VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/112509
talking points Reader comments We want to hear from you. Visit vegasinc.com to post your opinion. On Rick Velotta���s Feb. 25 VEGAS INC story about taxi long-hauling (���Critics accuse taxicab officials of soft touch on long-haulers���): I drove for Frias for two years and left. I was one who refused to long-haul. In fact, I used the topic to warn every passenger and told them to report it by using the phone number on the driver���s license posted in the front on the passenger side. The real deal here is money. If you take those ride figures and translate them into dollars, the number is even more staggering. Long-hauling is worth over $10 million a year, and more to companies. I did some numbers and came up with about $2��million a month for all cab companies. Do you really think cab companies or the Taxicab Authority wants to lose millions in revenue a year? People want to blame the drivers. Blame the game and the companies. They are the ones who will lose out if long-hauling laws are enforced. Drivers are just trying to make a living, and since the increase (20 percent) last year in cabs on the 20 20130304_VI20_F.indd 20 road, they are now just getting by. Did you know drivers are required to drive 11.5 hours a day? Five days a week. No overtime. They pay for the gas. They pay the Taxicab Authority. They pay for the trip sheet. When you get your check, it works out to about $4.50 an hour. You have to make your money on tips. Most make about $50 a shift; good ones can do a hundred. It still works out to barely above minimum wage. ��� JayMurphy On Rick Velotta���s Feb. 21 vegasinc.com story about whether violence on the Strip will have an adverse effect on tourism (���Will Strip shootout and crash hurt Las Vegas tourism?���): This is not going to affect the average tourist decision to visit Las Vegas. First of all, the average tourist will not even be fully aware of this. Most of them will pay little attention to the story. The reality is the Vegas lovers will not let an isolated incident like this keep them away. Vegas is what it is, and it���s whatever you want it to be. The real victims here are the cab driver and the passenger. As tragic as this is, the odds of this happening again are remote. Those are odds that Vegas lovers will be willing to take. Vegas will always have an element of danger to it, but the magic and allure will always win out. Sure, a few people may change their plans to visit Vegas, but out of 40��million visitors, their absence will not even be a speck to be reckoned with. ��� jaymes4u (James Higgins) It probably won���t affect tourism much, but these types of events impeded our ability to diversify our economy. Most businesspeople have families. High violent crime, poor health care and poor education reduce the chances of getting the best and brightest. We need these folks to grow and strengthen the Nevada economy. ��� zippert1 (Gerry Hageman) It won���t discourage me from visiting Las Vegas. Heck, there���s crime and car crashes in my town, which has been deemed one of the safest small cities in the country. Did 9/11 stop people from flying or visiting New York? No. I was in Dallas��� union station in 1993 when there was a potential shooting situation that didn���t happen, but it ended with only the man with the gun winding up dead. But it didn���t keep me from riding trains. You can���t stop all crime; it���s going to happen wherever and whenever, so hopefully nobody gets deterred from visiting Las Vegas. ��� Motowner4Vegas (Kate Sturgill) Half our visitors come from California. Thirty percent of that from Southern Cal. They see this stuff on the news all the time. It���s not going to stop them from coming. The recent stabbing in the elevator is more frightening, actually. I tell people if they can to get on one by themselves. I do that even if at a Station Casino parking garage. This is why there needs to be a separate agency from the LVCVA concerning tourism. They control too much of what happens around here, and the city of Las Vegas does nothing to promote the city other than the Strip. ��� chediski | 4 MARCH 2013 | 2/28/13 2:41:35 PM