Commissioner Reyes has authority granted in Chapter 2-24, Section 2-24-040 of the Municipal Code of Chicago to promulgate rules and regulations that pertain to public passenger vehicle chauffeurs: cab drivers. There is no requirement that she consider comments under the Municipal Code, but she is not one to create a needless brouhaha. That's why she asked for comments.
No doubt those comments will be reviewed by one or more lawyers in the office of the Corporation Counsel, and a memo will likely be given her with an analysis of them. Thereafter, the rules and regulations as Commissioner Reyes in her sole discretion are going to be adopted and made effective shjortly thereafter.
All of you still have until tomorrow at 5:00 P.M. within which to offer your thoughts to her. And you are encouraged to do so.
Re: What is the next step for the new Rules and REgs?
Peter,
You, Steve, Melissa and the AUPD did a great thing by organizing the letter drive. I think these kinds of activities are useful to alert the city of driver concerns and to directly get drivers involved in empowering themselves. Drivers owe you guys a debt of gratitude for all your hard work. Please keep up the great work.
Here's the letter I sent to the Department of Consumer Services regarding the proposed rules and regulations for public chauffeurs.
Dear Commissioner Reyes:
The purpose of this letter is to express concern about some of the proposed rule changes for public chauffeurs. Accordingly, I will withhold my positive comments for now.
Rule 16.02 provides for increased penalties. I do not believe there is a justification to increasing fines, especially since there has been no fare increase. Furthermore tripling the minimum fine for a first offense is excessive and harsh and doesn’t allow discretion for a hearing officer to show leniency on a driver who may have just made a mistake.
Rule 3.05 says that a chauffeur can be denied renewal of his license if he has received three or more complaints and / or citations of abusive behavior and / or unsafe driving. My concern is that this only addresses complaints and does not protect the chauffeur from false complaints or complaints which he may have otherwise not been in violation. The literal reading of this provision suggests that I, as a licensed Chicago taxi driver, could have my licenses effectively suspended if one person files three complaints against me. There is no presumption of innocence, which there ought to be.
Rule 13.03 (e) states “Cabs left unattended in “no parking” zone within the staging area or immediately outside of staging area will be ticketed and towed.” This rule is not a problem as long as there are areas where a reasonable number of cabs can park legally to accommodate drivers using the rest shelters or for other reasonable purposes.
Rule 14.07 concerns the Shared Ride Program – Starter’s Authority. The last sentence reads, “Chauffeurs shall follow the instructions of Starters at all times.” I think this sentence is vague and potentially confers police power to contracted Starters. As it relates to Shared Rides, the preceding sentence already states “The Starter or Authorized Personnel shall have complete authority to make final decisions pertaining to loading Shared Ride Passengers…” Thus I don’t see a need for the last sentence at all.
