Taxi stands downtown overflowing

Cab drivers in Calgary want the city to create more taxi stands in the downtown core now that so many of them are no longer allowed to wait for fares at the airport.

Earlier this month Associated Cab became the only company allowed to pickup airline passengers under a six-year deal with the airport authority.

As a result, taxi drivers have headed downtown in search of business, where the 55 taxi stands are now perpetually full, forcing drivers to park illegally, according to cabbie Shah Syed.

"Whenever you park there even for a minute, even if you're sitting in your car, you'll have officers come and they're harassing you, telling you to leave the place or they take pictures," said Syed.

"Parkplus got new technology about taking pictures. They don't even approach you, they take a picture and send it to our office. And we're out here trying to make a living and fifty bucks is what we have to pay."

To accommodate the influx of cabs into the downtown area, the Calgary Taxi and Limousine Advisory Committee is asking the city to create about 40 more taxi stalls.

'The drivers have to work a little bit harder for the business' Kurt Enders, Checker Cabs

But so far the city is only willing to add six, said committee chair Stephanie Ho Lem.

"The city has agreed to increase it to 61. But the industry and the city is going to try to do a checklist and say which stands they want and we will try to match it."

The extra taxis circulating downtown may have made it easier for customers to catch a cab downtown, but it makes it harder for drivers to earn a living, said Kurt Enders, vice-president of Checker Cabs.

"We're feeling the effect because the cars that were at the airport are now in the downtown core which are clogging a lot of the stands. So the drivers have to work a little bit harder for the business," he said.