The Star-Advertiser’s Allison Schaefers and Dana Williams hit a home run today with their stories on the regulation of Honolulu taxi cabs.
Okay, it’s a perennial story that pops up every half dozen years or so, but they’ve peeled away the layers of administrative incompetence in loving detail, exposing an amazing bit of city mismanagement.
One story, “Hailing Oversight,” was wildly entertaining. You really can’t make this stuff up, trust me.
Apparently every taxi is required to have a notice of what to do if you’ve got a complaint.
Here’s the beginning of their story:
A helpful message is posted in each Honolulu taxicab, in full view of passengers: “If you have any complaints, please call 733-2530.”
If you actually want to make a complaint, that’s where the helpfulness ends.
Anyone calling the number during working hours is greeted with the phrase “abandoned vehicles.” After hours, the line either rings endlessly or is answered by a recording that abruptly ends without allowing callers to leave messages. The city’s Department of Customer Services, which oversees all metered cabs, has no way to gather, track and analyze complaints.
And it goes downhill from there, if you can believe it.
Customer Services Department officials don’t know how many complaints they have received, or the resolution of those complaints, because most taxi records are kept on paper forms stored in cabinets. Inspection forms for cabs don’t include basic information such as the age of vehicles or how many miles they’ve been driven.
“No database for taxi complaints exists,” according to a department response to a public-records request. “Complaints must be submitted in writing,” and the Motor Vehicle Control Section “files hard copies of taxi-related investigations to complaints in alphabetical order by either taxi driver name or taxicab company.”
So we’ve been paying for these “pretend” city services, such as taxi regulation that apparently exists in name only but not in fact.
Schaefers and Williams have really done a great public service by exposing this totally broken system.
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Spectacular piece of work! Welcome to the third world!
i was just in the third world and truth be told the airport was brand new and you could get a taxi in ride minutes. Granted their was no wastewater treatment plant but they had nailed the visitor arrival piece. Honolulu, not so much… especially the leaking roof in baggage claim. Staying classy Hawaii!
I know this piece is focused on taxis and the city but thinking broader, it really is a state problem. So what is the governor doing about it? Or hot classrooms? All these continuing problems, not a peep = 1 and done.
Definitely something to keep in mind whenever cab owners like Howard Higa criticize ride-sharing outfits like Uber for not being “regulated.”
Oh the hypocrisy….
I have never had trouble with The Cab, going to and from the airport.
But, boy, the stories about rape and assault make you want to vomit.
kill someone then keep your job by delaying your trial:
“We cannot inquire into a candidate’s arrest or criminal record at the time of hiring,” Jung said. “This is even more problematic for EcoCab since the state through its certification process determines whether or not a particular arrest or crime is sufficient to prevent the issuance of a certificate. In the case of Mr. Tablas, the state’s need to protect the riding public from sexual assault is clashing with its need to protect people with arrest and criminal records.”
In Kajiwara’s view the city’s revocation threshold is on par with most other industries, which don’t fire someone simply because of an arrest.
“Even with high-profile cases, when learning that an arrest has taken place, (we) cannot take action unless there is a conviction,” Kajiwara said. “As convictions are often contested, appealed or overturned, the process can be lengthy.”
LOL! Guilty before proven innocent. Shoot first, ask questions later.
It is the American Way.
It seems that, in this instance, a lot of questions were asked and answered.
Ian: yup. Common sense.
Just to make it clear Ian, my last post was specifically in response to the statement, “Kill someone then keep your job by delaying your trial,” which sounds like the sentiment of someone who has already jumped to a conclusion without necessarily being informed of all the facts.
My comment wasn’t about the Enio Tablas case. (The man is charged with sexual assault, not murder.) Ergo, do not misconstrue my statement as being in support of Tablas continuing to be a taxi driver until this case is resolved.
“sounds like the sentiment of someone who has already jumped to a conclusion without necessarily being informed of all the facts.”
I don’t see this at all when I read my whole comment. Hard to understand your explanations, Allen; I read the same material about this case as you and Ian. using the word “kill” is online sarcasm, not an uptight literal legal argument for a judge and jury.
@”t; So “kill” was just sarcasm? Ok.
What exactly does “delaying your trial” have to do with Enio Tablas? Are you claiming that he or his lawyer are doing anything to improperly delay legal proceedings? Or is this more “sarcasm?”
Just my opinion. Your statement isn’t sarcastic. It’s irrelevant.