Taxi drivers protest fees, Disney shuttle (ME)

[ztbz]

Taxi drivers protest fees, Disney shuttle

Beth Kassab and Jerry W. Jackson | Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted October 4, 2005



Frustrated by rising fuel costs, higher lease fees, and a free airport bus service, taxi drivers demonstrated Monday at Orlando International Airport and in downtown Orlando.

Dozens of taxi drivers organized a strike at the airport, lining up in the holding lane but refusing to take passengers, though several cabs were still available for service.

Drivers said it is increasingly difficult to operate at the airport. They want lower lease fees from the companies that own the taxis, and they want airport officials to end a contract for Disney's Magical Express, a free airport-to-hotel shuttle that began in May.

"Nobody makes money here," said taxi driver Frank Garcia, one of those at the airport. "They killed the taxi business and the town-car business here."

Airport officials said Monday's demonstration caused no disruptions for passengers.

The Magical Express service, approved by the airport, is provided by Mears Transportation under contract to Disney.

Some 5,000 passengers use the service every day.

Drivers said they are also frustrated by Mears' recent decision to raise the weekly fee it charges them to lease its vehicles. Town-car drivers protested Monday at Mears' downtown headquarters, saying their lease fee was just increased from $700 to $850 a week.

"This year there is just no way to keep up," said Selidieu St. Jean, who has worked for Mears' town-car division for the past nine years. "We used to have enough business in Orlando, but now we don't. So I'm out of business after nine years. I can't afford it."

Mears spokesman Roger Chapin said the fee increase was a standard yearly increase that occurs in mid-September or October, as business starts to pick up before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Chapin said the company understands the drivers' concerns but does not intend to lower its lease rates.

"Fuel prices are compounding the problem," Chapin said. "It's been a hot, slow, expensive summer, and I think we're seeing the frustration."

He said Magical Express is not to blame for what drivers say is a major slowdown in business at the airport.

"We just haven't seen the decline in the demand for service," he said. "Not from the customers."

Last month, taxi and luxury-car drivers won some concessions from Orlando International officials, who told Disney that its airport greeters would no longer be allowed to stand on the third level of the main terminal to direct passengers to Magical Express.

No other transportation company can have greeters on the third level, the airport said, so it made the change out of fairness to the others.

Beth Kassab can be reached at bkassab@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5448. Jerry W. Jackson can be reached at 407-420-5721 or jwjackson@orlandosentinel.com.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-mears0405oct04,0,2925336.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

 

[Sarangel]

This is really part of the whole Magical Express debate. We've been talking about it since 9/15/05 on This Thread

Sarangel

 

[JDietz40]

While I understand the concern over loss of revenue isn't this really the entire concept of the free enterprise system. If the big guy wants to perform a service or sell something cheaper to get more business they can do it.
That being said I would not be to surprised if MCO authorities do away with this as soon as they can rather than continue to fight a battle with all the other car services.




John

 

[mitros]

All in all, I guess this is Disneys way of getting around the idea that they could not get the new high speed train to go from the airport to the resort. {

 

[DancingBear]

It's my understanding that Disney was successful in having the planned high-speed rail to go directly from the airport to Disney property (bypassing a proposed interim stop in the convention center are); however, nobody really thinks that train's getting built any more. The Express is a way for Disney to strongly tie folks into the plan of coming to WDW, exclusively, for a one-week visit; coordinated with the Magic Your Way pricing scheme and such.

 

[mitros]

Well, last we read down here in Florida, was that they were not successfull in getting the stop they wanted, and besides, like you stated, the plan, {high speed rail} as far as we have heard up to now, has been shelved. Perhaps with higher gas prices, it may get resurrected.

 

[DancingBear]

So something has changed since this story in 2003?

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2003/10/27/daily13.html

 

[KidDurango]

...but not the route. The route was directed along the fastest route, which was the southern route to Disney property and beyond to Tampa. Unfortunately, as soon as that route was chosen, Universal Studios, and the International Drive hoteliers, who had previously backed the constitutional amendment that required the high speed rail to be built, suddenly felt strongly that it was not in the interest of the state to ease traffic congestion on I-4. They joined in a group led by the largest highway construction firms and funded a high profile marketing campaign which led to the repeal of the first intelligent transportation initiative the state has seen. So now we will be stuck with ever expanding interstates and traffic jams.

 

[mitros]

Thanks for confirming that info for me.

 

[ztbz]

One thing I wanted to point out is that Mears gets paid by both the Taxi Drivers and by Disney for the Magical Express service. So they make out either way. The Taxi drivers has to pay Mears $850 per week plus pay for the Gas that is use during that same weeks time. What's going to happen is that there will be less Taxi's available in the future because nobody can make any kind of a living by Driving a Mears Taxi.

 

[KMovies]

However, there are also more jobs for Mears bus drivers. Maybe some shuttle drivers will become Mear's bus drivers instead. Not sure how that pay structure is, maybe hourly.

 

[Mickmse2002]

Exactly why do the taxi driver's have to pay Mears the $850/week?

 

[seashoreCM]

Exactly why do the taxi driver's have to pay Mears the $850/week?

Standard agreement between a driver and a taxi company. The driver pays the company a flat daily or weekly fee to get the car and the driver gets to use the dispatcher's radio and services and the driver keeps all the money he collects.

Less common is a regular employee agreement where the taxi company pays the driver an hourly wage and the driver turns in all the fares and keeps the tips.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Mickmse2002]

Standard agreement between a driver and a taxi company. The driver pays the company a flat daily or weekly fee to get the car and the driver gets to use the dispatcher's radio and services and the driver keeps all the money he collects.

I did understand this, I guess I didn't realize that Mears owned every cab that services the airport. Perhaps they only own some and the $850 per week only applies to some of the taxi's and not all.

 

[DancingBear]

One thing I wanted to point out is that Mears gets paid by both the Taxi Drivers and by Disney for the Magical Express service. So they make out either way. The Taxi drivers has to pay Mears $850 per week plus pay for the Gas that is use during that same weeks time. What's going to happen is that there will be less Taxi's available in the future because nobody can make any kind of a living by Driving a Mears Taxi.

And so the market will correct for the oversupply of taxis.