The City Commission on Tuesday night took a second action to run Eggs Transport Inc. out of business by denying the upstart company a franchise to run shuttle busses in Key West. You see, there is only one franchise— and that is owned by Historic Tours of America (HTA), the same company that has the exclusive franchise to use the City streets to operate sightseeing tours (the Conch Tour Train and the Old Town Trolleys).
After the City Commission's vote Tuesday night, competing taxi drivers and the HTA people erupted into applause. They claim that Robert Eggers, the ambitious owner of Eggs is a giant threat to their existence.
The City Fathers and Mothers (City Parents?) are even more ambitious than Eggs, however. They want to expand the municipal bus service and make all public transportation in this town totally free of charge. Wouldn't that threaten private carriers? The cabbies and tour companies apparently don't think so— even though the City can back its socialist vision with police powers and its access to million-dollar grants with which to put competitors out of business.
But that prospect didn't seem to faze the cab-meisters. They must be counting on continued abysmal customer response to our municipal transportation services. They must be counting on impatient tourists refusing to waste time waiting on a City bus, and springing cash for a tour— or on frail senior citizens flagging a cab after standing an hour in the sun.
As the cabbies told it Tuesday, there are 275 taxicab drivers in this town, many working 60 hours a week or more. And they still can't make a decent living. They suffer horribly through the off-season months. Even so, they didn't take kindly the suggestion that they should check out other jobs.
"Don't rob me of my income from a job I love," Bruce Wilson told the City Commission Tuesday night. Another speaker said Eggers is not just trying to make a living, as he claims, but that he "wants to be the Alpha Male of transportation services here." Cool. It made me want to know this guy better. Eggers, I mean.
HTA supported the cabbies quest to caponize Alpha Eggers. House counsel Ed Scales and Federal Magistrate Hugh Morgan spoke as their representatives. Morgan cited HTA's charity work as "a tradition in Key West," and said that if the City wanted to put a new type of transport on the streets, it should look at "existing franchises . . . who have proved themselves" or ask for bids.
Morgan echoed a number of anti-Eggs speakers when he said that to grant Eggs a franchise would be to send a message that "if you violate the law long enough, you can get grandfathered in."
Gee, we thought that was the code the Conchs live by! We were hoping we could make it work for the rest of us, too.
One cab company representative even suggested that Eggs was unfair competition to the City bus system!
The strange thing here is that Eggs operated legally, with a valid City license, during 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. But, suddenly, just last month, the City Commission passed a new ordinance to require a City franchise to operate a shuttle service with busses that seat more than 14 passengers. And there is only one franchise— HTA.
Eggers says the new ordinance was illegally aimed directly at his company. Can you spell lawsuit?
Or maybe Eggers could invoke the same deal that the Miami tour busses get. They can "work" Key West without a license because they "live" outside the City. But Eggs is headquartered on Rockland Key— with a valid County occupational license.
Representatives for several hotels and motels spoke up for Eggers. They told the Commissioners that current taxi service does not meet the demands for group transport. The Pier House's Blake Crawford said that large groups make bookings well in advance— and if Eggs will not be around to help with the transportation of these groups, his hotel will have to consider buying its own vans to do the job.
The Commission's final solution to the hotels' transportation problem? Eliminate shuttle busses (except for HTA), restrict vans, and push for that elusive Municipal Nirvana Universal Free Transport System.
In the end, after almost three hours of contentious debate, the Commission moved to deny Eggs' bus franchise request. The only Commissioner to vote in favor was Tom Oosterhoudt.