Regulation of Taxicabs

Including a selection of links to regulators, industry groups and similar sites.

2009 documents

• An overhaul of taxi regulation in San Francisco is underway in April 2009. See the Municipal Transportation Agency's MTA Taxi website for links to documents under review, including a re-write of taxi rules and various proposals to revise the medallion system.

• In March, University of Illinois Professor Robert Bruno released a 2008 report titled Driven Into Poverty: A Comprehensive Study of the Chicago Taxicab Industry. The study uses self-reporting by drivers (not taximeter statistics) to determine driver earnings. According to the report, a full-time owner-driver who is paying off a $140,000 medallion earns just 56-cents an hour, including tips, for a total net income of $3,425 a year. Shift-lease drivers working 70-hours a week earn just $4.07 an hour, or less than $12,000 a year before taxes. The report suffers from apparent errors in arithmetic such as the table on page 12. A short version of the report is available as an Executive Summary.

• Economic Review of the Small Public Service Vehicle Industry prepared by Goodbody Economic Consultants for the Commission for Taxi Regulation in March 2009. This is a study of the effects of open-entry deregulation in Ireland between 2000 and 2008. The number of taxis in Dublin rose from 2,759 to 12,568 (an increase of 355%) while the number of taxi rides increased by just 82%. The Goodbody Review was not well-received; it was rejected by transport regulators and precipitated a national work stoppage by taxi operators.

• The Case For Taxi Deregulation by David Seymour of the Frontier Centre (Regina, Saskatchewan) February 2009.

• Winnipeg Taxi Study and recommendations by Dr. Ray Mundy, February 2009. The study was contracted by the Manitoba Taxicab Board. See also the appendices to the report. The emphasis is on increasing the role of "full-service" taxicab companies.

2008 documents

• September report by engineer C. Bruce Gambardella, Comparative Analysis of Occupant Protection and Overall Passenger and Driver Safety... comparing long-wheelbase Crown Vicoria and Escape hybrid taxicabs in NYC. In October, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking NYC from requiring owners and operators of yellow taxicabs to switch to hybrid vehicles.

• Flyer by United Taxicab Drivers Corp. urging Nevada taxicab drivers to demand enforcement of the minimum wage requirement.

• Crime Prevention Recommendations For Cab Company Owners, Drivers and Dispatchers from the St. Petersburg (Florida) Police Department, August 2008. (380kb PDF)

• Summary judgement regarding disabled medallion holders in US District Court, June 2008, affirming the City of San Francisco's policy that driving as an Essential Eligibility Requirement does not violate a disabled medallion holder's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (43KB pdf)

• Cabdrivers vs City of Chicago, April 2008 Petition for Injunctive Relief regarding high fuel costs and a temporary surcharge on fares. (51KB Word document)

• Taxi '07: Roads Forward, a comprehensive 150-page vision for New York City taxis in the next decade. This beautifully illustrated book in PDF format is another outstanding taxi publication from the Design Trust for Public Space produced in conjunction with the Taxicab and Limousine Commission. Highly recommended.

• Toronto Taxi Drivers: Ambassadors of the City, A Report on Working Conditions by Sara Abraham, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, and Aparna Sundar, Assistant Professor at Ryerson University, with Dale Whitmore, student at York University. The report drew attention for its determination that shift drivers earn less than three dollars an hour.

• January 2008 US Court of Appeals decision in NLRB vs Friendly Cab determining that drivers at an Oakland (California) taxi company are employees for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. (111KB pdf)

2007 documents

• Illegal limousines soliciting passengers at San Francisco International Airport and at Fisherman's Wharf, videos that originally aired on KRON's "People Behaving Badly" series by reporter Stanley Roberts.

• An Overview of the San Francisco Taxi Industry and Proposition K prepared November 2007 by Heidi Machen and Jordanna Thigpen for the Taxi Commission's working group on Charter Reform. (2MB pdf)

• Guide to the Nova Scotia Violence in the Workplace Regulations for the Taxi Industry, draft produced by the Occupational Health And Safety Division, July 2007.

• New South Wales Taxi Industry Safety and Security Taskforce Interim Report of July 2007.

• New South Wales Passenger Transport Regulation 2007 introduced September 1.

• July 2007 submission on the New South Wales draft Passenger Transport Regulations by the Australian Taxi Drivers Association. (1MB pdf)

• The "Knowledge of London" Examination System, a guide for applicants published by the Public Carriage Office, April 2007. (212KB pdf)

San Francisco City Hall
As in most places, SF taxis are regulated by city government.

2006 documents

• Nevada Minimum Wage, attorney's discussion of November 2006 Nevada law that, among other things, extends minimum wage coverage to taxicab drivers. See also a flyer by United Taxicab Drivers Corp. urging drivers to demand enforcement of the minimum wage requirement.

• MasterCard And VeriFone Put PayPass in Philadelphia Taxis, article in Digital Transactions

• The Job-creating Potential of the Metered Taxi Industry in South Africa’s Urban Areas: Some Preliminary Findings by Sandra Lowitt, Research Associate, Employment Growth and Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council. (426KB pdf)

• Driving Poor: Taxi Drivers and the Regulation of the Taxi Industry in Los Angeles by Professors Gary Blasi and Jacqueline Leavitt of UCLA. (460kb PDF)

• Entry Controls in Taxi Regulation: Policy Implications of U.S. and Canadian Experience, from Schaller Consulting September 2006

• Taxicab Industry Report on rates of fare, gate fees and business conditions by the San Francisco Controller, August 2006. (309KB pdf document) Recommends increases based on cost of living, fuel costs and paratransit funding. Unless changed by the Board of Supervisors by certain deadlines, the increases would automatically become law on November 1, 2006.

• The San Francisco Taxicab Industry: An Equity Analysis, June 2006 report prepared for SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and SF Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, from The Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. The Executive Summary to the 45-page report states in part: "We believe a system permitting the sale of medallions (transferability) would provide a more equitable and improved taxicab industry if implemented within specific structural parameters." (477kb PDF document).

• Establishing a San Francisco Taxi Driver Health Care Coverage Program: Administration, Cost, and Funding Options. March 2006 report from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, 110 pages, 726KB pdf, complete with detailed actuarial analysis. An existing city-sponsored San Francisco Health Plan is proposed as the administrator. Drivers would pay $80 a month plus modest co-pays for services. The report examines funding options for the rest of the estimated $9-16 million annual cost.

• Taxi Fact Book for 2006, New York City reference by Bruce Schaller

• The State of the NYC Taxi, March 2006 overview by a TLC Commissioner. This nicely illustrated report gives the numbers and ages of the various model vehicles used as medallion cabs, their inspection pass-or-fail rates, and information on hybrid and accessible vehicles. NYC now has over 80 livery and medallion cabs that are hybrid vehicles. (1.24MB pdf document)

• San Francisco Police Code Article 16 regarding Motor Vehicles for Hire, including the taxicab regulations as of March 2006.

• Taxi Commission Survey Report - February 8, 2006, summary report of the results of the San Francisco Taxi Commission Survey conducted by the Controller’s Office in October/November 2005. (140 KB)

• Policy on drug testing by New York City TLC, February 2006 (145KB Word document).

• Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Taxi Deregulation?, January 2006 article in Econ Journal Watch reviews "the judgments of economists who have written substantively on taxi regulation." (360kb PDF document).

This attention-getting poster, issued by the South Somerset District Council, is part of a public safety campaign in England to warn cab users about the dangers of riding in unlicensed cabs during the 2006 holiday season. The national campaign is dubbed Taxiwise. The Mayor of London is leading the Cabwise program which facilitates getting a legal taxi or minicab with the help of text messaging. The Taxiwise and Cabwise programs are endorsed by celebrities and are receiving a high level of press attention throughout the UK.

2005 documents

• Taxis Hailed as Black Hole for Lost Cell Phones and PDAs, report on study sponsored by Pointsec Mobile Technologies

• Taxicab Industry Report with Addendum - December 2005, review of the San Francisco taxicab industry with recommendations on taxicab rates of fare and gate fees. (140 KB)

• 8 Keys to Keeping Taxi Issues From Becoming a Political Hot Potato by Bruce Schaller, originally published in Taxi, Livery and Paratransit Association Taxicab newsletter, August 2005.

• The Taxi Vehicle in the Ideal Taxi System by Bruce Schaller

• Effectiveness of Controls Over the Taxi Industry, June 2005 report by the New Zealand Controller and Auditor-General. The 136-page report is critical of enforcement by regulators under an open entry policy that began about 15 years ago, and especially since 1997 when a similarly critical report was issued. A special concern is keeping unfit people out of the business. Deregulation in New Zealand led to approximately a tripling in the number of cabs and a ten-fold increase in the number of drivers. The report includes 61 recommendations for tightening control over the industry. (2.9MB pdf document)

• Salt Lake City Draft Taxicab Study and slide presentation posted in PDF format on the City Council's web site May 2005 for public comment; prepared by Dr. Ray Mundy. Includes a comparison of the regulatory schemes used in various US cities.

Birmingham UK public safety campaign

• "To Insure Prejudice: Racial Disparities in Taxicab Tipping," article by Ian Ayres, Fredrick E. Vars and Nasser Zakariya in the Yale Law Journal, Vol. 114, 2005. Read an excerpt from the article. The study analyzed data on more than 1000 tips to taxicab drivers in New Haven, Connecticut in 2001 and found significant differences based on the race of both driver and passenger.

• "Local Exclusive Cruising Regulation and Efficiency in Taxicab Markets" by Daniel Flores-Guri in the Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, May 2005. "This paper shows that substituting metropolitan regulations for municipal ones can benefit consumers without hurting producers. The theoretical results are applied to the taxicab market in the adjacent cities of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts." Available for sale, or read the abstract only

• Toronto Taxi Alliance Inc. v. Toronto (City), February 2005 decision overturning bylaws that would have shifted ownership of taxi licenses away from corporations and toward owner-drivers. See the 1998 section below for the Report to Review the Toronto Taxi Industry that is referenced in this decision.

• A Regresssion Model of the Number of Taxicabs in U.S. Cities by Bruce Shaller "identifies three primary demand factors: the number of workers commuting by subway, the number of households with no vehicles available, and the number of airport taxi trips." January 2005 report, 204kb PDF document.

• Passenger and Driver Focus Group Reports on TLC Technology Enhancements by Bruce Scaller 2005

Sheriff's Citizen's Medal awarded posthumously to Tuscon, Arizona taxicab driver Dawud Isa Abusida who gave his life when he stopped to aid an officer in trouble on August 10, 2005.

2004 documents

• Federal Magistrates Court of Australia, December 2004 decision in Ball vs Silver Top Taxi, a discrimination suit regarding disabled passengers.

• Federal Magistrates Court of Australia, May 2004 decision in Sailor vs Village Taxi Cabs Pty Ltd and Markwick, a racial discrimination suit.

• "Occupational and personal factors associated with acquired lumbar spondylolisthesis of urban taxi drivers" by J-C Chen1, W P Chan, J N Katz, W P Chang and D C Christiani. Article in Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2004;61:992-998. Read online or download as a 120kb PDF from OEM Online.

• Competition Bureau charges St. John's taxi companies with conspiracy, Ottawa, July 9, 2004

• Taxi and Limousine Development, discussion paper and feedback analysis on regulations. Prepared by the Queensland Government (Australia) with an eye to National Competition Policy obligations. It is expected that legislation developed in response to this report will be introduced into Parliament in 2006.

• Taxicab Board of Manitoba report Cameras Effective in Reducing Taxicab Crime, presented to the 17th Annual Conference of the International Association of Transportation Regulators by Lou Harries, Chair of the Manitoba Taxicab Board and by Jerry Kozubal, Secretary of the Taxicab Board (55kb Word document). See also Official Notices regarding mandatory installation of both cameras and partitions in all taxicabs on the website of the Manitoba Taxicab Board.

• Regulating Supply in Taxi Markets, a dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the MSc in Economic Regulation and Competition, by Dr Benedikt Koehler, City University (London) September 2004. The dissertation is a large (625Kb) PDF document that may take a few minutes to download. See also the brief abstract and a spreadsheet that models supply, and the author's notes on using the spreadsheet.

• California Assembly Bill, AB 2591, regulating limousines, adopted September 2004; intended to curb abuses whereby state-regulated limousines operate as defacto taxicabs.

• Issues paper Pertaining to Taxi Regulation in Northern Ireland, prepared for the Combined Group of Belfast Taxi Proprietors Associations, October 2004 by James M Cooper, Taxi Studies Consultant (208kb PDF)

• Taxi Market Regulation: Industry employment and the identification of data toward informed policy decisions. 2004 report prepared for SCOTECON by the Taxi Studies Group of Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland (548kb PDF format)

• Interim report, Taxi Industry Inquiry, prepared 2004 by the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Transport (325kb Word document); includes an assessment of the controversial "no destinations" policy that prohibited dispatch operations from revealing to drivers where prospective customers are going. See also the NSW Ministry of Transport.

• Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Taskforce, September 2004 Interim Brief to the New South Wales Minister for Transport Services (166k PDF)

• Taxi Driver Survey Summary Findings - April 2004, descriptive statistics of San Francisco's taxi driver population that can be used by policymakers and other interested parties. (6.5 MB)

• NLRB decision 342-130, 2004 resolution of a dispute between NYC taxi fleet owners and SEIU Local 74 (123k PDF)

• "Can you get there from here?: How the Law Still Threatens King's Dream" article in Law and Equality, Vol. 22, 2004 discusses taxicab regulations as a powerful tool in the hands of segregationists. Also available at SSRN (24kb PDF)

• The Changing Face of Taxi and Limousine Drivers in the U.S., Large States and Metro Areas and New York City by Schaller Consulting 2004

• Taxi and Livery Crashes in New York City, 2004 from Schaller Consulting

• Higher Pay, Safer Cabbies, An Analysis of the Relationship Between Driver Incomes and Taxi Crashes in New York City, from Schaller Consulting, January 2004 (92k PDF)

San Francisco voters received this campaign mailer regarding Proposition N of 2003, an unsuccessful initiative measure.

2003 documents

• Predicting health outcomes and safety behaviour in taxi drivers, 2003 paper by M. Anthony Machin and Jillian M. D. De Souza at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. From the abstract: "This research projects integrates the various factors that influence the safety behaviour, physical health and emotional well-being of taxi drivers into a theoretical model that shows hazards, perceptions of risk-taking, aggression, and drivers’ perceptions of management’s commitment to health and safety as directly influencing physical health, emotional well-being, and safety behaviour of taxi drivers." (285kb PDF)

• San Francisco Taxi Drivers Health Benefits Report - October 2003 prepared in response to Ordinance Number 228-02, which requires the Controller to submit a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors by October 1, 2003 for enactment of a program that would make health insurance or health benefits available to all taxi drivers. (816 KB)

• Taxicab Industry Long-Term Lease Report - October 2003, Controller's report to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors regarding long-term lease fee caps. (1.8 MB)

• Evaluation of Taxi Sector Reform: a Real Options Approach is a math-heavy economics paper that "applies the real options methodology to estimate the impact of the restructuring measures in the taxi sector in Barcelona in 1995." (400kb PDF)

• The regulation of licensed taxi and PHV services in the UK, link to the Taxi Studies page of the UK Office of Fair Trade with its November 2003 report and appendices

• California Employment Development Department Information Sheet for the taxicab industry describes the factors used in determining driver status as employee or independent contractor; three-page document revised July 2003 and based on the 1991 "Santa Cruz" decision (44k PDF)

• Review of Fares for Taxis in New South Wales, August 31, 2003 IPART Report to the NSW Minister For Transport Services (312k PDF)

• Recommendations for Measuring Taxi Availability for PCN Determination, July 2003 report to the San Francisco Taxi Commission by Bruce Schaller (383k PDF)

• Transformation of Public Transport operations from informal to formal services : An Examination of initiatives by the Western Cape Provincial Department of Transport to transform the minibus-taxi industry by Y. Ahmed, Department of Transport and Public Works, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa (5.35MB pdf)

• Provincial Vision for Public Transport and Five-year Strategic Delivery Programme by the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape, Department of Transport and Public Works (4.5MB pdf)

Minibus taxis are a key part of the South African transport system..

2002 documents

• Taxi Regulation in Japan by David Flath of the Kyoto Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University, June 2002 (63Kb PDF document)

• San Francisco Permit Holders versus Taxi Commission, July 2002 California Appellate Court decision affirming the legality of a driving requirement for some medallion holders, with possible exceptions (40k PDF)

• "City of Oshawa Taxi Industry Study" by Bruzzese Minshull Associates, April 2002 (archived 1.2mb PDF file available on request)

• Oshawa Taxi Industry Reforms Report, Oshawa, ON, Canada, Nov 2002

• Taxicab Industry in Bermuda - Feb/Mar 2002, by Bryant Trew, journalist for the Bermuda Sun.

• US Court of Appeals Opinion of January 2002 in Baily and Dunn vs. Gulf Coast Transportation, regarding Florida taxi drivers who were fired after they sued for minimum wage

• Moratorium Decision on Taxi Applications in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia May 2002 (10k PDF)

• February 2002 study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the effectiveness of workplace homicde prevention measures and advice to regulators on mandated preventive strategies

2001 documents

• Taxi-Cabs Security Camera Standards and Procedures, 2001 by the Victorian Taxi Directorate, Australia. (554KB Word document)

• Taxi-Cabs Security Camera Specifications, 2001 by the Victorian Taxi Directorate, Australia. (48KB Word document)

• Report on Taxi Supply in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia December 2001 Notice to Industry regarding the Taxi Supply Study (13k PDF)

• An Examination of the Taxi Supply in the Lower Mainland prepared for The Motor Carrier Commission of British Columbia, October 2001 (227k PDF)

• Making Taxi Service Work in San Francisco, prepared for SPUR by Adam Millard-Ball of Nelson\Nygaard Consulting, November 2001, full report (264k PDF)

• Surdell-Kennedy Taxi Ltd. et al. v. City of Surrey, a September 2001 Canadian court decision regarding regulatory authority to conduct licence auctions, and right of personal property, very interesting.

• An Analysis of the Demand for Taxicabs in The Pittsburgh Area, 11-page report published by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy and authored by Frank Gamrat, Ph.D., March 2001 (771kb PDF)

• Review of Taxi Driver Remuneration and Conditions of Work by the Queensland Department of Industrial Relations and Queensland Transport, August 2001 (Word document in a downloadable 283kb ZIP archive; the same document is available on request as a 900+kb PDF file)

During the 1930's fierce competition drove down prices and resulted in flat rate fares like this one -- 25 cents to anyplace in Regina, Saskatchewan

2000 documents

• Western Australia Taxi Driver Competency Standards, an exhaustive review of training for drivers (172KB pdf)

• Regulated Conduct Defence applies to issuance of taxi licenses - allegations of conspiracy unsubstantiated; The Competition Bureau, Ottawa, May 2, 2000

• High Court Judgement In Appeal of Government Issue of Taxi Licences, High Court, Dublin, Ireland in October 2000

• Inquest into the Death of Anne Woloshen, Prepared for the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities, September, 2000

• Madison's Current and Proposed Taxi Regulation: Bad Public Policy and an Open Invitation to Litigation, by Peter Carstensen, Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School September 2000

• National Competition Policy Review of Transportation Act, for the State of Queensland, Australia, September 2000 (Discussion Paper in .PDF format 630k)

• Improving Our Taxis, a discussion paper by the National Competition Council, Australia, May 2000

• Taxi Industry Reform, Report for the New City of Ottawa Transition Board by the Taxi Project Team, and associated material

• Proposition M of 2000, unsuccessful initiative measure seeking to amend the San Francisco Administrative Code

• Bill HB1068, an Act Concerning Deregulation of Certain Passenger Transportation, State of Colorado, February 2000

• Bill 5 - Kentucky Legislature, An act relating to the transportation of persons for hire, January 2000

• Petition for Review, Barbara Kabrick, filed with State of Washington, Office of Administrative Hearings, for the Employment Security Department 2000

• MisClassification of Taxi Drivers, by Burton H. Wolfe, Jan 2000 letter to the editor of the Dallas Observer on the leasing of taxicabs to independent contractors

• Burton Wolfe vs. Employment Law Center et. al., Declaration of Plaintiff in Superior Court, June 2000

Six people died in this 1999 wreck which was caused by an unlicensed taxi driver in Compton, California.

1999 documents

• Issue Analysis, Taxi! Reinvigorating Competition in the Taxi Market by Jason Soon, published by the Center for Independent Studies, New South Wales, Australia (173Kb PDF document)

• Review of the Taxi Cab and Hire Car Industries, November 1999 Report of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) of New South Wales (archived 782k PDF is available on request)

• The Emancipation of the Taxi Industry in Oshawa, August 1999, by a group of taxi drivers in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

• Anti-Jitney Laws Take People for a Ride, by By Lawrence W. Reed, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, November 1999

• Consultation Paper on Smoking in Taxis, by (federal) Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, UK, October 1999

• Review of the Taxi Cab and Hire Car Industries, by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), August 1999 by Dr Tom Parry, New South Wales, Australia

• A Study of the Taxi Industry in British Columbia, by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, dated June 1999 (PDF - 256k)

• Colorado Taxi Companies Unfairly Protected by Special Laws, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, July 30, 1999

• The Independent Contractor Racket, Op-Ed by Burton H. Wolfe, August 1999 in the Washington Free Press, Seattle

• Making Cabbies Truly Independent, December 1999 Letter to the Editor by Guy Evans, responding to Burton Wolfe in the Washington Free Press, Seattle

1998 documents

• Taxi Licence Controls Harm The Commuter by Dr Garret FitzGerald (former Prime Minister of Ireland), Irish Times, 10 January 1998

• Public Transport and Taxis in Dublin, report prepared for the National Taxi Driver's Union and the Irish Taxi Driver Federation by Brendan Lynch, Economic Consultant 1998

• Solving Dublin Taxi Problems: Urban-Sharecroppers v Rentseekers, by Dublin Competition Authority, November 1998

• Review of Taxi and Hackney Carriage Service in the Dublin Area, Executive Summary/Summary of Recommendations, by Oscar Faber in association with Goodbody Economic Consultants and Irish Marketing Surveys, 1998

• Green Light For Change, by Dublin Area Taxi Association (1998?)

• Taxi Deregulation: International Comparison, by Choong-Ho Kang, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, August 1998

• Indianapolis' Road to Regulatory Reform by Adrian Moore, director of economic studies at the Reason Public Policy Institute, 1998 (64k PDF)

• The Indianapolis Experience Deregulation of its Taxicab Industry

• The Cleveland Taxi Market, by Jeff Narten, March 1998, an Exit Project in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Studies

• Curb Rights, a book review By Lawrence W. Reed, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, June 1998

• The Taxi as Transit Mode, The City of Rimouski Demonstration with the Taxibus, by Michel Trudel, Province of Quebec, Canada, November 1998

• How Cities Put the Brakes on Taxicabs, by Sam Staley, PhD, Reason Public Policy Institute, September 1998

• Report to Review the Toronto Taxi Industry, October 1998

• Public Convenience and Necessity Report - San Francisco 1998, by Police Commission, City and County of San Francisco.

• The Leasing of Taxi Licences, a February 1998 working paper by Dr. Ian Radbone, Transport Systems Centre, University of South Australia; executive summary and a link to the full paper.

• Providing a taxi service for people with disabilities, a research paper by Dr. Ian Radbone, Deputy Director of the Transport Systems Centre, University of South Australia, September 1998.

• Final Report of the Mayor's Taxi Task Force, for San Francisco, April 1998

• Are Exclusive Taxi Stands Good or Bad? by Gary MacDonald, 1998

• Before and After Deregulation, 10 years of Sweden's experience, as at February 1998, by Pepe Arninge.

• Taxicab Licensing and Economic Opportunity in Madison: A Preliminary Analysis, by Sam Staley, PhD, Reason Public Policy Institute, March 1998

• An Economic Analysis of Taxicab Regulation in Portland, O regon, by the Cascade Policy Institute 1998

• Eurig vs Ontario, an important Supreme Court of Canada decision relative to the principle in common law that a fee must bear a reasonable relationship to its companion true administrative costs. Very applicable to the regulatory environment in which the taxi industry must operate, 1998

• Procedural Order, by West Virginia Public Service Commission regarding investigation into the matter of continuing taxicab lease arrangements, 1998.

• A Licence To Print Money, an investigation into Toronto's taxicab leasing problems, 1998.

• How The Taxi Industry Was Junked, by Burton H. Wolfe part 1 of a 1998 series on the leasing of taxicabs to independent contractors

• San Francisco's Own Lawsuit Sellout, by Burton H. Wolfe, part 2 of a 1998 series on the leasing of taxicabs to independent contractors

• Customer Survey Data as supplied by Taxi Industry Board of Advisors, Nashville, Tennessee, Nov/Dec 1998

Taxi fares are a favorite subject of economics research because taxis are the classic example of a regulated industry.

1997 documents

• Taxi Services In Dublin: A new approach by Chamber of Commerce, Dublin, Ireland, 16 December 1997

• Review of Taxi and Hackney Carriage Service in Dublin, Ireland (Summary Only) by Oscar Faber, In association with Goodbody Economic Consultants and Irish Marketing Surveys, December 1997

• The Dublin Taxi Market: Re-regulate or Stay Queuing? Contributed by Dr. John Fingleton, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 9 December 1997

• Putting Customers First, Reforming Toronto's Taxicab Industry, by Consumer Policy Institute, April 1997

• Taken For a $1 Billion Taxi Ride a call for deregulation of Toronto's Taxicab Industry, by Terence Corcoran, April 1997

• Summary of Calls for Deregulation by 'Think Tanks by Terry Smythe 1997

• Taxicab Deregulation: Futility or Blessing? by Terry Smythe, May 1997

• Seattle Taxicab Regulation effective 1 January 1997

• Obstacles and Opportunities of Introducing an Enhanced Training Program,, Final Report as submitted to Board of the Trade of Metropolitan Toronto Tourism Committee, February, 1997 by The Board of Trade for Metro Toronto

• Taxicab Regulations - Charlotte County, Florida, June 1997

• London Conditions of Fitness with amendments to 1997, by London (England) Public Carriage Office, a Division of the London Metropolitan Police Service.

• Application for a Fare Increase, Winnipeg's Taxicab Industry, Spring 1997

• Dayton's Taxicab Industry, a series of 6 articles by Martin Gottleib, June 1997

• Regulation and the Urban Marketplace by Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, Indianapolis, January 1997

• Baltimore: No Harbor For Entrepreneurs by Institute For Justice, April 1997

• Taxi Deregulation Would Benefit Public, by Peter Holle, 19 May 1997

• Nevada Taxicab Regulation/Deregulation 1997 article

• Open the Door To Portland's Taxi Entrepreneurs 1997 article on a report by the Institute for Justice 1996

• Link to Ethics Decision, by Nevada Commission on Ethics 1997, in the matter of a Taxicab Commission employee holding a Taxicab Business Licence.

• Regulating Electronic Money in Small-Value Payment Systems: Telecommunications Law as a Regulatory Model,By Randall W. Sifers, appeared in the Federal Communications Law Journal, April 1997.

• Lynch vs Police Commissioner - Boston. Police refusal to issue taxi medallions; ongoing court proceedings, July 1997.

• A Taxi Driver is not an Employee Federal Court of Australia, August 1997

• Employee vs. Independent Contractor - LawResearch Newsletter September 1997

Flag atop a Tokyo taxi indicates to prospective customers that a discount rate of fare is in effect

1996 documents

• San Francisco Superior Court decision in Joseph Tracy et al. vs. Yellow Cab Cooperative et al. requiring defendant cab companies to return security deposits to drivers, and permanently enjoining companies from challenging driver claims for Workers' Compensation and Unemployment Insurance benefits on the basis of independant contractor status. (3.15MB pdf)

• Fare Game, Fare Cop Victimization of, and Policing by, Taxi Drivers in Three Canadian Cities, by Dr. Philip Stenning. The document, 116 pages in Word format (476KB), is also available as a 1 megabyte PDF file.

• White Paper on National Transport Policy from the Department of Transport, Pretoria, South Africa (364KB pdf)

• "Technical Efficiency and Ownership: The Case of Booking Centres in the Swedish Taxi Market" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1996, Vol. 30, No. 1, Page 83. J. Mansson. "The study examines competition between privately and publicly owned booking centres in the Swedish taxi market by studying technical efficiency, and breaking down technical efficiency into managerial and organisational efficiency. The main results are that a large amount of technical efficiency exists and that no direct relationship between technical efficiency and type of ownership can be found." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• Thomas Report on Taxicab Leasing in Toronto by Dorothy Thomas and Dan Shimski, October 1996

• Discussion Paper - Taxicab Leasing Toronto Metropolitan Licencing Commission, 8 July 1996

• Review of Paul Dempsey's 1996 article Taxi Industry Regulation, Deregulation & Reregulation: The Paradox of Market Failure

• Taxicab Regulation in Ohio's Largest Cities by Buckeye Institute

• Abolish the Taxi Medallion System by Irwin Stelzer, American Enterprise Institute 1996

• Illegal Taxi Service? by Cascade Policy Institute, September 1996

• Opening Boston's Taxicab Market by Institute for Justice (1996)

• Newsletter #1 by Dutch TaskForce Against Taxi Deregulation 1996 (in Dutch language)

• Proposition J by San Francisco Taxi Association, August 1996 for 5 November 1996 civic vote

• Jitney Service 1996 editorial by Adrian Moore

• Canada Federal Bill C-317 an Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (small supplier carrying on a taxi business) 1996

• Seattle Taxi Regulation Report by Sandi Avants, Gorman Gilbert, and Barbara Lupro 1996

• Evaluation of Accessible Taxicab Standards by Paul Murphy, September 1996

• Taxi Industry (Contract Drivers) Contract Determination by Government of New South Wales, Australia 1996

• Nashville Taxi/Wrecker Regulatory Structure February 1996, by Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Caolina State University.

• Cabbies Pan Proposal to Open Cab Market by Dan Wheeler, Hartford, Connecticut 1996

• Metering Opportunity By Sam Smith, Washington, DC 1996

• Darrar vs Bourke and Wyatt - Wyoming, Police fail to advise taxi driver that passenger was a known rapist, January 1996

• Transporting Persons With Disabilities by Oakville (Ontario) Licencing Section 1996

• The Future of Transportation by Taxi, by Michel Trudel, Paper given at the first European conference of the International Association of Transportation Regulators Strasbourg, France in October 1996

A for-hire vehicle demonstration in Lima, Peru.

1995 documents

• "Deregulating Taxi Services: A Word of Caution" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, May 1995, Vol. 29, No. 2, Page 195, by J. Hackner S. Nyberg. "This paper studies pricing and capacity decisions in markets for phone-ordered taxicabs. Firms first choose capacities and then compete in prices. As firm demand increases, so does waiting time. This dampens competition and makes prices too high from the social point of view. Efficiency improves if firms choose large capacities. In a two-firm setting, equilibrium capacities are shown to be larger if both firms maximise total profits than if they maximise profits per cab." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• Review by Terry Smythe of Opening Boston's Taxicab Market, 1995 report from Institute for Justice

• Taxicab Deregulation in Holland by Ministry of Transport 1995

• The Issue of "Goodwill" in Licence Transfers - Australia, 1995

• Section 32 of the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and its companion discussion paper issued under the authority of the DDA95 relative to proposed regulations and specifications for accessible taxicabs in the whole of the UK by the year 2012. This is a key document regarding the change to a fully-accesible taxi fleet in London, now a reality.

• 1995 Regulations to the Transport Operations Act, Queensland, Australia (PDF)

• Credit Cards & Taxi Fares - Australia, 1995

• Fundamentals of Taxi Regulation by Michel Trudel, February 1995

Parody of a taxi tycoon displayed at a 1995 political event in support of driver-sponsored Proposition I, which was rejected by San Francisco voters.

1994 and earlier documents

• It's not the same America, The underground economy; Economic self-sufficiency, Inc. Magazine, May 1994, by Welles, Edward O.

• 1994 Regulations to the Transport Operations Act, Queensland, Australia (PDF)

• Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994 , Queensland, Australia (PDF)

• Challenging Denver's Taxicab Monopoly by Institute for Justice (1994)

• An Optimal Regulatory Framework for The Taxicab Industry by Lok Sang Ho, Department of Economics and Centre for Environmental Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, March 1993 (118Kb PDF document)

• Regulation in the taxi industry, 1992 paper from the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds by Dr. J.P. Toner; abstract and link to the full text.

• Taxis: an Omnipresent Resource for Transporting People with Reduced Mobility, By Michel Trudel, Departmental taxi coordinator, Ministère des Transports du Québec, Canada, 1992

• A Taxicab Business Licence in Ontario Bankruptcy Court, February 1992

• D-409 - Vehicles for Transportation of Persons with Disabilities by Canadian Standards Association as amended up to 1992

• Taxicab Regulatory Fees by Terry Smythe 1990

• Winnipeg Taxicab Service & Regulation by Manitoba Taxicab Board March 1990 [289k]

• Grey Markets and Greased Pigs by John Hood 1989 for the Foundation for Economic Education

• Equitable Taxicab Quota DeRegulation, A Conceptual Framework (Anonymous) 1989

• "The Impact of Taxicab Deregulation in the USA" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1987, Vol. 21, No. 1, Page 37, by R.F. Teal M. Berglund. "Deregulation of taxicabs in several US cities has not produced the expected benefits. The authors analyse the reasons for this failure, and make suggestions for future policy." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• IRS Audit Guidelines for Taxicab Businesses from IRS website, prepared for Los Angeles District based on 1987-89 examinations. A similar document, IRS Taxicab Audit Guide, was found on the InterNet.

• The Economics of Taxicab Deregulation, 1985 policy paper by The Heartland Institute of Chicago; summary and link to the full text.

• Taxicab Regulation in US Cities, Volume II: Case Studies, 1983 report by L. Carol Shaw, German Gilbert, Christine Bishop and Evelyn Pruitt prepared for U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration; summary and link to the full report.

• "Economies of Scale in the Taxicab Industry. Some Empirical Evidence from the United States" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, September 1983, Vol. 17, No. 3, Page 299, by A.M. Pagano C.E. McKnight. "There are economies of scale for very small taxicab firms, but over 75,000 trips per year average costs increase, so the curve is U-shaped." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "Labour Costs and Taxi Supply in Melbourne" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, May 1981, Vol. 15, No. 2, Page 179, by D.J. Williams. "The non-progressive taxicab industry survives and may be able to expand because there has been a relative decline in the quality and the real wages of drivers and in the prices of new motor vehicles. Further research is suggested." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "The Economic Reasons for Price and Entry Regulation of Taxicabs: A Rejoinder" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1981, Vol. 15, No. 1, Page 81, by C. Shreiber. "Professor Shreiber, author of the article and later rejoinder published in this Journal in September 1975 and September 1977, replies to the comment by David J. Williams which appeared in January 1980." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "The Economic Reasons for Price and Entry Regulation of Taxicabs. A Comment" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1980, Vol. 14, No. 1, Page 105, by D.J. Williams. "A comment on the article and later rejoinder by Professor Shreiber, published in this Journal in September 1975 and September 1977." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "Competition and Supply in London Taxis" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1979, Vol. 13, No. 1, Page 102, by M.E. Beesley. "The numbers of London taxis and of licensed drivers have increased in recent years. Drivers are probably attracted by the variety of contracts available. But more information is needed on this and on the competitive hire car trade." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• Proposition K, San Francisco's Taxi Regulation adopted by initiative measure in 1978; numerous attempts to amend it via subsequent initiatives have been unsuccessful

• "The Economic Reasons for Price and Entry Regulations of Taxicabs. A Comment" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, September 1977, Vol. 11, No. 3, Page 288, by R.B. Coffman. "A comment on the article in the September 1975 issue of this Journal, with the author's rejoinder." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "The Economic Reasons for Price and Entry Regulation of Taxicabs" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, September 1975, Vol. 9, No. 3, Page 268, by C. Shreiber. "In a free market the charges for taxicabs tend to be high. Regulation in New York City has not been properly designed to achieve economic efficiency; but abolition of the present restriction on entry will increase congestion and pollution and attract more passengers from public transport." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

• "Price Regulation and Optimal Service Standards: The Taxicab Industry" in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, May 1972, Vol. 6, No. 2, Page 116, by G.W. Douglas. "In a market of cruising taxis price competition is impracticable, and service (measured by waiting time) cannot be differentiated by customers' willingness to pay. This article examines the principles governing the setting of efficient prices to attain the maximum use of the service." Note that this document is available from the JTEP index and summary page of free articles through 1996. Many of the articles published in the journal are of special interest to readers with a strong background in math. The documents are available from the summary page in pdf format.

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Taxi inspection facility of the Public Carriage Office, London.

Links to regulators, industry groups and similar sites

• International Association of Transportation Regulators, organization of taxicab regulators

• Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, formerly the ITLA

• Institute of Licensing, UK association addresses issues common to all licensing activities

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Part 37 Transportation services for individuals with disabilities, and Part 38 Accessibility specifications for transportation vehicles

• Taxi and livery driver online safety training, interactive taxi safety primer courtesy of Western Iowa Tech Community College; additional safety material for download and printing.

• District of Columbia Taxicab Commission, includes the city's unique zone map for unmetered fare calculation

• Philadelphia Parking Authority Taxi and Limousine Regulations

• San Francisco Police Code Article 16 Motor Vehicles for Hire, including taxicab regulations.

• Victoria Transport Policy Institute, an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems, located in Victoria, British Columbia. Tries to identify the full benefits, costs and equity impacts of alternative transportation policies and programs.

• Taxicab Scrip Program, Vallejo, CA, USA

• All About Special Needs Transportation, by Dr. Ray Turner

• How New Zealand Handles Taxi Driver Access Denial

• Berkeley (California) Taxicab Regulations, short and sweet, four-page ordinance for a small city open-entry market (472k PDF)

• The Institute for Justice favors open-market policies and has litigated cases involving Denver taxis, NYC vans and Las Vegas limos.

• Questionnaire for Quebec transportation agencies aimed at evaluating the best ways to ensure that there is sufficient number of taxis in service equipped to transport at least one person in a wheelchair (81kb PDF)

• Center for Alternative Transportation Research, by Arthur (Pat) Webster; page includes a link to his extraordinary 1998 compilation of taxi-related statistics as a 154-page downloadable PDF document

• Community Transportation Association of America

• Airport Ground Transportation Association

• European Conference of Ministers of Transport, source of a number of relevant documents

• Schaller Consulting, Bruce Schaller offers a wealth of information on NYC's taxi imdustry.

• New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission

• New York City rates of fare from the Taxi and Limousine Commission

• New York City taxi regulations on the TLC web site in PDF format

• NYC journalist and attorney Dan Ackman writes often about the taxi industry and the TLC

• London's Public Carriage Office, taxi regulators

• London current rates of fare from the PCO

• Taxi Commission, San Francisco, CA, USA taxi regulator to march 2009

• SF Municipal Transportation Agency Division of Taxis and Accessible Services, San Francisco taxi regulator from March 2009

• Taxicab regulations for Honolulu, Hawaii

• Orange County (California) Transportation Authority

• Taxi Service Improvements, by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Australia

• Victorian Taxi Association, Australia

• New South Wales Ministry of Transport

• New Zealand Taxi Federation

• Manitoba Taxicab Board, taxi regulatory body for Winnipeg, and the Manitoba taxi regulations

• Passenger Transportation Board of British Columbia, Canada

• Canadian Taxicab Association

• NIST US National Institute for Standards and Technology

• NIST Publication 44 section 5.54 on Taximeter standards, on the NIST web site as a PDF format

• Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK

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