3 cab companies register to do business in Franklin

Two aldermen who together represent the neighborhoods most likely to have taxis on their streets have differing views on what to do with a rarely enforced ordinance that requires cabs to register with the city.Since 2010, Franklin has piggybacked on Nashville's inspection and licensing requirements. Cabs that come into the city to pick up passengers must file their Metro certificate with local police. The assumption is that taxis here would be shuttling passengers to and from the airport and thus would need a Metro certificate. The move was seen as a way of reducing regulatory hurdles for cab companies while still giving the city some assurance of basic safety and service.The Tennessean reported on this in January and since then three companies have registered, according to Milissa Reierson, a spokesperson for the city. There has been no attempt by Franklin officials to bring any cab companies into compliance, said Reierson, nor are scofflaws being ticketed.
"For safety reasons, I think we need to be aware of who's serving our area," Alderman Beverly Burger said. "We probably need to look back into that. It's our responsibility, if they come into our area, to make sure everything is copacetic. It's a basic issue of safety."Burger represents Franklin's 1st Ward, which includes a large swath of Interstate 65 and all the hotels that surround it. The alderman said she is not in favor of making the regulations any more cumbersome for taxis or the city, but ensuring that the vehicles and the drivers are held to at least a minimal standard makes sense.
Burger also said she would like to see more cabs in Franklin.Immediately south of Burger's ward boundary, Interstate 65 falls within Alderman Mike Skinner's territory. Skinner sees the lack of enforcement differently."I haven't heard any complaints and I rarely see cabs at all,"he said.The registration requirement might be a solution in search of a problem, according to Skinner. City officials and hoteliers are not hearing complaints about unsafe taxis or scam operations, so there isn't a need to dedicate municipal resources to the industry. Simply because a taxi crosses into Williamson County or Franklin should not trigger another layer of bureaucracy, Skinner said."It takes manpower, even if you're just checking things off,"he said.