Missoula gets second taxi company
By KEILA SZPALLER of the Missoulian
Green Taxi got a green light Tuesday to run a cab service in Missoula.
On a 3-2 vote, the Montana Public Service Commission gave Mick Murray authority to run a fuel-efficient taxicab business here.
"We have a line of credit ready. I want to go buy a car right now," said Jessica Murray, Mick's wife.
"I'm really ecstatic about the commission's decision," said Mick Murray. "I'm really excited about serving the Missoula public."
In September 2006, Mick Murray applied with the commission to run an energy-conscious cab service called Green Taxi. The potential competition brought protests from Yellow Cab and Medicab. The companies filed objections with the agency, which regulates utilities in Montana.
Commissioners deliberated and voted Tuesday at a Helena meeting broadcast live from the PSC Web site.
After the meeting, the owner and manager of Yellow Cab said the commission's decision would end up hurting customers because Missoula was not big enough to support two taxi companies.
"I lost a lot of money today," said Yellow Cab's Bob Gray.
However, Gray said his main concern is for his 16 employees. He said he expected layoffs will be the result, but he has never sent anyone to the unemployment line and prefers to make necessary cuts by attrition. At the very least, he doesn't expect to be boosting pay anytime soon.
"I don't see how we can increase wages with somebody else coming into town," Gray said.
He said Yellow Cab will not be able to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week – and will be a different company in the future, though he declined to offer other details.
"Our business will change. I guarantee it," Gray said.
If changes help customers who ride with Yellow Cab, Mick Murray said that's one positive outcome of the commission's decision. At a May hearing in Missoula, many witnesses said they wanted more reliable cab service.
Representatives from the tourism industry, conservation community and medical field supported another cab company in Missoula, according to PSC records. Testimony showed some elderly people missed medical appointments because of unreliable service.
"I definitely feel that there's room for two carriers in Missoula. And I think the public will only benefit by Yellow Cab improving its service," Murray said.
After the May hearing, Commissioner Doug Mood proposed the PSC deny Murray's application. Commissioners heard oral arguments from attorneys earlier in December. The group discussed the degree to which commissioners needed to consider the public interest and harm to the competition in their final decision.
On Tuesday, they voted 3-2 against Mood's proposed order. They then voted 3-2 to ask staff to write an order granting Murray permission to run a business as long as it doesn't cut into the authority of Medicab to provide prearranged, non-emergency services.
Commission Chairman Greg Jergeson and Commissioners Ken Toole and Bob Raney supported Green Taxi. They cited Missoula's growing population and testimony from witnesses asking for timely service as evidence of need. They saw lack of evidence that all revenue to Green Taxi would come from Yellow Cab.
"If there are not opportunities in Missoula for an incumbent to operate their business and an entrant to operate their business, I don't suspect there are any such opportunities in the state," said a commissioner in favor of the applicant.
Commissioners Mood and Brad Molnar opposed Green Taxi's application. They said evidence existed that both businesses could not survive in Missoula and argued the PSC was arbitrarily changing rules designed to protect the existing carrier.
Molnar also questioned the credibility of witnesses in favor of Green Taxi. He said he believed some of the testimony came from friends of the applicant and also from drunks who were in no position to judge how long they waited for a ride.
"I think that the testimony is highly suspicious," Molnar said.
Yellow Cab's Gray said he does not expect to appeal, but awaits the final order.
The Murrays, on the other hand, said they expect to begin shopping for hybrids post haste.
"My attorney told me that I needed to get on that, and I'm looking forward to doing that," Mick Murray said.
Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262 or at Keila.Szpaller@missoulian.com
