Immigrant cabbies’ startup plan hits bureaucratic curb in Denver

DENVER | All Colorado cabdriver Edem “Archie” Archibong wants is to fulfill the next stage in his immigrant success story — to start his own business.

But Colorado’s heavily regulated taxi industry isn’t cooperating, causing some local politicians to ask why government is getting in the way of the free-market system.

Mr. Archibong, a Nigerian native and married father of two, came to the U.S. legally in 1977. He joined the Army, where he worked as an optical technician and later started driving a cab to support his family. In 2008, he helped lead a group of 150 Denver-area cabdrivers, many of them legal African immigrants, with plans to start a taxi company called Mile High Cab to serve five Denver-area counties.

In July, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which oversees the local taxi industry, ruled that Mr. Archibong’s startup had its financial house in order. The entrepreneurs pooled their collective savings to start the company, eschewing cumbersome bank loans.

But the PUC said Mile High Cab would hurt the public interest.

“While choice is generally a good thing in a market, nevertheless, overcapacity still looms as an issue,” the PUC determined.

“Competition is good for us, good for the industry and good for the public, as well,” counters Mr. Archibong, 57.

Mr. Archibong’s company plans to charge 25 cents per mile less than Yellow and Metro cabs, the main companies serving Greater Denver. The company also wouldn’t charge for extra passengers or bags.

Joseph M. Rubino, a St. Augustine, Fla.-based transportation consultant who specializes in the taxi industry, said Denver is one of the few places that regulate taxi services in this manner.

But Mr. Rubino thinks Mile High Cab’s plans wouldn’t be in the best interest of Denverites.

“When you saturate the streets with taxis … the city starts to experience much worse service than before,” he said. Cabdrivers have to wait longer for fares and require longer trips to pay their bills.

“Most drivers hate short trips. … It’s the bane of their existence,” said Mr. Rubino, a former taxi driver.

To people like Mr. Archibong, the PUC ruling sounds like “big government” getting in the way, but Mr. Rubino said the story isn’t so simple.

“What seems like survival of the fittest now becomes terrible service for the masses,” he said. “There’s nothing more vicious than a cabdriver whose been sitting for a long time and then gets a short trip.”

Tom Russell, an attorney for Mile High Cab, said the current taxi situation cries out for more competition — and more taxis. He pointed to a February 2009 audit by the PUC of three Denver taxi companies. The audit found drivers working in the vicinity of Denver International Airport exceeded the allowable number of hours they can drive over an eight-day span — 80 hours.

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