Nice Tips for Cabbies

Cabbies have long had a reputation as tough, gruff souls, even before Robert De Niro’s portrayal of a gun-toting insomniac two decades ago in “Taxi Driver.”

Now the city of Los Angeles wants to change that image and is willing to fork over $100,000 to provide “sensitivity training” for the city’s 4,000 or so cabdrivers.

Although the program was originally intended to teach cabbies to be “sensitive to clients with mental and physical disabilities,” it has been expanded to instruct drivers on basic etiquette.

The idea is being promoted by city transit officials who say the training can make cabbies better “ambassadors” to tourists and visitors.

“The Los Angeles International Airport is a port of entry for people from all over the world,” said James Okazaki, the head of the city’s transit programs. “We want our drivers to give a positive image for Los Angeles.”

This is not the city’s first effort to try to spiff up the image of L.A.’s cabbies. Back in 1990, the city’s Transportation Commission adopted a new dress code for cabdrivers and imposed strict fines for misbehavior, such as rudeness and refusing to pick up passengers.

The dress code is a requirement that cabdrivers are still grousing about.

The proposal to provide sensitivity training follows a new requirement that all taxi companies make at least 2% of their cabs accessible to wheelchairs. Once that requirement was adopted by the city’s Transportation Commission, transit officials decided that cabdrivers should have some training to better serve disabled and elderly passengers.

But Okazaki said the training program will focus just as much on teaching drivers old-fashioned etiquette toward all passengers as it will on dealing with the elderly and disabled.

“Just stuffing customers into the back seat and getting them to their destination is one way of doing it,” he said, “but some customers want more than just a quick ride.”

The training program has already been approved by the City Council’s Transportation Committee and is scheduled to go before the full council in two weeks.

Advocates for the disabled support the idea, saying many taxi drivers need to be taught how to be sensitive to the needs of the elderly and wheelchair users.

“They are not helpful; they don’t open the door for you even though they know you are disabled,” said Janet A. Neal, a member of the city’s Commission on Disability.

She added that disabled passengers should get the same service as other passengers. “You pay your money, you should not pay to be treated poorly,” she said.

But the proposal has generated some resentment among cabdrivers who say the training program indicates that city officials continue to believe that cabbies are insensitive oafs.

“The cabdrivers are not a bunch of dummies who don’t have any education,” said Nasy Barani, a longtime cabdriver, as he waited for passengers near Van Nuys Airport. “We know how to treat people.”

Barani said he has a bachelor’s degree in physics from National University in Iran and said many other drivers also have college degrees.

“I don’t know why the city wants to spend $100,000 to teach me how to open the door for an elderly person,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe it’s election time.”

Ararat Vartanian, who has driven a taxi for 10 years, agreed, saying cabdrivers are motivated to treat passengers with respect or they will lose customers and tips.

“This is a service,” he said as he waited for passengers near the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City. “You provide the service. If you don’t, you don’t get paid.”

Several drivers said their cab companies already teach them how to deal with elderly and disabled passengers and remind them often to be polite to all riders.

Some taxi drivers suggested the program should be required only for those drivers who have had several complaints filed against them by passengers.

Others argued that, even if the program were aimed only at problem drivers, a day of “sensitivity training” would not put an end to the rude behavior.

“No matter how much you teach them, it’s not going to change some people,” said Varuzhan Kakosian, a driver who was also waiting for fares near the Sheraton Universal.

Under the proposal, two firms will conduct two-hour classes, with groups of up to 25 drivers, for all of the city’s licensed cabdrivers.

A city report said the goal of the training is to reinforce “basic taxicab service etiquette to all taxi drivers operating in the city of Los Angeles” and “to teach taxicab drivers to be sensitive to clients with mental and physical disabilities.”

City officials have already recommended two companies to provide the sensitivity training, Cerenio Management Group, which has provided similar training for taxicab drivers in San Francisco, and RAJ & Associates, which has experience conducting training for teachers, students and health-care professionals.

The $100,000 program would be paid for through grants from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city’s Department of Transportation.