Des Plaines mulling cab caps, rules
Fearing a proliferation of taxicabs vying for a share in the action from Des Plaines' future casino, the city's legal and licensing committee recommends limiting the number of cabs or cab companies allowed to operate in town.
Presently, Des Plaines' taxicab ordinance does not limit the number of companies that can obtain an operator's license, nor does it set a minimum or maximum number of cab licenses allowed per company.
"Clearly we have control over the number of cabs, " said City Attorney Dave Wiltse at a recent legal and licensing committee meeting, adding he didn't know yet if the city can control the number of cab companies in town.
In 2009, the city licensed 156 taxicabs from five registered cab companies - Rosemont, Horizon, American, 303 and Community - that are operate in Des Plaines. As of January, the city renewed 88 of those licenses and more renewals are expected throughout the year. Typically, there are about 150 licenses issued yearly.
But already this year, city officials are being inundated with inquiries about companies wanting to snatch up licenses in bulk, in anticipation of the casino.
Tex Bulloch, support service manager for the Des Plaines Police Department, said one cab company called wanting to buy 100 cab licenses.
City officials surveyed other casino towns such as Aurora, Elgin and Joliet as well as six surrounding communities - Park Ridge, Niles, Elk Grove, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Rosemont - and found two of the nine communities limit the total number of licenses that can be issued for any one cab company. Niles set its maximum at 21 licenses per company and Rosemont imposes a maximum limit of 55 licenses per company.
Rosemont, which lost its bid for the state's 10th casino license to Des Plaines, hasn't yet developed a plan on how it will handle the expected casino traffic that will ride the Blue Line to Rosemont out of Chicago, said Gary Mack, village spokesman.
"The casino is still a long way off, and there's plenty of time to deal with it," he said.
Mack said village officials haven't yet discussed increasing cab licenses ahead of the casino's arrival.
Rosemont does not operate shuttle service from either the Blue Line or Metra train station on the North Central line, but there are PACE buses and "pretty much every hotel has a shuttle bus service and that seems to serve the village quite well," Mack added.
Des Plaines Ward 5 Alderman James Brookman said with the casino coming, existing cab companies may have a strong incentive to force out the competition by buying up licenses in a hurry.
"Since there is no particular need to have these cabs on the streets today, my suggestion is to freeze it," Brookman said.
Officials kicked around the idea of possibly setting a maximum limit of 50 cab licenses per company but did not arrive on a final number for a cap. Still, officials don't expect the floodgates to open just yet because the licensing process itself takes at least a month.
To obtain an operator license in Des Plaines, a company must submit an application and pass a background check, both of which are reviewed by the police department, city attorneys, and ultimately the city council. After paying the $1,000 yearly fee, the company is issued a license and can then apply for individual cab licenses for an additional cost of $63 per cab.
Cabs need to be insured and individual cabdrivers must be identified and fingerprinted at the time of licensing. Each cab also must undergo inspection every four months per city code.
City officials said they want more control over the inspection process, presently done through various outside companies.
"If we're going to have a casino we want to have decent looking taxis picking people up," Bulloch said.