Posted on: Wednesday, January 1, 2003

Airport taxi pact set for review

By Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The state is delaying the awarding of a four-year contract for Honolulu International Airport's taxi dispatching service, citing questions about current taxi operations, Gov. Linda Lingle's administration announced yesterday.

The contract was scheduled to be awarded Saturday. The state's seven-year contract with SIDA of Hawaii Inc. expires Jan. 31.

Lingle's chief of staff, Bob Awana, said the state plans to extend its contract with SIDA until April 30. In the meantime, a task force will decide whether the vendor should exclusively serve the airport.

"The broader issue that we're concerned about is as it affects the users of that service; are we better off to have an open system where any taxi can come onto airport grounds, pay a fee and get in line and pick up passengers, or should there be an exclusive operator?" Awana said.

He said SIDA has an "open operation," where other taxi companies are allowed to pick up passengers at the airport. Concerns with that system have been the availability of taxis on a timely basis and cleanliness, as well as problems with payments to the state, Awana said.

SIDA owes the state about $670,000 in payments from its existing contract.

Edwin Matsumoto, SIDA chief executive officer, said potential vendors met with state airports administrator Davis Yogi for a pre-bidding meeting Monday, where they expressed concerns about the bidding process.

"The consensus was that they wanted things delayed until the governor had a chance to look at the procedures in letting out the bid," Matsumoto said. "It was done in a rather hasty basis."

Invitation to submit bids was Nov. 26, and the deadline for prequalification was Dec. 24.

"The time sequence is quite short to say the least," he said, noting that in the past, bid invitations were submitted in October.

Another concern raised by taxi companies was the possibility that a tour bus company would get the bid.

"The feeling was that the taxi industry would be hurt because the bus company's primary interest is filling buses," he said.

Matsumoto said that current specifications bar SIDA from submitting a bid because of the outstanding payments. But Matsumoto said his company would be amenable to staying on, even in an interim capacity, "under the right circumstances."

Matsumoto said his contract requires him to pay $37,000 a month, an amount SIDA can't afford under the state's existing conditions.

When tourism numbers began to drop in 1999, the number of drivers, and SIDA's revenues, began to decline as well, Matsumoto said. He estimated that the number of drivers under contract with SIDA has dropped to about 300 from 400 during that time.

Yesterday, some drivers who are not with SIDA expressed disappointment with the idea of extending the current contract.

"The time for change is now," said downtown cabby Pilk Lee, with United, who said he has been a cab driver for 18 years.

"Tell Lingle we voted for her," said Yehia Elheloueh, with TheCab company, as he waited for a fare at Aloha Tower Marketplace. "This is not the right thing to be doing. She should do the fair thing and let the contract expire and allow the other cab companies to bid on it."

Elheloueh said he doesn't pick up people at the airport. He could, but then he would have to pay SIDA $4 per fare.

"It's time to give somebody else a chance," he said.

But Matsumoto said that attitude is to be expected from the competition. On the other hand, he said he has received numerous complimentary letters from passengers about SIDA's service.

"Who are we concerned about — the public or my competition?" Matsumoto said. "The focus should be on getting back visitors we've lost to other destinations. The cab driver can be the first or last impression someone has of Hawai'i."

Matsumoto said that because all cab drivers in Hawai'i are independent, his job as manager of the company with the contract is to be responsible for maintaining minimum standards — such as fairly new cabs in reasonable condition and drivers who speak English and know their way around.

Advertiser staff writer Will Hoover contributed to this report.