Dave Metzler joined the Big Ten Taxicab team in 2016, making up a group of about eight drivers who serviced the Iowa City area and competed against several other cab companies.
Now, Metzler, 65, has grown to become an owner and operator of the taxi company — which is now the only active taxicab company in Iowa City, according to the city clerk’s office. At the same time, the Big Ten Taxicab team has dwindled down to just Metzler and one other driver.
With the rise in popularity of ride-share apps like Uber as well as the pandemic, Metzler said his business is not as frequent as it once was, and the company mostly relies on regular riders who need to be taken to doctor’s appointments, work or the airport.
Even though business has slowed over the last eight years, expenses like insurance rates and gas prices have not. Each vehicle must be insured with a $1 million insurance policy, Metzler said.
Taxicab companies are required to jump through more hoops and pay more costs than ride-share drivers in order to follow city rules and regulations, Metzler said. For example, a taxicab company has to apply to each city it operates in so it can pick up riders there. Ride-share drivers, though, can come from out of the area and go wherever they are requested, he said.
Ride-share apps are regulated by the state and have been since 2017 after the Iowa Legislature prohibited local governments from regulating such companies. Before the legislation, local municipalities could regulate ride-share companies just like taxicab companies.
Multiple attempts to reach an Uber company representative for comment were unsuccessful.
Metzler has been asking the Iowa City Council to change its taxicab ordinance, specifically a section that requires each taxicab company to follow its own color scheme.
This requirement used to make sense when there was more than just one company, Metzler said, but with Big Ten Taxicab being the only company in the city, the rule doesn’t make sense anymore. The cost to repaint a vehicle would be about $2,000, Metzler said at the City Council’s June 18 meeting.
“I just would like to have you folks consider not having to paint the vehicle,” he said then. “Two thousand bucks can go a long way with other things.”
A city staff memo about the color requirement is in the most recent Iowa City Council’s agenda packet, meaning it could be discussed at the council’s work session Tuesday. No official action would be taken since votes are cast only during formal City Council meetings.
City staff recommends the council change the ordinance to get rid of the color requirement. “Staff does not see a real need for the uniform color scheme anymore given ride-share companies, the fact that there is only one cab company, and the changes in technologies used to locate vehicles,” the memo states.
Coralville changing ordinance
Coralville also is in the process of changing up its taxi ordinance, according to City Clerk Thor Johnson.
While Coralville does not have a color scheme requirement like Iowa City, the city does require a minimum number of taxicabs and drivers for each companies. The ordinance currently has the minimum set at four drivers and cabs per company, but the city is in the process of considering amending it down to two, Johnson said.
Big Ten Taxicab — with its two drivers — is currently the only taxi company licensed with Coralville, Johnson said.
The revised ordinance will be included on the July 23 Coralville City Council agenda, Johnson said.
Cedar Rapids taxi industry less impacted
The taxi industry in Cedar Rapids has seen less of a drop-off than in Iowa City. From June 2014 to June 2015, seven taxi companies were licensed with Cedar Rapids. A decade later, there is one fewer company licensed with the city, according to the city clerk’s office.
Nazar Osman, 55, is founder and co-owner of American Class Taxi, which started serving the Cedar Rapids area in 2007.
Osman said his company used to also serve Iowa City when it first started, but eventually discontinued service there because the Iowa City licensing process is more complicated than in Cedar Rapids.
While Cedar Rapids has kept its taxi company numbers more or less steady over the years, companies in the area face similar struggles to those in Iowa City and across the nation.
For example, American Class Taxi increased rates to stay afloat, Osman said. However, American Class Taxi had managed to survive the initial blow of ride-share companies’ rise in popularity by contracting transit services with businesses as well as establishing a website so users can book rides online, Osman said.
Cedar Rapids does not require a color scheme like Iowa City, according to the city code. But the code states each taxi must have its own distinct and consistent design and emblems.
The city does not control or oversee the fares a company sets. A company must clearly display its rate and provide a fare estimate to riders, the code states.
Osman said he doesn’t foresee things in the local industry changing much unless ride-share companies exponentially improve.
Taxi companies can often be more reliable than ride-share because taxis always have staff available, Osman said, whereas ride-share companies operate on individuals who decide when and where they would like to work.
“I don't see any reason why we have to stop or get out of business, at least if things go similar like this, unless ride-share improves their business to be more reliable,” he said.
Taxi industry future
Taxi companies across the United States have experienced similar struggles to the ones expressed by Metzler, according to Bill Yuhnke, president of the Transporation Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group for transportation services and users across the nation.
Yuhnke, who also owns taxi company Liberty Cab in Buffalo, N.Y., said he has seen many taxicab companies go out of business because of the popularity of ride-share companies.
Ride-share companies have several perks that many taxi companies do not, including apps to order rides and extra services like food delivery, Yuhnke said.
However, taxi companies still do have a leg up in some aspects over ride-share companies, even in modern times. Taxicabs are often more handicap accessible and rates don’t climb higher during large events like football games where ride demand is high, Yuhnke said.
While there has been plenty of animosity between ride-share and taxicab companies in recent years, some taxi companies in larger metropolitan areas, including Chicago and San Francisco, are contracting with Uber to work together, Yuhnke said. In those cities, people can now call cabs through the Uber app.
Yuhnke said these partnerships could be a sign of the two industries working as peers instead of harsh competitors.
“We are starting a relationship with ride-share … the war is over. How can we work together?” Yuhnke said. “That is my mission, and we can work together with them.”
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