Improved Valley Cab Keeps Rival Off Its Turf : Taxis: The company gets a reprieve after meeting city response standards. Councilman Hal Bernson, who had called for a second franchise, changes his position.

The city of Los Angeles Transportation Commission on Thursday gave the San Fernando Valley’s only taxi company a temporary reprieve from the threatened loss of its monopoly status after hearing that the firm had improved customer service to the city’s minimum level.

The commission’s decision was based largely on a recently completed study that showed drivers for Valley Cab Co.--the Valley’s only authorized taxi operator--pick up customers within at least 15 minutes of being called 76% of the time.

It also came to light on Thursday that Councilman Hal Bernson, once a strong supporter of allowing a second cab company to operate in the Valley, has changed his position. “We realized we had been too hasty in backing the second franchise,” Bernson aide Francine Oschin said.

The response time study showed Valley Cab had improved its service since mid-December, when the firm was responding within 15 minutes to only 67.7% of customer calls--failing to meet the city’s standard of 76%.

Those preliminary results played a major role in prompting the city’s Transportation Department staff in December to advise the commission that it should consider allowing a second taxi company to operate in the Valley.

Competition would sharpen Valley Cab’s service, the staff and Bernson argued.

However, because of the speedier service shown in the study, the department and the commission on Thursday gave Valley Cab until April 1 to demonstrate that the improvement will last.

“I’m a little suspect of the improved service,” commission President Miriam Broome said. “I’d like to see that there’s continued improvement.”

By a 6-0 vote, the commission agreed to wait until April 1 to reconsider whether the company’s service level merits authorizing a second franchise.

The vote was a setback to Babaeian Transportation Co. Inc. of Burbank, which had been seeking authorization to operate in the Valley.

The Babaeian firm has hired the influential law firm of ex-Councilman Art Snyder to lobby for it at City Hall. Gil Archuletta, an attorney with the Snyder firm, said Babaeian will appeal the Transportation Commission ruling to the full City Council. “We’re not through fighting for this application,” Archuletta said.

The Babaeian firm had sought immediate permission from the commission to operate in the Valley.

Archuletta told the commission that credit for improvements in Valley Cab’s service is due to the threat of a second franchise.

“It’s interesting that it’s only when we come forward, that they clean up their act,” he argued. “No one should be so naive as to believe they’d perform differently if our proposal goes away.”

Initially, the Babaeian firm’s bid was supported by Bernson and Councilman Nate Holden, who sit on the council’s transportation committee. But on Thursday, Bernson’s top adviser on the cab issue, Oschin, said her boss had met with Valley Cab’s president, Lloyd Conway, and now believes the firm deserves a second chance.

Valley Cab General Manager Thomas Hefferan said his firm has reorganized its 96-cab fleet into 16 sub-areas, instead of 12, to improve service and plans to buy new cabs.