Woodburn Independent Online

Woodburn looking at taxi ordinance

Currently, no ordinance exists and anyone can drive a taxi in Woodburn without an insurance or background check

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 10/31/2009 1:05:17 AM

Photo By: Jason HortonTime for an ordinance?
Taxi cabs, like the one pictured above, have become more prevalent in Woodburn in recent years. The Woodburn City Council is looking into whether the city needs to adopt an ordinance, guaranteeing taxi drivers have insurance, are legal residents and have gone through background screening.

WOODBURN — The Woodburn City Council is considering an ordinance to regulate taxi cabs.
 
At a meeting Monday evening, councilors debated the pros and cons of establishing a measure that would create a set of regulations, as well as a system to enforce them.
 
Those in favor said the move would bolster public safety and encourage good business practices. In a town the size of Woodburn, they argued, the idea is timely.
 
“Common sense kind of tells me that particularly now, when we see a proliferation of taxi cabs, there ought to be some regulation of who can open up a taxi cab and hire itself out to transport members of the public,” said Councilor Jim Cox. “As it stands right now, we have absolutely no control over it. … We don’t require anything in the way of any kind of protection for the public.”
 
Councilor Dick Pugh agreed, saying business owners need to do more than “stick a sign over their car and say, ‘I’m a taxi cab,’” to be considered a legitimate operation.
 
“There isn’t any other business in the city of Woodburn or in any other city that is free of license and certainly taxi cabs should not be any exception,” Pugh said.
 
Yet staff pointed to additional costs the city would incur in having to enforce the regulations. Furthermore, it pointed to liability concerns.
 
For example, the city of Eugene was sued several years ago after a taxi cab driver got in an accident carrying less than the required amount of insurance.
 
Following the incident, a passenger won a case for negligence by saying the city failed to do its job in issuing a license to a driver with inadequate insurance.
 
According to City Administrator Scott Derickson, the lawsuit was part of the reason Woodburn repealed its taxi cab ordinance.
 
Other cities that have also repealed cab ordinances include Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, McMinnville and Milwaukie.
 
Another reason Woodburn got rid of its ordinance, Derickson said in his staff report, is there were few cabs operating at the time, and the costs of inspections was burdensome.
 
The city wasn’t meeting the requirements, he said.
 
Yet Cox said neither enforcement costs nor liability concerns should be reason enough to not establish a measure now, especially given the number or taxi cabs that have popped up in recent years.
 
“We would not pass (an ordinance) if we didn’t plan to enforce it to the best of our ability,” said Cox.
 
“I’m not going to not do something that I think needs to be done just because somebody on staff might mess up sometime down the line sometime and get us sued. If they do, fine. Let the insurance company take care of it.”
 
Pugh pointed out that strangers coming to Woodburn will assume taxi cabs have proper insurance and licenses.
 
Woodburn Police Capt. Charlie Blevins said he understood the concerns, but pointed out that Woodburn has not had problems with its taxi cabs.
 
“We, to my recollection, have never had any kind of issues with any taxi,” said Blevins.
“Typically, in a city, you’ll get a ‘no pay at the door’ … or you get a taxi driver who’s trying to up the charge because they look like they have more money.”
 
Yet when Derickson asked him and Police Chief Scott Russell recently about what the situation is like in Woodburn, he said they were at a loss.
 
“We couldn’t think of one time where we’ve ever had problems,” Blevins said.
 
“No one’s ever called about a taxi cab driver. Typically, you get Broadway (Cab) and Yellow (cab) and all those speeding. … We haven’t even had that here. As far as the police department goes, we haven’t had any issues with taxi cabs.”
 
Blevins also pointed to added costs, especially with the recent department consolidation that left police with only two code enforcement officers.
 
Yet at the request of council, Blevins agreed Monday to develop an outline of what his department would be capable of doing.
 
Cities with current taxi cab ordinances include Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford, Bend, Springfield, Corvallis, Albany, Lake Oswego, Oregon City, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Ashland and Klamath Falls.
 
Other cities without taxi cab ordinances include Keizer, West Linn, Newberg, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville.
 
Mayor Kathy Figley said she thinks Woodburn can find a balance between having certain regulations and creating too much administrative work.
 
At the very least, she said, the city can verify they “have insurance and aren’t serial killers.”

  (log in to rate)