Wild West Limo Scene
Rogue limo drivers poach fares and menace passengers, while those who play by the rules lose out.
The Department of Licensing has no enforcement staff in Seattle or King County, where nearly 80 percent of the state’s 852 legally licensed limos, and hundreds more unlicensed freebooters, operate. Even on the rare occasions when DOL pursues transgressors, their rules require that inspectors conduct time-consuming sting operations, riding in the illegal limos first and then sending their paperwork over to the Attorney General’s office for processing. As a result, DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony acknowledges, “it can take some time” to punish the few violators actually caught. “A year,” complains Kevin Williams, who’s sent in photos of egregious practices only to see nothing done.
For operators like Williams trying to play by the rules, the regulatory web can seem suffocating. The Mercedes E320s he uses are the largest sedans available with diesel (i.e., biodiesel) engines. With their wood trim, head-spinning array of comfort controls, and $50,000-plus list prices, their luxury status seems clear; at an official average 26 miles per gallon of veggie diesel (Williams says he gets 29), their eco-credentials are as good as luxury gets. But under state rules drafted by the limo lobby and adopted in 1996, they’re two inches under the minimum wheelbase for “executive sedans” that can legally be used as limos—a threshold that excludes just about every current sedan except the Lincoln Town Car and largest Cadillac.
Williams says he nevertheless managed to get three Mercedes approved by the State Patrol, which inspects vehicles for the Department of Licensing. Then, in late April, the Patrol rejected a fourth as undersized. He says he’s seen Lexuses and other models that are even shorter get approved. Ray Norris, the chief inspector at the Patrol’s Tukwila inspection station, doubts that would happen: “We check with a tape measure and only pass the ones that meet the criteria. Now we’re human, and sometimes a new person might let something through. But we try to catch it.” Williams says smart operators take dodgy cars to outlying Patrol stations unfamiliar with the limo rules—“Yakima’s a favorite”—for approval.
The Port of Seattle also inadvertently makes life harder for the small limo operators by requiring that all drivers get chauffeur certification. It allows the larger companies that make up the Puget Sound Limousine Association to do their own training, using an accredited video. But other drivers must take King County’s taxi-driving course. Much of the course work—such as reading taxi meters—is irrelevant to limo driving. And the mandatory schedule—Monday and Tuesday classes, testing on some ensuing Wednesday—is a hurdle for drivers, most of whom go to school or hold other jobs.
Williams says the burdensome schedule makes it hard for him to hire and certify qualified drivers. “So call in sick!” laughs city licensing manager Leisy. “Take some days off. That’s what you do when you’re trying to get a new job.”
City Hall nevertheless longs to crack down on the unlicensed, uninsured drivers. Last year it tried and failed to persuade the legislature to give it back authority to regulate the limo business. Before the last legislative session, city, state, and port officials and the Limousine Association worked out a compromise bill: The state would stay in charge, but the city, which already has inspectors on the ground, would get authority and funding (by raising license fees, which now run just $40 a year per operator, plus $25 per limo) to enforce the state rules. It sailed through the House and seemed poised to do likewise in the Senate.
Then Williams and other independent operators launched a last-minute lobbying counterattack, arguing that the new scheme would cost them too much and do nothing about their problems. Williams, with his actor’s gift of gab, made an effective lobbyist. The bill died in the Senate.
This summer, the various players will try to work out a new compromise, somehow assuaging the anxious independents. Maybe they’ll even find a way to accredit a posh Mercedes as an “executive sedan.” Meanwhile, prom night and cruise ship season are under way, and rogue drivers are revving their engines.
Published: June 2010
Great article. I only wish it had mentioned the amazing job our chauffeurs are doing in reducing our carbon tread. They are truly what keeps the customers coming back.
Obviously Craig Leisy, with the City, doesn’t understand that many potential chauffeurs are full-time employees or students that are looking for supplemental income. Many have had their pay cut at their regular jobs or they need to pay for their kids’ college which has skyrocketed since their original budget. They can’t afford to take 3 sick days in a row (if they get sick days) and $250 in order to take an english test and study a bunch of taxi rules that don’t apply to them and do nothing to eliminate illegal practices at the Port. They are not looking for a new job, they are working damn hard to try and make ends meet.
When I tell a grad student studying environmental practices that he’ll have to miss three days of classes and spend $300 in order to drop people off at the airport for 20 bucks a pop it just doesn’t fly.
There are ways to eliminate the illegal operators and keep the public safe. Hopefully this summer we’ll be drafting legislation with some teeth that won’t put all the small operators out of business.
Ride safely,
Kevin Williams
Founder- SeattleGreenLimo.com
I am glad Mr Williams wants to eliminate the illegal operators who don’t follow the rules or regulations. Perhaps the first step would be to start with himself.
By his own admission, his Mercedes E320 don’t qualify as executive sedans for limousine use. He expresses dismay and surprise the car was not passed when it came up for renewal. He should have been surprised when it passed the first time. It sounds to me the examiner was following the rules and regulations that Mr. Williams knew very well. Pointing out ways to get around the rules doesn’t sound like an operator trying to abide by the legal requirements. Lincoln and Cadillac are only two of many companies which make cars that meet the Limousine requirements. Lexus, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Maserati all have models that would fit the requirements of a executive sedan. There is even an electric car, the Karma by Fisker, that meets the requirements.
I am a small (one car, Lincoln Executive L) operator. I would have welcomed Seattle being able to enforce state regulations. In my opinion, the illegal operators were the only ones to have anything to fear. Someone would finally be enforcing the rules that have been on the books for years.
The Mercedes operated by one of my companies are no longer registered as a limousine. However, there are other, completely legal, categories in which to operate them, it’s just a needless hassle. There is nothing illegal about any of my operations.
Bruce Deans, the commenter above, is a former employee of mine and has been chasing me ever since he started losing business to me. None of the models Bruce mentions in his post would meet any sort of green requirement. They’re all running on gas OR don’t meet the ridiculous minimum wheelbase. And the two industry standards, the Lincoln Town Car and Caddy Deville Bruce mentions, are both being phased out by their respective manufacturers. They’re dinosaurs and not what consumers (you) are interested in anymore. The Fisker Karma, while electric, has a very limited range (50 miles – one round trip to the airport from Kirkland) before recharging, is outrageously expensive (87 grand to start), and completely impractical for livery use. PLUS it’s a sports car. Would anyone ride in a car that I’d have to charge twice as much for? The whole point is to offer green without sacrifice.
This is the same sort of idiocy that I have been fighting for years. NOWHERE else on the planet would I have a problem registering a green Benz as a livery vehicle. Nowhere. Not in any of the 98% States that aren’t Washington either. The original definition was pushed into place by operators like Bruce who simply want to eliminate consumer choice and competition. That’s not what this great country is all about. We a country of innovation and morality and it’s time for this State to step up to its moniker the Evergreen State.
As a single car operator/driver I’m pretty sure Bruce didn’t read the part in HB1775 that would have made it a $300 civil infraction any time he took a booking outside his office. How long could Bruce stay in business if he couldn’t make any reservations once he left his home to begin his daily work? It’s because of idiotic rules like that that I fought the bill, to keep legal operators like Bruce (and scores of immigrants who couldn’t effectively communicate for themselves in the Senate committee) on the road, whether he realizes it or not.
Go Green,
Kevin Williams
Founder,
Seattle Green Limo