Taxicab company seeking expansion will have to wait on legal proceedings, appeals

A Las Vegas taxicab company seeking to expand its service territory will have to wait for a series of legal proceedings and appeals to be resolved before it can attempt to make its case for operating countywide.

A Cab, a small taxi company that operates west of Interstate 15, filed an application to modify its operating certificate in early 2013.

The company has 74 geographically restricted medallions that specify the company can only pick up passengers west of I-15. Under terms of the operating certificate, A Cab drivers can deliver passengers to any Clark County location, but can’t pick up customers east of I-15.

A Cab owner Jay Nady has argued that the conditions of the certificate force the company to waste fuel because A Cab drivers have to “dead-head,” or drive without passengers, after they drop customers off on the Strip or at McCarran International Airport.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Nevada Taxicab Authority, the board was asked by interveners in the case, A Cab rivals Henderson Taxi and Whittlesea Blue Cab, to stay the application. Other cab companies supported the motion.

Interventions from rival cab companies are a routine procedure in taxi matters under the authority’s regulations. A Cab must prove to the Taxicab Authority board that the modification to the operating certificate would benefit the riding public and not adversely affect other carriers operating in the territory. Interveners usually include competitors and unions representing cab drivers.

The board voted to continue the request to modify the certificate to its July meeting because of pending procedures related to the case.

Earlier this year, interveners argued that A Cab was making its request under the wrong legal statute. The authority board concurred, but the board decision was appealed by Nady to the Nevada Transportation Authority, which isn’t expected to review the matter until August. The hearing to consider the A Cab certificate modification is scheduled for September.

For Nady, it’s the continuation of a wait that began well before he filed for the certificate modification in 2013.

A Cab received its operating certificate in 2001 with five cabs. In 12½ years, the company grew to 74 restricted medallions.

In 2007, Nady requested a certificate for four vehicles specifically designed for disabled riders and one taxi to be allowed countywide. The request was never heard and Nady didn’t apply again until February 2013.

Under the current request, Nady is seeks the lifting of geographic restrictions on 18 cabs immediately and 18 a year after that until the entire fleet is integrated. He also requests an equal share of new temporary and permanent medallions whenever approved by the board.

In A Cab’s application to modify the certificate, Nady noted that there’s precedence for geographic expansion in Clark County. He cited five companies that successfully expanded geographically over the years.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.