The Nevada Taxicab Authority on Friday reversed an earlier decision on cab allocations for concurrent trade shows later this month, giving Las Vegas’ 16 cab companies the opportunity to temporarily add vehicles to their fleets.
At the request of the Frias Cos. — the largest taxicab operator in Southern Nevada, with 650 medallions spread among four companies — the board agreed in a 3-1 vote to allow additional cabs Jan. 18-19 during the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show and the Adult Entertainment Expo, which have overlapping run dates in mid-January.
The so-called SHOT Show — the ninth-largest convention in Las Vegas in 2012 — is expected to draw 45,000 people and will run Jan. 17-20 while the Adult Expo, which forecasts attendance of 30,000, is scheduled Jan. 18-21.
The decision reversal comes at a time when Las Vegas is bracing for major influxes in convention traffic for January, beginning with next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show.
The board’s order allows five medallions per company between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. both days and an additional five medallions during any 12-hour period between noon and 2 a.m. on Jan. 18.
Since every company gets the same allocation, there could be an additional 160 cabs on Clark County streets on Jan. 18, although small cab companies don’t have enough spare vehicles to use their allotted allocations.
Friday’s approval overturned a November action when a similar request failed in a 2-2 vote.
Rival companies supported the Frias request, but it was opposed by two unions representing cab drivers — the United Steelworkers and the Industrial Technical Professional Employees.
Unions normally oppose additional allocations because more cars and more drivers mean less money per driver.
Board members said they were swayed by new information offered by Frias — statements from Steve Patterson, traffic manager of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; David Sukala, director of corporate sales at the Hard Rock Hotel; and convention transportation consultant Mark Prestage of RPMs.
The three third-party witnesses focused on how taxi service is a critical piece of the Las Vegas convention experience and that failure to meet customer expectations could lead meeting planners to consider venues in other cities.
Patterson, who monitors taxi lines when exhibitions close for the day at big shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center, got involved in the process eight years ago when taxi service was criticized by organizers of CES.
Patterson said road supervisors from taxi companies were asked to help direct traffic to speed the taxi loading process. He said he gets nervous when taxi lines grow to be more than 30 minutes long. The LVCVA has hired Elvis impersonators, magicians and musicians to entertain people in line to defuse tempers of long-waiting conventioneers.
Patterson said he’s even committed the ultimate sacrilege in the eyes of taxi operators — handing out free tickets to use the Las Vegas Monorail when lines are particularly long.
The Taxicab Authority’s efforts will be watched closely in the weeks ahead with the arrival of CES next week and the concurrent World of Concrete and Surfaces shows Jan. 23-28.
At the November meeting, the board approved allocations similar to those authorized for the SHOT show and the Adult Expo Jan. 24-26.
But for CES, the board approved one of the largest allocations ever, approving 17 medallions per company during any 12-hour period between noon and 2 a.m., on Monday and 17 medallions per company from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, companies can have 17 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 17 more for any 12-hour period from noon to 2 a.m.
That means that for 48 hours, each company could have up to 34 additional cabs on the street — a total of 544 additional vehicles.
One of the biggest concerns during CES is the availability of cabs for conventioneers arriving at McCarran International Airport.
The Taxicab Authority staff won’t project how many cab rides will occur to and from McCarran during CES, but based on recent history, it could be record-breaking.
At the peak of the show in 2011, the Taxicab Authority recorded 14,495 rides a day from both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. On average in January, there are 8,968 pickups a day at both terminals at McCarran.
The peak day last year was Wednesday, Jan. 5, the second full day of the show. Between show attendees and exhibitors, more than 149,000 attended the show last year.
This year, the Consumer Electronics Association projected attendance of 140,000 and 2,700 exhibitors, some of which bring several employees in their groups.
At Friday’s Taxicab Authority meeting, cab company owners said they expected more than 150,000 at the show and possibly as many as 160,000.