COMPANY STILL IN CONTROL OF LAX TAXI MANAGEMENT.

Byline: Art Marroquin

Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Monday rejected all four bids from companies hoping to replace a taxicab management firm that was harshly criticized in an audit last year.

As a result, Los Angeles-based Authorized Taxicab Supervision will retain its contract to oversee more than 2,300 cab drivers at LAX.

Airport officials are expected to consider a new set of contract proposals in about six months, according to Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX.

Dozens of cabbies attended the airport commission meeting, some of whom complained that LAX has stalled in selecting a new management company.

The airport commission renewed its contract with ATS in 2006, despite protests from taxi drivers. But the complaints caught the attention of City Controller Laura Chick, who released an audit in January 2007 that listed a series of management problems within ATS.

"How long is this facade going to continue?" said Hamid Khan of the Los Angeles Taxi Workers Alliance. "We appreciate the board embarking on this effort to strengthen the process, but ATS continues to operate in the meantime."

Others defended management practices by ATS, which has held a contract with LAX for more than two decades. More than 1.5 million passengers caught taxis at the airport last year.

"Every one of these taxicab passengers is revenue in the drivers' pockets," said William Rouse, general manager of Yellow Cab and United Checker Cab.

"In November, just after Thanksgiving, we saw 7,600 taxicab trips out of the airport," Rouse said. "That doesn't just happen. It happens with effective management."

ATS was accused of paying its board of directors with cash, failing to file state disability forms and paying tens of thousands of dollars to contractors with no real oversight, according to Chick's audit.

The audit also criticized airport officials for failing to properly monitor ATS. In one case, ATS charged a catering truck $24,000 to park at Terminal One. In another instance, ATS paid off-duty police officers to search for so-called bandit taxis, or unauthorized cabbies.

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