KPLU Local News
(2010-02-02)
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Sea-Tac Taxi Drivers say the livelihood of 450 independent operators is at stake if they lose the Port's airport contract.
Photo by Bellamy Pailthorp.
The Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association, STITA, formed twenty years ago for the sole purpose of picking people up from the airport. Driver Kanwarjit Bassi says his family got started in the business back then and he began driving a year and a half ago. Now he's afraid their livelihood is about to disappear.
"If this contract is taken away from us, it's gonna affect 450 families that are going to go out of business -- independent contractors. Pretty much we are going to be out on the streets."
STITA's suit says the Port's bidding process violated state law. Yellow Cab won the contract with a promise to give the port a higher percentage of its gross receipts than five other bidders. They beat STITA's proposal by 4 million dollars. STITA says paying that much to the port undermines the rate-setting authority of King County. And it would reduce operators' pay to unreasonable levels. The Sea-Tac drivers want a new request for proposals.
But Yellow Cab says it won the deal fair and square. Driver Ram Sing has been with Yellow seven years. He says it was high time for the Port to open this contract up to other companies.
"They open bid and they lose. This is fair."
The Port of Seattle opened the contract up to competitive bidding after a state audit. Airport Director Mark Reis says taxpayers want the best deal possible, not an exclusive monopoly for one company. As for losing bidder STITA, he says those drivers will just have to adapt.
"We'd be the first to acknowledge there will be an adjustment in the marketplace. But there's gonna be essentially the same number of people looking for cabs the day after the change as the as the day before."
STITA drivers remain unconvinced that they'll be able to make a go of it without the airport contract. Most of them don't have licenses to pick up fares in Seattle. Adding to their worries: because they're independent operators, they won't qualify for unemployment.
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