A glimmer of hope recently arrived for the would-be owners of a new taxicab company in Missoula. It came in the form of a possible new interpretation of the law that guides the Montana Public Service Commission, an interpretation that would direct commissioners to base their final decision on the public's best interest.
No, you read that right.
Last week, however, PSC Chairman Greg Jergeson indicated the commission might be able to re-interpret the statute so that the consideration it gives taxi companies is no longer held above the consideration it gives the public.
Jergeson dropped this bomb as the commission was hearing oral arguments on an application to launch a new taxicab service in Missoula called Green Taxi. Predictably, potential competitors Yellow Cab and Medicab turned out to oppose the application.
As a previous Missoulian editorial noted, Yellow Cab's owner is worried that the new competition could pressure his company into cutting back its service, or even force it out of business altogether, which would leave Missoula with limited access to taxi services.
Not to sound too harsh, but so what? Companies go out of business all the time - and new ones pop up to take their place. If Yellow Cab goes out of business, and demand for taxi services remains strong in Missoula, it will surely be replaced by another company. Why in the world should the PSC, a taxpayer-supported government agency, be concerned about fate of a privately owned taxi business?
The PSC is responsible for making sure that public utilities in Montana provide adequate service at reasonable rates. It began overseeing the state's private transportation sector starting with the railroad companies, and simply added new transportation methods as they were invented. That's how it came to regulate Montana's taxi and limousine companies - despite the fact that these are obviously not public utilities.
Unfortunately, the commission's utility-protecting nature has a tendency to squash competition, making it very hard for new taxi and limousine companies to break into the business in Montana. That's why Yellow Cab has a monopoly in Missoula.
As it is, the folks behind Green Taxi have spent a lot of time and effort pushing their application through the PSC's daunting licensing system with little promise they'll have anything to show for it.
If taxi companies were encouraged to compete for service, cab service would undoubtedly improve as they vied for business in Missoula. And improved service is clearly in the public's interest.
A new interpretation of the motor carrier's statute would be a step in the right direction, but it doesn't change the fact that the public service commission should not be regulating taxicab companies in the first place. Or the fact that only the Montana Legislature can fix this mistake.
The Legislature needs to throw out the law that puts taxis under the PSC's jurisdiction during its next session. We earnestly hope some conscientious legislators are working on a bill to address the issue right now.
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