HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8118 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. Bin
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 21, 1998
Subject: Quarterly Reports of the Taxicab Companies
Yellow Checker Cab Company of D/FW and Checker Cab Company of Dallas
have filed their reports for the first quarter of 1998. The increase in the
number of taxicabs operated reflect the additional taxicabs which the City
Council authorized earlier this year.
Yellow Cab Company reports receiving one written complaint; Checker Cab
Company received none. The companies received several letters
complimenting their service. There were no complaints filed with the City
related to taxicab service in the first quarter.
Bob Terrell
City Manager
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CHECKER CAB
P.O Box 1510 - Fort Worth,Texas 76101
817/654-2871 - Fax: 817/535-7450
April 7 , 1998
CITY OF FORT WORTH
QUARTERLY TAXICAB REPORT
CHECKER CAB
JAN-MAR 1998
1 . Average Taxicabs Operated Daily: 62 low 56 high 70
2 . Written Complaints Received: 0
3 . Average Calls Dispatched Daily: 797
4 . Average Available Taxicabs Not Operated: 4
5 . Number of Damage/Injury Claims Filed : 5
6 . Number of Claims Settled : 3
7 . Number of Lawsuits Pending Against Holder : 0
Note : Checker Cab has 89 taxicabs operating in the metroplex .
Following an increase in permits in Fort Worth to 75 , we have had
a maximum of 70 taxicabs operating out of Fort Worth and an
average of 62 reflecting the growth into the new permits .
Average daily calls are down by about 50 from the 1997 annual
average . This is due to unusually nice weather for the quarter
and the first quarter and last quarter of each year do not
usually have the demand experienced during the April through
September period .
The overall Checker Cab fleet , including individual
owner/operators is as follows :
1998 models : 3
1997 models : 22
1996 models : 50
1995 models : 9
1994 models : 5
Total : 89
YELLOW CAB OF FORT WORTH
April 8 , 1998
CITY OF FORT WORTH QUARTERLY REPORT
1ST QUARTER 1998
1 . Averaze Taxicabs Operated Daily: 116 low 102 high 123
2 . Written Complaints Received : 1
3 . Average Calls Dispatched Daily: 2115
4 . Average Available Taxicabs Not Operated: 9
5 . Number of Damage/Injury Claims Filed: 8
6. Number of Claims Settled: 4
7 . Number of Lawsuits Pending Against Holder : 2
Yellow Cab of Fort Worth Fleet :
1998 models : 40
1997 models : 37
1996 models : 29
1995 models : 19
1994 models : 7
Total : 132
40 new 1998 models arrived and were put into the fleet since
December . Recruitment and use of a full time driver trainer and
radio/meter/computer trainer has improved new driver retention .
An experienced Systems Manager with our DDS computer dispatch
system was hired and began working April 1 , 1998 . Besides system
refinement , he is already working on calltaker/dispatcher
efficiency and operating procedures . Our caller on hold and que
recording has been changed and includes information in Spanish.
The single written complaint received resulted from a dispatcher
failing to follow up on a call the computer could not match to an
available cab. Proper procedures were reviewed with this and
other dispatchers for advertising open calls through our message
system and to monitor all calls that are not matched after 20
minutes . Three complimentary letters were received, one for Mr .
Paul Brown and the other two from visitors from Mexico. Copies ,
including translations are attached. An article published by the
LA Times , which features Yellow Cab' s dispatch system, was
reprinted throughout the country and we have received numberous
calls from taxi companies , cities and others interested in the
technology.
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- SATURDAY,DECEMBER 27, 1997
COPYRIGHT 199?/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPAYY/M/110 PAGES
Technology May Not Dr* Nation'
Productivity, but It Can*Hal*l a Tani
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atpWtll: Optimists say every day at large and small vestment firm, argues that
■
p y businesses all over the country, stepped-up productivity growth is
statistics do not fully using not only computers but also one of the few credible expiana-
other high-technology equipment tions for the U.S. economy's ex-
reflect business gains, like including lasers and biotechnology. ' tended period of high growth'and
improvements at Yellow It is one of .the paradoxes of low inflation.
today's economy,that this torrent Yardeni believes that the im-
Cab. However,skeptics say of technology is not fueling a proved productivity has led to a
evidence is lacking. sustained increase in the nation's "new economy" that will enable
productivity—the output per work the United States to enjoy contin-
hour of the average American ued economic growth and low in-
By ART PINE worker. flation well into the 21st century.
TIMES STAFF WRITER The issue is important because "It really is the Goldilocks +
DALLAS--Is America's eco- rising worker productivity is what economy,"Yardeni said-as in,not,
nomic productivity finally re- ultimately lifts the standard of too hot,not too cold.
bounding after years of relative living of all Americans.
stagnation? For one perspective, Until 1973,U.S.productivity had f Yardeni is correct,the benefits
just call a Yellow Cab the next time been growing at a robust 2.5% to I could be enormous, Even a 1-
3% a year,raising living standards ' ercenta a oint .rise in, annual
you're here. P 8 -p
sharply are that the supervisor sharply and helping, in general, to productivity,"proponents 'argue,
can tell ,instantly which of the keep inflation low" Since then, could add so much to the nation's
however, productivity growth has
carnpany's 950 taxis is nearest economy that the extra tax rev- ..
you—and available—and can send averaged a disappointing 1%--and enue would provide full Social
since the mid-1980s
less ess .
it immediately.If there is no cab in e Security benefits for the,baby
your area, the next closest one is But Productivity has spurted in boom generation.
dispatched automatically. the last six months,rising at a 2.49'0 Others, however, are skeptical
Yellow Cab is guiding its taxis annual rate last spring and 4.1 co in about such assertions, Barry P.
with the same technology that the the summer quarter. Analysts are Bosworth, an economist at the
Defense Department developed to sharply divided over whether Brookings Institution think tank,
provide navigation systems for its these are aberrations or the start of argues that despite the gains of the
missiles and aircraft: the satellite- a trend.Even the Federal Reserve is - last two quarters, the longer-term
'
based global positioning system. + statistics "don't support any notion
A.GPS set in every cab continu- split over the issue. In minutes of that we have evidence of improv-
its November meeting,which were in productivity,"ally tracks each taxi's location and. made public earlier this month,the • g P �'
transmits it to the dispatcher,who The past few quarters'improve-
can follow it on a monitor. The Fed's policy-setting Federal Open ' ment in the statistics "are.typical
system automatically searches for Market Committee cited the recent of what happens at this stage of
the nearest taxi that is available increase in productivity growth as , any expansion," when output is
and even calculates the likely fare, one reason .(along with the eco-
nomic turmoil in Asia) that it did ; rising rapidly and business is try-
based on estimated distance. not raise interest rates.But several ing to hold its hiring down,
The system is a boon not only to members of the panel were clearly Bosworth contends. "We've heard
customers. James E. Richards, skeptical. these kinds of arguments before."
Yellow Cab's president,says it has Essentially, there are two Whatever the statistics show,
transformed the way the firm does schools of thought about the"pro- ' the anecdotal evidence of produc-
business,enabling managers to de- tivit gains is im ressive by any
ploy cabs.more efficiently, saving uche o paradox" y g P
g The optimists believe that the standard.
thousands of dollars annually on statistics are flawed and have not •Dell Computer Corp, now rou-
labor and operating costs, and all : fully captured the recent gains in- tinely asks customers to place their
but eliminating cheating by drivers 'productivity, much as the con- orders over the Internet,eliminat-
and dispatchers.P Sumer price index may be overesti- ing the need to maintain 'huge
"I have to say I'm amazed my- mating the inflation rate. In the inventories,sprawling warehouses
self,"Richards said, last six months, they say, the and large staffs.Its newest factory
productivity numbers are finally Is being built without space for
The revolution pit Yellow Cab is catching up. storing excess stock.
only one of thousands of dra- Ed Yardeni, chief economist for •Quad Graphics, a Milwaukee
matic efficiencies being achieved the Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in- printingg,P mean, E has installed tilled
ECONOMY: Productivity
Statistics- Being Scrufinj e%..
robot-assisted stacking, -storage are saving millions of dollars on cise and slow,
and retrieval systems that enable,it maintenance, operating costs and Thanks to sophisticated software
to use wider,faster presses and to replacement. Yet efficiencies such programs, even companies with
save money on postage by auto. as these,he says,are not reflected I worldwide reach can keep daily
matically storing magazines by ZIP in the productivity figures, tabs on an array of operations.
Code. Levi Strauss & Co. has installed Wal-Mart, for example, has de-
veloped a computer software sys-
*Russell Corp., a textile maker computer-controlled lasers that
in Alexander City, Ala.,has put in 'enable it to cut and sew custom-fit tem that enables it to download
computer-controlled spinning and 'jeans for individual buyers using data from-cash registers across the'
cutting equipment that has helped measurements taken in stores and country every night and use the
it double production with the same 'transmitted electronically to the information to replenish and dis-
number of employees and build- factory—a service unimaginable tribute its inventory—even notify-
ings._The.system uses robots to even a few years ago. Ing suppliers whi`n to step up their
.0 - production lines.
help c he productivity is showing consolidate manual op- 46 Businesses have needed time to
erations. Tup everywhere but in the get used to such innovations.Gerry
Those who contend that the numbers,°'Cox asserted. Gustafson,a Rockiord, Ill.,plastics
economy is changing cite such Frank Stafford, a University of manufacturer,says-his firm did not
examples, multiplied many times Michigan economist,, :argues that begin investing in the new high»
over, as strong evidence that pro. productivity'gains have been all tech equipment until it was nearly
ductivity must be improving dra- the greater because the statistics driven out of business by better-
matically despite the sluggishness exaggerate the number of hours equipped competitors.
reflected by the official statistics. worked. "We'll never become obsolete
They cite a variety of factors Although statistics suggest that again,"he vowed.
that may have spurred productiv- Americans are vorking longer For all the anecdotal evidence,
Jty in recent years.Globalization Of hours than .they used to, time there are still plenty of skeptics. .
the economy has prodded compa- studies show that they spend a David A. Wyss, an economist at
nies into seeking to reduce costs. greater share of those hour —UP to DRI/Standard & Poor's, predicts
Government deregulation has six each week—doing things not I that the spurt of productivity
made firms more efficient. related to their work—from mak. growth last spring and summer
Business investment has mush- ing personal phone calls to playing will prove to be a fluke. "I don't
roomed. solitaire on computers. ', think this is the start of the New
Finally, they point out that cur- Stafford's conclusion: The pro- Economy,"he said.
rent techniques for measuring pro- ductivity slowdown in the mid- Larry Mishel of the Economic
ductivity are geared primarily to 1970s and mid-1980s was substan. Policy Institute, a liberal research
manufacturing, although the na- tially a measurement problem." group, is another defender of the
tion now produces about $1.50 Allen Sinai, economist at Pri- productivity data.
worth of services for every $1 mark Decision Economics, adds While productivity may have
worth of manufactured goods. that productivity has not seemed to been underestimated, he says, the
Service firms have been among reflect the effect of new technol- error is unlikely to be very large—
the biggest beneficiaries of the ogy because it often takes years maybe the difference between
efficiencies generated by the com- before the benefits of an invention growth of 1.117o a year and 117c a
puter revolution. . can be fully exploited. year—and certainly will not sup-
John T, Pearl & Associates, a For the first several years after port assertions that the improve-
Peoria,Ill.,insurance firm,has just the invention of the microproces- ment has led the country into a
installed a computer system that sor in 1971,he points out,comput- New Economy.
has cut the time it takes for its ers were used as little more than Daniel E.Sichel,a senior econo-
underwrit I jq_pToc process applica- efficient calculators and typewrit-
. _!t mist for the Federal Reserve
tions from 45 days to less than 10. ers. Board, is a skeptic for a different
Moreover,laptop computers en- Likewise,when laser technology reason:No matter how dazzling the
able field agents to provide instant was invented in the late 1960s, computer revolution may seem to
rate quotes right in front of poten- officials at Bell Labs refused to Americans fascinated with images
tial customers, quickly fill out de- patent it because.they thought it on monitor, he says,its effect on
tailed application forms and check had no application in telecommuni- productivity h I as been overstated.
on the status of applications. Cus- cations. Only after fiber optics Computer technology 6on-sti-
tomers can even buy policies over i came of age did Bell fully realize tutes only 2% of business Invest.
the InterneL the laser's potential. meet in capital stock, Sichel says,
W. Michael Cox, chief economist Today, by contrast, imaginative and much of that is simply to
at the Federal Reserve Bank of firms have combined these and replace older computers, which
Dallas,points out that the govern- other technologies in all kinds of become obsolete in almost no time.
ment's productivity-measuring productive ways. Here in Dallas, however,Yellow
techniques also do not adequately Soli-Flo, an Oceanside, Calif., Cab President Richards says tech-
gauge improvements in the quality company, uses lasers and the
of goods or services being pro. global positioning system to im. nology's effect can scarcely be
overestimated. Far from
duced, which also adds to effi- prove efficiency in dredging lakes ni being just
ciency. I . and rivers. The GPS guides a gimmick, he says, the new sys..
Cox points out,for example that dredges automatically, eliminating tem has already sped up tat re.
automobiles are built so much bet. costly overlaps caused by conven- spouse times, saved money on
operations and
ter these days that business buyers tional surveying, which is impre- provided more ca-
/ .,
pacity for growth,
Drivers love it because they no
longer have to scramble to learn'
the best times and places to"wait
for customers or to defend them- ,
selves against other drivers who,
may try to poach. In-cab monitor
screens show every cabby where
the busiest parts of town are.
It also has virtually eliminated
the payola system that enabled
dispatchers to play favorites by
saving choice fares for those cab-
hies who were willing to slip them The Productivity Record
a few dollars each month. These . .
days, the computer picks out the From 1948 to 1973,U.S.productivity,as measured by the output
nearest available cab. It's incor- per work hour of the average American worker,grew at an
ruptible. average of 2.8% a year,raising living standards and helping to
Another benefit:Cabbies can sig- keep inflation low.Since then,however,productivity growth has
nal the dispatcher quietly—with the averaged a disappointing 1 51o.But productivity has spurted in the
touch of a button—if they get into 'past six months,rising at a'2.4% annual rate last spring and 4.117o
an accident or a passenger pulls a irf the summer quarter.
gun on them. The dispatcher can
give police the taw's location with- 0% Annual growth In
out having to ask the driver. output per hour of
There's just no reason to have
to sit around idly anymore waiting 3.0 all workers
for business to come my way,"said
Brad Elliott, a 24-year-old driver 2,0
who joined the company a year '
ago. "For myself, I love it. It's a t..t{ ,
great system to have in place." Lo I/e
Richards concedes that the sys-
tem was so full of bugs during its o r '
first few months that the company
nearly boxed it all up and sent it .1.0
back to the manufacturer. 177 179 181 ,83 r8 187 189 191 '93 '95 l (( 111
Drivers pushed buttons,�willy- (annual rate
nilly, overloading the emergency Source:sureau of tabor Srecsrics In quarter)
signal.The system crashed repeat-
edly. Errors and gaps in the data- Los AngelmTunes
base left the system so hobbled
that the company once was unable
to send a taxi to a woman who
needed to get to a hospital.
"We were certainly unhappy'for
awhile,"Richards said.
No more. Now he reports that
driver turnover is down substan-
tially, the firm is attracting appli-
cants from other companies and
Yellow Cab is expanding its
business steadily without'idding
dozens of new employees.
"I don't think we've yet realized
ail the potential,"he said.
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