Monday, March 05, 2007
Illegal taxicab drivers are cruising for trouble
Steven Lootz is steering his gold Windstar minivan down a busy road through the Village of Kiryas Joel on a weekday afternoon looking for "pirates."
"The best place to stake them out is the shopping center," he says, while guiding his van down Acres Road, the main drag through the Satmar Hasidic village.
Lootz owns Village Taxi on Route 17M. For the past three years, he has tried to grow a business in an industry defined by heavy competition and thin margins.
"In the taxi service, you're either breaking even or just getting by," he says.
His competition these days includes a growing number of improperly insured or unlicensed cabbies that are undercutting his business. Police are cracking down on these operations in Monroe, a growing potpourri of New York City commuters, Hasidim and recent immigrants.
"Pirates, that's what we call them," Lootz says of the illegal drivers.
Most people know them as "gypsy cabs," a common feature in cities, where a mix of immigrant life and street hustle give rise to second economies. They operate out of regular vehicles, and charge just a little less than the legitimate cab services.
Their existence in Monroe reflects the influence of Kiryas Joel, a tiny village of more than 13,000 residents, where Hasidic women do not drive, and whose laborers, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe or Central America, look for deals where they can.
The illegal drivers are mostly Latino, with some Russian-speaking drivers thrown in, Lootz says. They do 80 percent of their business inside Kiryas Joel, where few of the passengers are likely to rat them out to police, and where there is always a demand for rides.
"That's what spawned this industry," Lootz says of the demand created by Kiryas Joel.
"If you took KJ out of the equation, you'd still have (the illegal cabbies), but not to the extent you have now."
Cities such as Port Jervis, Middletown and Newburgh all have strict laws restricting these illicit businesses; Monroe does not.
But after years of random crackdowns, police have started a concerted campaign to shut the illegal cabbies down, and to create laws to stifle their numbers. That's because the number of illegal drivers, as well as complaints about them, are growing, said Monroe village Detective Jim Frankild.
"They don't possess the proper insurance; they don't have class E driver's licenses; and we're finding that a lot of the vehicles are registered in Pennsylvania," where car registrations and driver's licenses are less scrutinized, Frankild said.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/NEWS/703050322
Steven Lootz is steering his gold Windstar minivan down a busy road through the Village of Kiryas Joel on a weekday afternoon looking for "pirates."
"The best place to stake them out is the shopping center," he says, while guiding his van down Acres Road, the main drag through the Satmar Hasidic village.
Lootz owns Village Taxi on Route 17M. For the past three years, he has tried to grow a business in an industry defined by heavy competition and thin margins.
"In the taxi service, you're either breaking even or just getting by," he says.
His competition these days includes a growing number of improperly insured or unlicensed cabbies that are undercutting his business. Police are cracking down on these operations in Monroe, a growing potpourri of New York City commuters, Hasidim and recent immigrants.
"Pirates, that's what we call them," Lootz says of the illegal drivers.
Most people know them as "gypsy cabs," a common feature in cities, where a mix of immigrant life and street hustle give rise to second economies. They operate out of regular vehicles, and charge just a little less than the legitimate cab services.
Their existence in Monroe reflects the influence of Kiryas Joel, a tiny village of more than 13,000 residents, where Hasidic women do not drive, and whose laborers, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe or Central America, look for deals where they can.
The illegal drivers are mostly Latino, with some Russian-speaking drivers thrown in, Lootz says. They do 80 percent of their business inside Kiryas Joel, where few of the passengers are likely to rat them out to police, and where there is always a demand for rides.
"That's what spawned this industry," Lootz says of the demand created by Kiryas Joel.
"If you took KJ out of the equation, you'd still have (the illegal cabbies), but not to the extent you have now."
Cities such as Port Jervis, Middletown and Newburgh all have strict laws restricting these illicit businesses; Monroe does not.
But after years of random crackdowns, police have started a concerted campaign to shut the illegal cabbies down, and to create laws to stifle their numbers. That's because the number of illegal drivers, as well as complaints about them, are growing, said Monroe village Detective Jim Frankild.
"They don't possess the proper insurance; they don't have class E driver's licenses; and we're finding that a lot of the vehicles are registered in Pennsylvania," where car registrations and driver's licenses are less scrutinized, Frankild said.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/NEWS/703050322
Comments:
i hope that nobody will give him any info because this is real helping a "muser" that can craete big problems in the fufure by making the competition almost to none wich will make car services much more expensive.....
yidish geld gevald!!!!!!
"v'hamievin yuniv, vda'l"
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yidish geld gevald!!!!!!
"v'hamievin yuniv, vda'l"
Comment Credit ---This article posted by 
: March 05, 2007 10:34 AM
: March 05, 2007 10:34 AM
