LEADERSHIP CORNER
Charley's Taxi president finds industry 'grossly overregulated'

Interviewed by Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Title: president, general manager

Organization: Charley's Taxi, a Hawai'i family-run taxi, limousine and medicab service

Age: 65

High school: Roosevelt

College: B.S. in political science and business administration from University of Oregon

Little-known fact: When her parents chose her first name, they named her after Flash Gordon's girlfriend, Dale Arden.

Career background: Started helping with Charley's, her parents' business, in 1967. She said she began running the company in the 1980s and was later named president.

Q. What was your breakthrough job?

A. Working as a legal secretary in San Francisco (in the 1960s). I decided I didn't want to be an attorney. I went to San Francisco to go to (University of California) Hastings (College of the Law). The thing about the law profession, it's very formalized and ... all other people's problems ... not creative. And then a lot of times when they're talking, you're typing all this stuff and it's like, geez, what is he saying? ... The law profession is very convoluted (like) a lot of professions. ...

Q. What major challenge do you as an executive or as a company face?

A. This attitude of no-can-do or I-don't-like. The government thing — you cannot do this and that, you cannot do that. And the attitude of drivers that say, "Oh, I no like do this, I no like do that." You have to really get people to change.

You can't really serve the customer unless you can deal with that. The whole attitude of "Why you want to do this for?" It's very negative. We just have to keep on banging on it. We have to do it for the customer. We have to do what's right, yeah? And often that's a very lonely status, especially when the government says, "No can do this," you know, "You can't do that. It's against the law." It's not against the law, it's against the way they interpret the law.

A lot of it... , and a lot of what happens in life, (has to do with) how people interpret it. Their interpretation may not be right, and it is not always the right thing to do, but that's their interpretation. It's not whether or not the opinion is right. It's whose opinion will prevail. But it doesn't mean that there are not those opinions out there.

I still think the taxi business, or the transportation business, is grossly overregulated, excessively overregulated. I think that the people of Hawai'i, not only in Honolulu, ... need more transportation alternatives. The transit system has become a monopoly where it discourages private sector competition. That doesn't promote alternatives, it promotes a monopoly. There are many ways the private sector can be providing more. It's very difficult to compete against the government when their pricing is subsidized.

(During the bus strike) we were too busy. It's strange because, No. 1, whenever you are faced with that kind of thing, you have a lot of passengers frustrated because the services deteriorate. We were so busy. When you do a service and you don't do it to the best that you can, you lose, you compromise, you know. It doesn't mean that you benefit.

Q. How did Charley's start?

A. My mom and dad (Charles S. and Helen H. Morita) opened the business in 1938. I've done everything except run maintenance.

When I first came back we had a service station, Atkinson Shell, Atkinson and Kapi'olani. We would check the taxis out from there.

Q. What's planned for the future?

A. There are certain things that we need to have the freedom to do ... like serving the elderly.

The politicians don't recognize that there is going to be a boom, there's going to be an explosion of the need for elderly disabled transportation and they're not anywhere near ready to handle that.

I know that we can do it in the private sector. We need to have all the shackles removed so that we can go and fill that need.

The elderly and disabled cannot ride the conventional buses. They're too disoriented and they're too shaky. A lot of people don't have friends or family that can help them.

Q. As an employer, what are your biggest challenges?

A. I think that we have a greater challenge than the ordinary employer because we're working with independent contractors.

(Cab drivers) wear white gloves, they're uniformed, they're very polite. (When the standards were raised) everybody was criticizing us because what we were trying to do was raise the level.

I try to coach them.

Q: How do you motivate employees?

A: I tell them exactly what the rules are and I ask them, 'Do you agree with these rules?'

I try to coach them.

I think the difference is we look at what is important. As far as I'm concerned, what is important is the safety and security of the customer. It's the comfort and convenience to the customer, it's the cleanliness.

The local drivers, this is their company.

Q: What is one of the things that distinguish Charley's?

A: (When Japanese visitors call Charley's) they know that, No. 1, the Japanese dispatcher will be able to help them and, No. 2, if there are any problems, the Japanese dispatcher would be able to get them out of it.