City Council to Review Taxi Law in Hoboken after Cab Drivers Protest
Currently, Hoboken cabs can't be older than four years or have more than 125,000 miles on them, whichever occurs later.
Dozens of Hoboken taxi drivers protested a two-year-old city ordinance on Wednesday night.
The law —which was voted on in 2011 — dicates that a taxi can't be older than four years or have driven more than 125,000 miles, whichever comes last.
The law will be reviewed by a council sub committee.
Currently, there are 65 licensed Hoboken taxi cabs, 38 of which do not comply with those rules, according to Evelyn Hernandez, the owner of eight taxi licenses.
José Colon, who owns four licenses in Hoboken, said that the law is "outrageous."
"Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding," Colon told the city council on Wednesday, "and you guys didn't really know what you were signing into law."
Enforcement of the law over the past two years seems not to have been strict. The city went down from three people enforcing taxi policies to only one person, according to one cab license owner.
When buying a new car, taxi drivers in Hoboken are required to buy a hybrid car. Some of the license holders buy used hybrid cars, which already have thousands of miles on them.
Before the meeting on Wednesday, Hernandez and Colon said that Hoboken is the only municipality they know of that has a mile-limit on the cars.
On average, a Hoboken taxi drives about 75,000 miles a year.
"It does appear it’s being enforced for the first time," said Council President Peter Cunningham. "It should probably be enforced when the law was passed."
The cab drivers showed up during Wednesday night's council meeting, because the deadline to renew their licenses is coming up.
The city council decided to take a look at the law, and in the meantime have postponed the deadline for the cab drivers to renew their licenses as a "good faith effort."
recallbethmason
12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Honestly since the new law came in place, all the crappy cabs were junked. Seems like the law was working. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
XJS
12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
I don't understand where the 125,000 mile/4 year limit came from. Perhaps if we knew what the basis of 4 years/125K miles was, this law could be understood.
QJ201
12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
It is hard to sympathize with the Hoboken taxi drivers when they are continually rude and refuse to allow to take a cab by yourself (which is your right) and insist on loading up the care with 4 passengers with 4 different destinations.
HobokenTownie
12:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
These idiots should have their licenses revoked forthwith. If they want change then the City should strictly enforce the 2 passenger rule and prevent them from playing flea market haggler each night. There is no reason that there should be a line of 30 people at 8:00 p.m. on a weeknight when there are 30+ cars waiting in line. These guys are rude, disrespectful, do not drop fares of at their location (a corner is not an address). They gut their $1 increase when gas went up a couple of years ago, but it has never gone down. Their taxis smell like crap.
They have a license from the City and treat it like a birth right!
Willie Baez
10:58 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
This is such an unfair regulation. At the very least raise the mileage and timeline. These are working class folks.
Rory Chadwick
10:58 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Taxi drivers are local business owners too. City needs to ease up a little and do away with the 4 year old car or 125k mile situation. City should also consider allowing cabs to take 3 fares and not just 2. City is promoting bike lanes to keep cars off streets, why not allow 3 fares to reduce traffic? The average yellow cab driver makes $500 a week working 80 hours a week, they have 0 benefits, no 401k. Stop slapping these people around.
cassandra
12:42 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Rory,
Do you really expect the new elite of Hoboken to ride around in substandard cars?
HudsonStreet
4:03 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
No one should be expected to ride around in substandard cars. Hence the reason behind why rules are put in place.
PeoplePlease
12:42 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
1) The cab strategy in Hoboken is ridiculous. There are way too many cabs sitting outside of the Transit Center. There should be more cab stands located around Hoboken.
2) This 4 year/125K mileage rule is ridiculous as well. Cabs should (if not already) be required to pass two annual inspections for safety. That's fair.
JMarie
1:12 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
I understand your argument for allowing cabs to take 3 fares instead of 2, but as a resident of northwest Hoboken I can guarantee that I will always be the last one out of that cab, even if I'm the first one in with supposed rights to be let out first. Also, with the cabs trying to get the 2 fares (Uptown? Next one. Uptown? Next one. Downtown? Get in.) the taxi line doesn't always move as fast as it could. With 3 fares, I see my wait in line being longer as well as the actual ride itself.
XJS
4:03 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
I like the idea of multiple stands around town. It's annoying that I have to take my chances or call a car service to get a ride when there are 30 cars outside of the PATH. And every night for the last week the line at the cab stand at 8pm has been horrendous despite 30 cabs sitting there. The constant "where you going? next" rhetoric is slowing everything down.
KT
4:03 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
HobokenTownie and JMarie are right, it is crazy to stand out in the cold or rain waiting for the taxi line to move when there are more cabs than passengers. Allowing cabs to take 3 fares isn't going to make them any more money because they will just end up waiting longer for their when they return to the taxi stand.