Why Should Planners Care about Taxicabs?
Planners frequently overlook the industry as a legitimate form of transit as taxicabs do not provide many shared rides, utilize vehicles similar to private automobiles (confusing “nonautomobility” with “nonautomobile”; Klein (1997)), and almost never fall within the purview of planning departments[6]. On the supply side, the low utilization rate of taxicabs and their relatively low market share of trips in most cities is largely due to local regulations which effectively prohibit entry of new firms, prohibit competition within the industry, give subsidies to public transit competitors, and limit the ability of transit agencies to contract out services to taxicab companies (Kirby, 1974; Klein, 1997; Cervero, 1997). Despite these obstacles, taxicabs constitute an $8 billion industry employing just over 300,000 people. In comparison, urban and suburban transit agencies collect $18 billion[7], and have employment of approximately 840,000 (US Statistical Abstract, 1996; Tables 966 and 1024)
