In 2010 the Council set the minimum limousine fee at $45, but is now close to lowering it to three times the minimum for a cab, equal to $9.75. (Photo by Cyndy Sims Parr, via Flickr)
The Metro Council is one vote away from lowering the minimum fee for limousine service from $45 to about $10. The high fee was put in place just a few years ago, to ward off what high-end limo companies and taxis see as unfair competition.
The cut-rate black-car company Metro Livery has been fighting in court to get rid of the $45 minimum, in order to compete with taxis driving to the airport for $25. Metro Council’s vote comes amid an influx of competing services like Lyft and Uber, that use smartphones to connect passengers with drivers in their own private cars.
Metro Livery says such app-based services just bolster the case for lowering the minimum, and they see the added competition as a good thing. Higher-end limo companies are bristling though.
And then there’s old-school cabbies like Marvin Sutton: “We pay a lot of taxes, and sticker money and insurance, and I just shake my head sometimes.” Sutton has been with Yellow Cab Company since 1985.
“We have to jump through a lot of hoops, and it seems like we’ve been jumping through hoops for years, then all of sudden, these people are coming in, not having to jump through all the hoops we do. It just don’t seem right.”
The measure is up for a third and final vote in the Metro Council Tuesday night.
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