Free enterprise is the basis of the American Dream but what happens when there isn’t a large enough demand? Sukhwinder Aujla owns KMM Cab Company, the second largest taxi company in Sacramento, and has been driving for ten years. “Sacramento isn’t that busy. There’s not very many local customers. Our business depends very much on cab fare from the Convention Center.” Fredrick Pleines Jr. owns Yellow Cab Co. of Sacramento, the oldest taxi company in Sacramento, and has a different view. “Our bread and butter is shorter runs,” Pleines continues, “We try to operate leaner and meaner.” Typical fares might include someone who needs to get home from a dental appointment or has a daily commut

No new taxis will be allowed in Sacramento for the next two years, after the City Council passed a moratorium on new cab permits in a 7-2 vote Thursday. The moratorium was the first, and less-contentious, of two proposed ordinances related to the 450-500 taxis operating in the city. The other ordinance, which has yet to come to council, would require taxi companies to have a central dispatching station, which has come under fire from some taxi drivers. To read more, click here. Dafna Gauthier, business permit manager for the city, told the council that staff recommended the two-year moratorium to give them time to study the taxi market, and that there is a “general consensus” that there

 My first year driving a cab, I was 22 years old, and I was having the time of my life. Every night was a new adventure. Before every shift, I would ask what would fall across my path that night. There was no such thing as a normal night, and as a Bukowski/Kerouac-wannabe, I was Augstus Gloop, and the nightlife was my chocolate factory. But like that overeager nearsighted kid with a black hole for a stomach, I finally bit off more than I could chew. I picked up a fare just going a couple blocks. When we stopped the fare, he reached over from the backseat and tried to grab me, asking for my money. I got out of the cab still holding onto my first real leather jacket. He ended up ripping m

The City Council will decide within the next few months whether to stop issuing new taxi permits, and the council’s Law and Legislation Committee will take more time to decide whether central dispatching systems should be required for taxi companies. “If approved (by the City Council), no new taxicab vehicle permits will be issued or renewed,” said Dafna Gauthier, business permit manager for the city. This will limit the number of cabs, she said, referring to the moratorium. “There seems to be a consensus that there are too many taxis in the downtown area,” she added. That was one part of a proposed ordinance city staff has been working on since last October. The city’s taxi fleet was

If you live in the Midtown or Downtown areas, you've likely seen a polka-dotted cycle rickshaw around town lately. Chances are it was a Velocab, a part-engine, part-human-powered vehicle that serves as a taxi for one to three people. In a recent Sacramento Press article, Velocab owner Marc Christensen mentioned several historic spots accessible by a short bike ride. The following is a photo essay that captures a glimpse of what one might view on one of these rides, which takes less than two hours: Pictured: a Velocab, a zero-emissions taxi. Above: The Sacramento Press began its Velocab tour near the Amtrak station. It proceeded underneath the highway and into Old Sacramento. Photograph

 If you took a trip to, say, Phnom Penh, you would expect to be able to take a pedicab from your hotel to a restaurant and then afterwards around the city for a tour. The same would be true for most cities in Southeast Asia. But these days you might be surprised to do the same in Frankfurt or Delft … or even more recently in Boston or Sacramento. Pedicabs are being introduced in cities across Europe and America. The reasons are varied. Certainly they are a green alternative to cars or other forms of internal-combustion transport. There have been some technical innovations such as the electric assist that have made them more user-friendly. I like to think of their emergence in modern indus