Hoboken Cab Drivers Upset Over Relocation Of Taxi Stand

A large group of Hoboken taxi drivers and license owners expressed their anger and frustration yesterday afternoon in a special meeting with Director of Transportation and Parking Ian Sacs and his team.

Sacs told the cabbies that the staging space on Observer Highway that is currently used to stage the city's 65 taxis, will no longer be available in a few weeks, when construction starts on a new pumping station there. 

Therefore, the taxi stand—which is currently placed in front of the PATH terminal—will move across the street. During last night's council meeting, City Council unanimously approved the move of the taxi stand. 

The current stand accommodates between five and nine cars, and recently saw the addition of a dispatcher to streamline the process of getting people into cabs. The new stand will have enough space for 25 cars to pick up fares, said Sacs. 

"They'll have three times more space," Sacs said during the Council meeting. "That's critical because there's no longer a place for staging."

Still, although the drivers are gaining spots at the downtown taxi stand, they are losing all staging parking spaces they currently have to park the vehicles.

Taxi drivers said that picking up a fare in Hoboken has gotten more difficult because of the recession, but also because of illegal livery cabs that take away customers. The only times during which Hoboken cab drivers can make some money, they said, is Friday and Saturday nights. 

"I'm very upset," said Saad Amer, 61, who has owned a taxi in Hoboken for 25 years. "We don't make money like before." 

Michael Flett, who owns a license and employs two drivers in Hoboken, said he was disappointed about the lack of involvement the drivers and owners had in the new plan. He has had a license for about two years, he said, but did not want to reveal how much he paid for it.

A cab license in the City of Hoboken typically costs roughly $300,000. 

"We're all stakeholders, we were not included in the decision making," Flett said during the meeting on Wednesday afternoon. "It's everybody's livelihood here, we were not part of the solution and that is the problem."

Sacs disputed that, saying that four months ago he held a public meeting and that he took the drivers' input into consideration and that the drivers could have attended public meetings in which the matter was discussed. After that meeting Sacs and Flett went out into the field to explore possibilities for the new stand.

Moving the stand across the street, Sacs said, will also increase pedestrian safety. Currently, when taxis turn the corner, from Observer Highway, they form a threat for pedestrians. 

The stand will be managed by a dispatcher. There will also be a light at the stand. If the light is on, it means there's a spot available and the taxi can park there. If the light is off, the cab will have to keep driving and try to pick up a fare somewhere else in town. 

Hoboken currently has 65 licenses and about 130 taxi drivers, which some drivers say is too many, especially seeing the lack of space in Hoboken.  

In a move to accommodate the drivers, Sacs asked for potential locations for new taxi stands. The goal is to provide the drivers with more places to pick up fares, now that they're losing their staging area, Sacs said. Several drivers shouted out potential options, such as on River Street by the W Hotel, and the intersection of First and Washington Streets. 

"More taxi stands should relieve some pressure for when the construction begins on Observer Highway," Sacs said. 

In order to actually create those new stands, drivers will have to hand in their trip sheets to the city, said Annette Chapporro, the division head of taxi and limousine licensing. That data—the drop-off and pick-up locations—will then be used to create new taxi stands. 

A pilot taxi stand was put in place on Washington and 14th Street last November, where two to three cars can stand at the same time. While some of the cab drivers said that that stand is not working well, Sacs begged to differ. 

"The residents around there love it," said Sacs. 

When all the drivers and owners started yelling at the same time—some exclaiming that they wanted their money back—Sacs got serious. 

"You're given a privilege to hold a license," he said. "The ordinance does not offer you a place to stage 65 cabs." 

The space around the Hoboken terminal will have to be shared by cabs, shuttle buses, NJ Transit buses, pedestrians and regular cars. In making the decision to move the stand, Sacs told the drivers, he had to look at what would be best for the general public. 

"The entire area around the PATH station is not yours!" Sacs said during the meeting. "It's the city of Hoboken's space."

Sacs also said he would start a public outreach campaign, to inform the public how to best hail cabs. For example, he said, a common misconception among Hoboken residents is that they are not allowed to hail a cab on the street. 

"It's perfectly legal to hail a cab in Hoboken," Sacs said. 

The stand will be relocated in the next few weeks. Sacs said he would send the drivers and owners a notification. 

"I know you're not happy about it," Sacs said. "I'm not happy about it either."