A Level Playing Field for St. Augustine Taxi Companies

There was a time when traffic and safety checkpoints were fairly common around St. Augustine.

As a taxi driver, I didn't particularly enjoy them. Getting stopped while trying to make a living could be a pain in the butt.

But there was another side to those checkpoints.

They meant I needed to have my driver's license, insurance and whatever permits and documentation the city required for my taxi. Abraxi Taxi spent considerable money over the years maintaining commercial insurance and complying with local vehicle-for-hire requirements.

My argument then was pretty simple: if one taxi company has to follow the rules, competing companies should have to follow them too.

Commercial taxi insurance wasn't cheap. Neither were vehicles, maintenance and the other costs involved in operating a legitimate transportation business. When I believed competitors were operating without meeting the same requirements, I wasn't shy about complaining to the city.

Actually, “wasn't shy” may be putting it mildly.

I contacted city officials, kept records and eventually hired an attorney while considering remedies under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Then COVID arrived and changed the transportation business—and just about everything else—almost overnight.

Looking back, some of the language I used on the old Abraxi blog was considerably hotter than I would use today. At one point I suggested repeat offenders might be drawn and quartered and dragged behind St. Augustine's horse-drawn carriages.

For the historical record: that was sarcasm, not a proposed transportation policy.

But the principle behind all that anger hasn't changed much.

Competition is healthy. Small businesses should compete on service, reliability, price and reputation. And when government establishes rules for an industry, those rules should be understandable and applied consistently.

That's all I was really asking for.

It just took me quite a few more words—and considerably more profanity—to say it back then.

Abraxi Taxiom: If you make everybody play by the rules, make sure everybody is playing by the same rules.