City Urged to Cancel Permit for Checker Cab : Transportation: Officials say the company, one of two serving the L.A. part of the Valley, has not met terms of agreement.

Citing a failure to provide promised services, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation recommended Friday that the city cancel the operating permit for one of the two taxi firms serving the San Fernando Valley.

If approved by the city Transportation Commission, the recommendation to cancel the permit of Burbank-based Checker Cab Co. would leave the city portion of the Valley served only by Valley Cab Co.

The commission, a citizens panel appointed by the mayor, will consider the issue Thursday. The recommendation results from a June inspection of Checker Cab in which transportation officials found the company had failed to install a computerized dispatching system and provide seven wheelchair accessible cabs, as promised in the 1992 operating agreement signed by Checker’s parent company Babaeian Transportation.

Babaeian, which also operates in Burbank and Pasadena, in 1992 won the right to operate 85 cabs in the Valley after a competitive and contentious bidding process, during which they fought off strong opposition from Valley Cab, which had been the only Valley taxi firm for eight years.

Valley Cab’s managers argued that the area could not support two firms. But Checker Cab’s owners promised to provide “state of the art” transportation services, which they vowed would generate more riders.

In a staff report to the commission, transportation officials also cited Checker’s troubled three-year history in the Valley, including four disciplinary actions imposed by the department and several reprimands for missing deadlines to provide promised services.

Although the department could have recommended that Checker be suspended or forced to turn over a $25,000 performance bond, Senior Transportation Engineer Alan Willis said the violations and the company’s history called for a harsher punishment.

“The company has been given ample time to get its house in order, but seems unable to manage itself properly,” he said in a report to the commission.

Masood Babaeian, president of Checker Cab, said he had not seen the report and could not comment on the recommendation.

But Rick Ward, a consultant for the firm who until recently managed Checker Cab, said the company had asked transportation officials for an extension to implement the required services.

In the past, Ward has conceded that Checker has put only three of the seven required wheelchair accessible taxis on the road and failed to install the computerized dispatching system.

But he has defended the company, saying Checker plans eventually to make good on its operating agreement.

The recommendation is only the latest problem that has plagued Checker:

* In October, 1992, the commission put Checker on a six-month probation for illegally dispatching to the Valley a cab that is not permitted to operate in the city.

* That same month, the board ordered Babaeian to forfeit a $20,000 performance bond for failing to meet an agreed-upon schedule for putting cabs on the road.

* In January, 1994, the department’s general manager suspended Checker Cab for 24 hours for failing to provide automobile insurance that met the city guidelines.

* In March, 1995, the department’s general manager temporarily suspended Checker again for failing to provide acceptable insurance after the company’s former policy expired.