Taxi revived with new owner

Catching a cab in Kalispell just got easier.

A little more than five weeks after Kalispell Taxi?s former owner went out of business in early August, Practical Rent A Car and Blacktail Express owner Don Hines won the right to restart the service on Sept. 12.

The next day, Hines fired up an entirely new fleet with new drivers and picked up his first fares.

?It?s been an eye-opener, trying to put my perspective in place and trying to deal with the perception of what it was,? Hines said this week. ?Everybody that gets in the cars now goes, ?Wow, this is really nice, and the people are nice.??

In the big picture, businesses come and businesses go. That?s the marketplace.

But in the Flathead Valley, with its limited public transportation system, a taxi alternative takes on greater importance.

?We have a very large community need for taxi services for the elderly who might have doctor?s appointments at times different than what Eagle Transit can take them, and for our persons with disabilities,? United Way Executive Director Sherry Stevens Wulf said.

She works closely with a coalition of social service agencies who help many of these people in the Flathead.

?And there?s just a huge unmet need with gas prices being so high,? Wulf said. ?The taxi service is a critical piece of making our community live and work together well.?

Viewing local transportation as a critical community service, akin to natural gas and electricity suppliers, the Montana Legislature put the Public Service Commission in a regulatory role over taxi services.

In that position, the commission approves a taxi company?s tariff ? its comprehensive operation plan setting out rates, hours of operation, type of operation and other details.

The taxi service must provide proof of insurance coverage, drivers? backgrounds and other support for its fitness as a taxi service before receiving its authority to operate.

As a Public Service Commissioner representing this region, when Ken Toole learned of this summer?s demise of Kalispell Taxi, he was concerned.

?Ironically, in Montana cab companies generally serve a lot of low-income and fixed-income people,? as opposed to the high rollers who use New York City cabs, Toole said after he learned of Kalispell Taxi?s troubles.

?They?re the best choice for doctor appointments, grocery shopping ? Here, it is actually providing a vital public service so I, as a commissioner for that area, am very worried that the service is not there. And we need to get it fixed quickly.?

After working over several weeks with those involved, Toole was relieved to learn Hines had restarted the service on Sept. 13.

?I?m very happy with this development,? Toole said. ?The calls I?m getting definitely pointed [the need] out. I?m glad Kalispell Taxi (came through) and I wish them well.?

It?s been a long road for Hines.

Kalispell Taxi had been operated for some time by James Michael. He eventually wanted to sell the business and started talking with Hines about a purchase agreement.

Hines already owned Practical Rent A Car and Blacktail Express, the original transportation service for Blacktail Mountain ski area that he has expanded to regional bus trips for groups going to Grizzly football games and the like.

He said he and the original owner?s families had worked closely together some 20 or 30 years ago.

Hines and Michael had just about settled on a purchase agreement, Hines said, when Michael died in March 2006.

Michael?s son, James Michael Jr., had not been part of the pending purchase agreement, so took over operation of Kalispell Taxi for the next couple years.

Hines eventually approached the younger Michael about his continued interest in buying the operation but ?negotiations started back where they were basically two years ago,? Hines said.

By this year, ?the company had deteriorated to the point where basically there was nothing to buy,? he said, mentioning what he considered improper actions and driver histories under James Michael Jr.?s ownership.

He said Toole told him if he is ?not able to come to an arrangement with the estate, I probably could apply for like permits? that probably would be granted, Hines said.

?In the past, that was not feasible,? while the elder Michael still operated a viable service, Hines said, ?but now the community need is great.?

Hines has acquired a short-term lease, giving him time to apply for long-term possession of Kalispell Taxi?s permits and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, issued by the Public Service Commission, and enter into a buy-sell agreement with the younger Michael.

The Public Service Commission has an interest in carving out taxi-service domains in each market to ensure vital community services are met.

?The concern is that if you have one carrier in town providing service to everyone,? Toole said, ?and then someone else comes in to take care of certain sectors like the airport calls because they?re reliable, or the 2 a.m. bar rush because it?s regular,? only the less-predictable daily calls will remain.

?The problem is, the original service loses revenue and can?t meet the basic community needs so it goes out of business ? and then nobody is meeting those needs,? Toole said.

?If we have a free-market approach, then the existing cab service could be cannibalized and then the original would go out of business,? he said, losing money as it pays drivers to sit idle.

Toole follows that rationale in questioning the wisdom of deregulating limousine and taxi services in Montana, legislation that the Public Service Commission likely will seek a sponsor for in the 2009 Legislature. He sees no reason to continue regulating limo service, he said, but cautioned against the ramifications of deregulating taxis.

Kalispell Taxi, Hines said, has authority to operate within 50 miles of Kalispell plus areas beyond that distance.

?The permits Kalispell Taxi has give me a tremendous operating area,? Hines said, including Flathead, Sanders and Lincoln counties plus the northern part of Missoula County.

He?s joining the market along with Columbia Falls Taxi, under lease to Randy Johnson of Flathead Glacier Transportation, and with Whitefish Taxi. The latter is up for sale, Hines said.

Hines bundled Kalispell Taxi along with Practical Rent A Car and Blacktail Express under his umbrella group, Glacier Country Transportation Centre, and moved headquarters to the former Sinclair gas station at 1405 U.S. 2 East just north of Snappy Sport Senter.

He hired two new drivers and retained one driver who worked under the former owner, and will drive full-time himself. Drivers will be wearing sharp-looking but casual uniforms, he said, and cars will be kept clean.

Hines personally will handle virtually all the clients for United Way and related agencies, something he said is a natural choice because of his background in the emergency medical services industry, with Big Mountain Ski Patrol, across a decade on the Flathead County Planning Board, and at the helm of several businesses that still are operational.

He?s in the middle of talks with United Way to negotiate a new agreement, has started a direct-contact marketing effort with potential markets, and expects to restart the Safe Ride Home program in partnership with Fun Beverage.

Kalispell Taxi?s new rates are $6 for the initial call, or $5 for senior citizens, and $2.95 a mile after the first mile.

That?s nearly double the company?s old mileage rate, he said. It is causing some regular customers to balk, at least until Hines explains.

?The Public Service Commission had not granted Kalispell Taxi a rate increase for 12 years,? he said, ?and those (old) rates were based on $1.50-a-gallon gas. And it?s jumped to $4 now.?

Hines still has to work through the state permitting system and strike an agreement with James Michael Jr. But he has the support of a big coalition of potential clients.

?We?ve had one meeting with the social service agencies to talk about the changes and to try to reassure them that the service is coming,? the United Way?s Wulf said.

?We definitely are trying to lend our personal support ? not our financial support ? in any way to help the new taxi service get going. The clients so desperately need that particular service in the community.?

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com