A green fleet of taxi cabs is expected to develop in Salt Lake City. A recently proposed Salt Lake City ordinance will make the city’s Taxi Cab fleets lean, clean and “green.” The taxi cabs will be installed with GPS fleet tracking systems and will follow specific airport and evening schedules. The city has been working to improve its taxi cab fleet management issues for more than five years.
The proposed city ordinance will place all taxi vehicles under the authority of the Salt Lake City International Airport. “At any one time, we have 50 taxis that we know of, just sitting at the airport, waiting two, three or four hours for a fare,” says Salt Lake City Council Chair J.T. Martin. “We have enough taxis. We just don’t have them in the right place at the right time.”
Installing a fleet GPS management system is expected to enhance the city’s ability to optimize the city’s taxi cab drivers and vehicles. The city plans to develop green, eco-friendly operating and ADA compliant vehicle standards under the new ordinance. The fleet GPS management system will enable dispatchers to send out the nearest vehicle which will improve customer service, reduce fuel costs and vehicle emissions and ultimately put more money in taxi driver’s pockets.
The proposed ordinance will be discussed further in September. Cost is expected to be one of the most important issues of the upcoming debate. The new ordinance is expected to reduce the number of taxi cabs operating in the city. With the help of GPS vehicle tracking devices and a fleet GPS management system, the city wants to increase service for residents by better distributing cabs throughout the service area.
Dave Korzep, operations director for the Salt Lake City International Airport, said “The city council wants to create a better, safer service for those folks on the bar crawl late at night and those that just want to take a cab to and from the house. The ordinance is about enhancing better service downtown on those off hours.”
The ordinance would also change the taxi cab driver regulations. It would remove current criminal penalties for things such as poor driver conduct and the unauthorized appearance of cabs. Instead, the regulations would be enforced by the city through civil fines and penalties that are included in the contract agreements.