---

Port of Portland Comments Regarding Recommendation to Add Additional Taxis

At the October 10th Transportation Board meeting, alternate board member April Murchison read a report submitted by the Port of Portland opposing the city's proposals for new taxi permits. The report cited flaws in the Permit Recommendations report and mentioned "several discrepancies in the logic" of the arguments it made. The report also stated that the airport did not need more taxis and taxi stands in downtown are frequently full. Drivers greeted Murchison with an enthusiastic round of applause after she read the report aloud. The full text of this report, prepared by the Port of Portland ground transportation office can be read here.

November 2, 2012

---

Evaluating Portland Taxi Permit Demand: A Few Considerations

"As the Revenue Bureau continues to evaluate demand for taxi permits, the drivers' representative prepared a report on some relevant factors that have historically been absent from taxi demand assessments. Read the report here."

August 4, 2012.

---

The Prodan Legacy Permit – A Proposal for a Driver-Controlled Permitting System

With the recent release of the Revenue Bureau’s study on labor conditions in Portland’s taxi industry, it is likely that taxi regulators will be looking for solutions to the problems this study exposed.  Many drivers are hoping this will lead to consideration of a switch to a driver-controlled permitting system. 

The drivers’ representative will be presenting a proposal to city staff this month outlining a working model for how Portland could adopt a driver-controlled permitting system.  This proposal is not for a medallion system in which permits would be sold to drivers.  Instead, drivers would gain the opportunity to have city-owned permits assigned to them on a permanent basis.  We have named this the Prodan Legacy Permit in memory of Mikhail Prodan, a Portland Taxi driver who died suddenly last year. 

All drivers are encouraged to read the text of this proposal and submit any comments they care to share with the drivers’ representative and/or with Revenue Bureau staff.  To view this document, click on the words “Prodan Legacy Permit” above.

February 4. 2012

---

In late October, the taxi drivers' representative sent a package of written materials to the city commissioners and the mayor outlining the problem with kickbacks at Portland hotels and urging the city council to approve the anti-kickback ordinance.  The package included a four page report, a copy of the drivers' petition, a copy of the kickback ordinance passed by the Transportation Board, a copy of the informational handbill, and about a dozen copies of formal complaints on file at the Revenue Bureau documenting the effects of kickbacks on our transportation system.  The package was hand delivered to the commissioners at city hall.  The full text of the report on kickbacks can be read here.

Red Diamond,
Taxi Drivers’ Representative

October 31, 2011.