Posted on: Wednesday, April 28, 2004

400 taxi drivers sue state over $4-a-trip airport fee

Advertiser Staff

Some 400 taxi drivers have gone to court to block the state's latest attempt to straighten out long-running problems in taxicab operations at Honolulu International Airport.

The contractor selected by the state to manage taxi dispatch operations at the airport, ABM Industries, Inc., notified cabdrivers last week that they will no longer be able to buy $400 monthly permits to operate at the airport. Instead, cabbies will have to pay $4 per trip.

Yesterday a group called Honolulu Cabbies Association filed suit in Circuit Court, saying elimination of the $400 permit is unfair, violates airport administrative rules and will cause severe economic hardship for taxi drivers.

Scott Ishikawa, Department of Transportation spokesman, said imposition of the $4-per-trip fee is a temporary measure meant to give the contractor and the state a good count of how many cab rides are taken to and from the airport.

"We need to get an accurate count," Ishikawa said. "Our records show that the amount of revenue and the number of cab rides don't add up."

There have been allegations in the past that drivers for one cab company were sharing monthly permits, Ishikawa said.

"For years, drivers have been asking for a fair and open process and that's what we're trying to give them," he said.

A previous cab dispatcher at the airport, SIDA of Hawaii, Inc., filed for bankruptcy last year after failing to pay the state some $780,000 in rental payments and interest.