Taxi Cabs Anchorage Alaska

East Anchorage Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar said the town was willing to make small changes to lower approval rates for riders by up to $200 or more. However, taxi riders who addressed the Tuesday rally said to town officials that the changes were not enough to lower their regulation burdens or help them better rival car pools like Uber and Lyft.

"That' s a big issue and it will get even bigger and there will be a taxi drive, we will just stop the taxis at the right moment and the town will see how badly the taxis are needed," said Bob Ransom, a taxi operator at Anchorage.

Driver like Ransom said to the assembly for almost an entire hours that there was nothing the town could do to help them, unless they had more rules for Uber and Lyft and abolished taxi licensing tolls. The meeting, however, reiterated to the riders that, due to new legislation passed by Governor Walker, the town has no authority to control car pools of any kind.

A lot of those who talked also seemed to think that the municipality is suggesting actions that are not on the Assembly Agenda, such as surge pricing or extra carpooling tolls. "And I think it would help the business, and I think you'd want it to get through as soon as possible, but what I'm listening to this evening is some mess about it, so I agree to move it," Dunbar said.

Another open working meeting will be held to discuss changes to the cabin rules on 16 March at 1:55 a.m. at Anchorage Town Hall on 16 March and a voting by the meeting on 20 March.