Commissioner's Column
The Taxicab Driver Excellence Award
By Commissioner Norma Reyes
I am pleased to announce the winners of this year's Taxicab Driver Excellence Awards, Mr. Clifton Plaxico and Mr. Almas Weldingwala. The Awardees have been chosen for their exemplary commitment to our city's community of people with disabilities. They will each be awarded a taxicab medallion, which has an estimated market value of $170,000.00.
Transportation services for people with disabilities can be challenging for both the passenger and the driver. The City is committed to promoting excellence in service to people with disabilities and acknowledges the taxi industry's support and commitment to this effort. That is why it is so important to recognize drivers who have shown a commitment to servicing people with disabilities.
One of the goals in awarding medallions is to increase the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles on the road. It is for that reason that awardees are required to use the awarded medallion to operate an accessible taxicab for ten years to continue servicing the disabled community.
For close to 10 years, The City has been awarding Drivers through the Taxicab Driver Excellence program. To ensure its integrity, the selection process is rigorous.
Winning your own Medallion can be very exiting because it is winning a small business. If you are wondering how you can become a winner next year, here are some of the basic criteria drivers must meet to become eligible to win.
All drivers must:
- Hold a valid chauffeur's license.
- Have been driving a taxicab for at least three consecutive years.
- Have completed a certified chauffeur's continuing education course.
- Must not currently own or control an existing medallion.
- Must not have previously won the Driver Excellence Award.
Nominations are submitted by members of the public, and are reviewed by the Taxicab Driver Excellence Committee. The committee is made up of industry professionals and stakeholders served by the taxicab industry, such as representatives from the accessibility community, hotel industry, restaurant industry, tourism industry, taxicab industry and the general public.
When choosing a nominee, the Committee considers a number of factors, such as specific examples of excellent customer service or enhancements of taxicab service for people with disabilities. Other things that are considered are the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicle trips they have performed, and the number of calls they have accepted in under-served areas.
The Department will be accepting nominations for the 2009 Taxicab Driver Excellence Award in December. I look forward to once again rewarding and acknowledging the hard work and dedication of our industry's best drivers.
Norma, Why are you taking some of "Chicago's Best" out of the disability service by awarding regular medallions? This doesn't make sense for anyone. The award should be a probationary disabled van medallion for at least five years. If the driver completes the requirements then it could turn into a regular medallion. There should also be a "freeze" on transferability for the first ten years.
You're in the business of taking medallions from people like Shehu's sister and giving it to others that don't need it to exist. Transferability of awarded medallions should be prohibited. These two "winners" can just sell and take the 170k How does this help the disabled?
I am willing to discuss this with you over the phone. The excellence award IS FLAWED, NO FAULT OF YOURS. You have inherited it from Caroline. Now is the time to fix it. Ahmed R.
