Members of the Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association (STITA) will rally against the Port of Seattle Monday, Feb. 1st beginning at Noon, in an effort to heighten awareness of the Port’s decision to change cab companies at Sea-Tac Airport after 20 years.
According to a press release:
STITA has no choice but to take its case to court to prevent the Port of Seattle from signing a contract with a competitor on Tuesday.
In December, the Port of Seattle Commission awarded a new five-year contract to Yellow Cab.
Now, more than 450 families face the loss of their businesses and livelihoods (while the contract is awarded to a big business monopoly, Yellow Cab).
STITA is a non-profit co-op of 216 cabs owned by 283 people. STITA was formed 20 years ago to solve a problem – the failure of for-profit taxi companies to provide safe, reliable taxi cab service at the airport.
Here’s info on the rally:
WHAT: Members of the Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association (STITA) will make an important announcement and take questions from reporters.
WHEN: Noon, Monday, Feb. 1st.
WHERE: South side of the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle, 3rd and Jefferson St. (the corner of the park)
INFO: Attorney Michael Goldfarb will discuss the legal case against the Port, and cab drivers and their families will be available to discuss the devastating impact of the Port’s flawed decision.
From STITA’s website:
STITA was formed 20 years ago by the Port of Seattle primarily to service in-bound passengers to SeaTac and residents of King County. STITA prides itself on providing excellent service. We have nearly 200 taxis in our owner-operated fleet. At STITA, diversity is embraced and our cab drivers are very proud of the fact that they work for an organization whose owners represent a broad range of cultural backgrounds including: Indian, East African, Pakistani, Somali, Filipino, Ethiopian, Iranian, and Bangladeshi. Many may not know that STITA is a not-for-profit association comprised of over 145 minority-owned businesses, meaning that STITA is governed by a Board of Directors and does not have a single owner or leasing agent. Because our cabs are owner operated, STITA takes customer service very seriously.
At the Port of Seattle’s request, several years ago STITA stopped driving traditional gasoline powered vehicles and now has one of the most environmentally friendly taxi fleets in the world. We operate both hybrids (40 vehicles) and compressed natural gasoline taxis (120 vehicles). The use of CNG has resulted in a significant reduction of air pollutants.
STITA'S contract is up on August 31, 2010. Reforms at the Port, and the way it does business, mandated by the State Auditor (competitive bidding on major contracts) required that this contract be put out for competitive bid. Yellow bid about $8 million more over 5 years, for the outbound taxicab concession, than did STITA. Yellow is not a 'monopoly'–the 379 Yellow cabs are owned by individuals, just like STITA—and are driven by owner/operators and lease/operators—just like STITA. Likewise, Yellow is minority owned—-as a matter of fact, Yellow Cabs are about 98% minority and 95% minority owned, and Yellow dispatch services are 66% minority owned. Also, the business is not going away—-Yellow will be expanding its fleet to service the airport, and is encouraging STITA owner/operators to talk with it, about maximizing their continuing opportunity in the taxicab industry, at the airport and elsewhere. Yellow has simply figured out a more efficient way to service SeaTac, that will benefit taxicab owner/operators and the Airport. Please feel free to call Yellow or myself at 206-854-6127 with questions.
That should have read, "Yellow Cabs are about 98% minority and about 95% immigrant owned"
Chris Van Dyk and the Port of Seattle
Chris, as a Lobbyist your job is to make your employer look good… no matter what they are doing. Who are you working for these days… haven't seen you post anything on your Quarterly Expense Report.
And since you brought the State Auditor's Report my question is, can you point me to where it says that POS is "Required" to this change?
http://www.portseattle.org/downloads/news/Audit_A…
lan20080130.pdf — Chris for your information, here is the link to the Audit – nothing in an Audit is ever a "Requirement" – don't misinform the public as you have done in the past… oh wait that's what you do as a LOBBYIST.
Second, since you bring up the number of owned by individuals in STITA and Yellow – could you please present those numbers? Is it true that there are 3 people who own more than 100 to 150 Yellow Cab… just the 3 of them?
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2…
So, is the news article still true? No one has been fired for this yet. And you are still burning a hole through my (the tax payers) pocket?
Just wanted to add this for fun: http://seattletransitblog.com/2008/09/07/chris-va…
– Therefore you are no "Like STITA". Yellow is a very complicated company comprised of PSD + Kingpin cabs + individual cabs. You are making fool of PoS for creating such a huge monopoly after getting this PoS contract. Public officials have to look at this very carefully.
Now Port of Seattle has made the following serious public policy violations / mistakes
by offering this contract to PSD (not Yellow):
1. Violated their own Airport Statue by creating a bidding war on revenue. STITA has paid appx 10 million dollars in the last 5 years and offered to pay 14 million for the next 5 years in such a bad ecconomy and with light rail between Airport and DT Seattle.PoS has overcharged STITA (cost + 10%) during the last so many years. PoS reduced the per trip charge form $3.05 in 2009 to $1.89 now in 2010 and STITA has offered almost $4.00 per trip in the new
contract. Why PoS won't understand it and keep on making the same mistake again and again.
2. STITA is a custom made Cab co created by the PoS, controlled and manupulted during the last 20 years. STITA was part of the sole source bid contract which is legal under US law (see 48 CFR & 2.101) since 1989. Now all of a sudden somebody has changed their mind and decided to demolish it.
Lesson learned from only one bid 3rd runway
contract can not be applied in this case. STITA is part of the airport public service system and by forcing them to participate in this bid process along with Yellow was very high level game palyed by the PoS.
3. There also appears to be a Collusion between PSD and "JOINT VENTURE" bids which must lead to the cancellation of this contract as per RFP Rules.
4. As we all know Airport is top priority should be to protect the public, but it is all being ignored in this case. Stita drivers are the safest in the industry which is proven by a letter given by the loacl insurance broker that average STITA driver premium is appx $5000 vs Yellow $8000 per year. This letter is part of STITA RFP answer.
5. STITA is a 100% green now on PoS Order. Now they have changed their mind to just go 50% green. What a progress!
I AM CONFIDENT IN THE END THAT A JUDICIAL PROCESS WILL EXAMINE THIS TEXT BOOK CASE VERY CAREFULLY so that these serious violations can be corrected for good of the public and welfare ….
Oh and yellow is not owned by all mintory, Dont lie to the public, only 180 cabs out of 379 cabs are owned by minority, all other are owned by 3 owners of yellow, AKA Puget sound dispatch. feel free to check with the city.