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City Council moves taxicab refranchising ordinance as amended; second reading set
Summary
After extensive debate over evaluative criteria, driver-ownership concerns and cleaner-fuel requirements, the City Council moved an amended ordinance to refranchise taxicab authorities; the ordinance passed on first reading and is held one week for a required second reading.
The Los Angeles City Council moved an amended ordinance on the city’s taxicab refranchising plan after extended questioning about the RFP evaluation, service levels in underserved neighborhoods and environmental standards. The measure was approved as amended on first reading; the council directed that the ordinance be held for second reading one week later.
Council members pressed Department of Transportation (DOT) staff and the city attorney on the legal and operational record behind the RFP. Shelley Smith, assistant city attorney representing DOT, said the city’s position was that a previously filed consent judgment did not bar the RFP process: "We do not believe that consent decree, in fact, applies to this particular request for proposal," she said, adding that "the department and the city is in complete compliance" with any applicable terms.
Jim Lefton, Chief of Transit, described how an evaluation panel scored proposals and how authorities were allocated to top-ranked firms. He said the panel reallocated a small number of excess cab authorities to higher-scoring companies. "There were several cabs that were in excess of the amount that we had available to us, and they're therefore reallocated to the top scored firms," Lefton said, explaining the rationale for the distribution.
Council members sought specifics about which companies gained or lost authorities. Lefton confirmed Bell Cab would lose 51 authorities and that Delaware Titan (referred to in the record as ValleyCab) had been denied a franchise due to its low score in area evaluations. He also said Independent Taxi Owners Association remained among the higher-ranked proposers while some firms received only small adjustments in their allocations.
Environmental and service concerns featured prominently. Lefton noted American Taxi had proposed a 100% compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet but was scored poorly on management elements of the RFP. He said the RFP nonetheless requires a 5% clean-fuel mandate approved in April, and that the South Coast Air Quality Management District rule (referred to in the discussion as Rule 1194) will require replacement cabs after Jan. 2002 to be ultra-low-emission or similarly cleaner vehicles.
Council members also raised worries about customer access in neighborhoods with less advertising and asked for DOT to create a public-facing complaint line, website and brochures to help riders identify service areas and report problems. Lefton said the department would work on those outreach components independent of the franchising process.
A motion to cut off debate passed; after the roll was called on the amended ordinance the tabulation was announced as 11 ayes, 1 no. The council held the ordinance over for a second reading on the date prescribed by ordinance publication rules. The council requested additional documentation regarding evaluation of senior-voucher service and related complaints be provided to members before any final implementation steps.
