After booking a reservation with PlanetTran via email, we were relieved
when the taxi did indeed show up a few strokes after 4:30 am on Friday
for our trip to Logan Airport (and from thence, to Chicago and then
Wisconsin). Our cabbie was none other than Seth Riney himself, the
founder of PlanetTran.
We had an interesting chat about PlanetTran’s business model and
goals. It turns out Seth is propositioning the Cambridge License
Commision for 5 free medallions. Considering these suckers sell for
about $200K each on the open market, PlanetTran is asking for what
appears to be a serious subsidy from the City of Cambridge. Flipped
around, however, you might argue – and Seth does – that the
Commission’s maintenance of a restrictive monopoly of taxis is what
drives the price of these medallions so high, compounded with the fact
they also fix taxi prices (and not to
the consumer’s advantage. We found this out when trying to arrange
hotel buses to and from the airport for our wedding, and the hotels
informed us that they had to charge the taxi minimum, even though their
normal rates were much lower). Even when seen as a subsidy, I think
it’s something Cambridge should pursue as a matter of policy, though I
suspect the Commission is comprised less of the granola yuppies that
make so much noise in town and more of hard-nosed businessmen.
Total bill came to $34, almost $10 more than if we had taken a
“regular” cab. Seth explained that the price was pretty much set by the
Commission, and that if he did get his medallions that the price they’d
charge the same as that of other taxis. He believed that even if the
Priuses turned out to be more expensive to maintain, the company would
still be profitable thanks to the monopoly situation. He also mentioned
that several hybrid vehicles specifically designed for taxi use were in
development in Europe and that he was hoping to be deploying those
heavier-duty (and presumably cheaper to maintain) vehicles in his fleet
within a few years. I wish him well, and hope to have the time to
attend the Commission meeting on Tuesday.
