of a uniform fare.

“We’ve used the open (variable) rate system for a marketing plan. It works well for us,” Burnett said. “We have good commercial, corporate and medical accounts, a steady stream of customers in addition to the customers who call in. The higher airport fare doesn’t matter too much to us, because we don’t work the airport.”

In fact, Burnett’s and Ebrahimi’s companies are permitted to pick up passengers at the airport, but have to pay parking fees, and pickups are limited to designated areas of the parking lot. Their cabs are not permitted to wait at the curb, outside the terminals. Both companies are also allowed to take passengers to the airport.