The City of Houston took another step towards World-Classness today, if we are to believe the local media’s celebration of a big hike in downtown cab fares. Here’s how the Chronicle described the move:
In a move intended to make downtown friendlier to taxi cabs and their passengers, the Houston City Council today approved more cab stands and a flat fare of $6 for all trips in the downtown area.
City officials and business groups hope the move will increase cab ridership by visitors without cars, and entice workers to share a cab for a crosstown lunch instead of reaching for their car keys.
The plan passed unanimously without discussion.
The flat fare is designed to provide an incentive for the cab companies, which now charge $3.50 to $6.75, depending upon trip length, for rides in the area bounded by Interstate 45, Interstate 10 and U.S. 59. Some riders might pay a little more than they do now, but they would have a set price that does not depend on the meter, and multiple passengers could split the $6 fare.
We really aren’t given enough information to know if “some” or many riders “might pay a little more,” since the story doesn’t describe the average length of a downtown taxi ride (if such statistics are even kept, or credible). However, if the old fare ranged from $3.50 to $6.75, and the new fare is now a flat $6, then “some riders” will be paying about 70% more for their ride. The reporting should have stuck to reporting the numbers, and done a little less cheerleading.
Of course, the whole thing is just intended to move Houston’s downtown a little closer to World-Classness (well, and perhaps to boost the bottom line of the city’s taxi industry because that’s important — but hey, at least our fine Council didn’t put anyone out of business this time around). As KHOU-11’s Doug Miller tells us:
[A] lot of Houston cabbies avoid downtown.
Airport runs pay a whole lot better.
Cabbies wait hours for an airport run, but one fare brings a lot more money.
Back downtown, that’s trouble for visitors.
“The problem has been huge for the visitor, because, you know, you come to the city thinking we’re the fourth largest city in America, like New York and Chicago, and then all of a sudden, like, where are the cabs?” said Bob Eury, Downtown Management District.
Pretty soon, you’ll be able to ride cabs around downtown Houston for a fixed fare of $6 for rides between any two points downtown.
Jokers around City Hall are calling this “Six in the City.”
Six in the City. What a gas! I wonder if Bicyclist Stein came up with that one? Those crazy downtown jokesters!
Anyway, now that Council has taken this important action, we are sure that our downtown is going to be much more like New York and Chicago.
Of course, there are some other problems downtown. As KRIV-26’s Isiah Carey recently wrote,
A local downtown employee had a lot on his mind that he wanted to share with the Insite. Namely, the lack of business he’s now seeing in the area. He says several downtown nightlife destinations are beginning to shut down because of a lack of business. That worker says the biggest problem is Houston’s growing homeless population. He says sometimes the number of homeless people out number the paying customers on the streets of downtown Houston on some weekends. He went on to say many women tell him that they’re afraid of some of the transients who now resort to intimidation tactics with single females during the night to get money. The downtown employee says most women are scared to death to come downtown alone for the nightlife in fear they will encounter the homeless. That worker says he’s been told by families they won’t go into downtown because they know they will be approached by large numbers of homeless people.
Hmm, Council’s new boost to the taxi industry’s bottom line probably isn’t going to help with that problem much. Then there’s the lament of the Houston Press‘ John Nova Lomax:
Besides not tearing down all the cool bars and replacing them with Starbucks, one of the signs of a truly great nightlife city is that you can go downtown on a Wednesday night with no plan — except, as Nashville songsmith David Olney once sang, “to see what they built it for” — and have a great time. You stumble into something, there’s a surprise lurking down there, you fall into your fun. We ain’t there yet. Last week, a buddy and I tried out this experiment, and downtown and Midtown both flunked.
Yes, the Continental Club strip at the Ensemble light rail stop was hopping, but the rest of Midtown was as eerie as the scene described in the Specials’ “Ghost Town.” We went to a new Midtown spot called The Roof — a new joint where the DJs spin ’80s hits and rock instead of the usual house / hip-hop Midtown mix — and we were the only customers. Which was pleasant enough — we had the place’s awe-inspiring view of the skyline all to ourselves, not to mention the Prince, Queen and U2 soundtrack, but it gets boring with no one else to look at.
Further up the line, only Shay McElroy’s was doing much business. Elsewhere along Main, the scene was as Mad Max-like as it was in 1988. Around midnight, the streets were empty save for various zombies of the night — beggars, junkies, crackheads, pimps and hos, and packs of young dudes who looked more like they were interested in collecting other people’s money than spending their own. If there was any live music being played down there at that time, we didn’t hear it.
We just missed the last train heading south about 12:30 — the driver seemed more interested in running us down than picking us up — so we walked all the way back down to the Continental from Preston Station. We saw no one other than nocturnal ne’er-do-wells. Yes, it was a school night, but it was still hard to believe we were at the very center of the fourth-largest city in America.
That doesn’t sound World-Class like New York or Chicago!
But that was before Council’s important decision today to boost the bottom line of Houston downtown taxi drivers. We’re surely on the way to World Class now!
UPDATE: I neglected to mention this useful quote included by the Editorial LiveJournalists in their predictable praise of the program:
Houston Downtown Alliance President and CEO Barry Mandel says councilmembers he’s met with “see this as an economic development program for the taxi cab community that benefits those of us that live and work and play downtown.”
And as stated above, it’s VERY IMPORTANT for councilmembers to concentrate on economic development programs for the taxi cab community. As also stated above, at least they didn’t put anyone out of business with this latest scheme to boost the bottom line of the taxi cab industry.
