[09/06/02]Local taxi companies may be overcharging their customers because a previous city administration didn’t get a rate increase into the records.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen met with representatives of three taxi companies Thursday to discuss possible changes to city laws governing cabs. The 43-year-old ordinance has been amended only once to reflect a rate increase, in 1990, but James Buie, owner of J&B Cab Company, said city officials have approved a rate increase since then.

“We went before the board and they gave us a rate increase of 50 cents,” Buie said.

Geraldine Bell, representing Rocket Cab Company, also remembered the rate increase, but the city code of ordinance does not reflect it.

The codes indicate rates are set based on taking customers between five zones inside the municipal limits of the city. In 1990, Vicksburg annexed more than 20 square miles.

Buie said that following annexation, the city gave the cab companies a new map that divided the city into 14 zones and set rates starting at $2.05 and increasing to $8.50. The city code of ordinance reflects a rate of $1.80 to $3.

“It looks like the mayor at that time told them to do it and it was never brought before the board,” said North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young.

It was not clear what year the cab company owners were told to make the increase, but Buie said it was in the early 1990s. Vicksburg’s mayor between 1989 and 1993 was Robert Walker and Joe Loviza served between 1993 and 1997.

Young, who was elected to office in 1993, said she was not serving on the board when that increase took place.

Today, Mayor Laurence Leyens says the city needs to look at adjusting the code written in 1959 to reflect modern safety standards, current rates and a higher standard of service. The board did not take action to adjust rates Thursday and did not instruct cab companies to change their scales.

But, Leyens said he supports raising those rates and will take action to adjust the ordinance in two weeks.

“We are really pushing tourism in our city and tourists rely on taxicabs,” Leyens said. “Taxicabs are the front door of our city.”

The biggest issue Leyens said he wants to address is the appearance and safety of cabs. Today, the vehicles are inspected twice a year by the Vicksburg Police Department, but standards set forth in the city codes do not address seat belts. Instead, they make it illegal for a driver to operate the cab with a passenger riding on the running board.

“Based on a lot of cabs running in this town, I would be scared to death to get into one,” Leyens said.

He also said he wants to look at possibly doing away with multiple passengers riding in a cab but going to different destinations. The concept is referred to as shared-taxi and is not uncommon, Bell said.

“On a zone system, that’s the only way to make money,” she said.

Bell also said that most of their customers are poor and many are senior citizens and using shared-taxis is the only way to keep the rates affordable for them.