Taxi fare war ends after top companies meet

Published on March 4th, 2010

By ALEX DEMARBAN

A fare war in the so-called cab capital of the nation ended this week, following an agreement between Bethel's major cab companies to thin out their permits.

For customers, prices are back up to the usual $5 for in-town rides and $7 for airport trips.

But drivers, who were struggling to make ends meet under the price-slashing that dropped fares to as low as $2, can make money again, said Joe Yoon, owner of Quyana Cab.

"Maybe customer not happy, but for the long-term, everybody (else) happy," said Yoon, including the police department, the city's transportation committee and cab company owners.

On Tuesday, representatives with Alaska Cab, Kusko Cab, Taxi Cab Co. and Quyana Cab turned in a total of 12 permits to the police department, which runs the city's transportation division.

Under the agreement, Quyana Cab will hand over one more permit in early April, said Sharri Salyers, city transportation inspector.

When that's done, Alaska Cab will have turned in four permits and its competitors will have turned in three each.

And the Southwest Alaska city of 5,600 will have just 57 permits, down from 70 two years ago.

The companies showed a lot of integrity in solving the problem without the city's involvement, Salyers said.

Dwindling commerce led to the fare war that started last month, said Yoon.

Some customers are leaving Bethel and more people own cars, hurting the once-booming business in a city labeled the nation's cab capital in an Associated Press article two years ago.

"We got no more steady customers like we used to," he said.

With income down, drivers were also moving away or taking other jobs, leaving companies shorthanded, Yoon said.

The fare wars started after Alaska Cab and Taxi Cab, both short on drivers, asked the competition if they'd join them in voluntarily giving up permits, said Salyers.

Alaska Cab and Taxi Cab were paying $185 a month for permits they weren't using.

Quyana refused to join in.

So Alaska, then Taxi, lowered their rates to boost business, Salyers said.

The other companies countered by dropping their rates too, with Quyana going the lowest, to $2 in-town and $4 for airport trips, she said.

The rates were so low the companies couldn't cover basic costs, including gas exceeding $5 a gallon at the pump, Salyers said.

The four companies met in late February and prices were back up on March 1 to the maximum amount cab drivers can legally charge.

So, with less taxis, will Bethel will remain the nation's cab capital?

Can't say yet.

Two years ago, the city had about one cab for every 84 residents. The ratio likely made Bethel the busiest place for cabs in the country, the Associated Press reported.

Under the change, Bethel will have just one cab for every 99 residents.

Officials with the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Asociation in Maryland couldn't be reached by press time.