'No Fare': Village Chooses New Cab Company, Ridgewood Taxi Considering Litigation

After a century as the village's taxi service, will be shuttered due to a village council resolution accepting a bid to replace the Broad Street concession stand with bitter rival E&K Car Service in Hawthorne.

That E&K's offer was accepted by the village is a particular jarring hit to Ridgewood Taxi given the acrimonious relationship it has with its rival.

The bid winner, Ridgewood Taxi co-owner Kathleen Rutler said Thursday night, "was a former associate, who at one point offered to buy the company, but left with several employees to form their own company, resulting in legal action."

Bill Shehu, owner of E&K confirmed there had been litigation as well as an offer to purchase Ridgewood Taxi, but said there was no impropriety on E&K's part. "They are not failing because of me," he said. "They're going down because they didn't do a good job," he added.

Shehu said his company, which began six years ago after he left Ridgewood Taxi, is "more in the limo service" business but will have a local fare component in Ridgewood and will be "matching prices" the village asked them to match.

"We are happy we got the contract. We've already ordered four new cars," he said. "We're going to have a really good service in Ridgewood."

Rutler further expressed disappointment with the village's decision to end the relationship with Ridgewood Taxi. "We were led to believe that we would win the bid as it was going to be awarded to the company with a proven taxi record," she said.

Rutler also remarked that the service has been operating for years without a rate increase to customers but wrestled with their own increases in fuel and insurance costs.

She added that the village also made assurances the bidding "wasn't a complaint issue" with Ridgewood Taxi. The Rutlers are looking into litigation options and were unable to comment further, they said.

by the Village Manager's Office in the winter after the council , which eventually were lowered by the council. Co-owner Kathleen Rutler appeared before the village council in the fall noting that "times were tough" but said the taxi service was always carrying more than the state-required minimum though she conceded it hadn't reapplied for a license as required.

In the bid held in late February, E&K offered the village $2,700 rent per month for rent of upstairs of 28 North Broad Street, a village-owned property that had been rented to Ridgewood Taxi for decades (though the downstairs has not been used in recent years due to construction at the train station).

By contrast, Ridgewood Taxi submitted $1,500 for use of the upstairs or $1,000 as a concession fee should the downstairs be in use.

Village Manager Ken Gabbert said Friday morning that the village followed all proper procedures throughout the bid process. "Detailed service requirements were duly advertised, vendor materials received by the due date, responses reviewed, analyzed, recommendations made, and presented to the council for review and approval," he said.

Higher rates for residents?

Resident Roger Weigand stated during Wednesday night's public meeting that what the village has done is essentially "went with the company that was giving us the most rent." But Weigand also expressed concern that residents–especially seniors–will see a fare hike as a result of the bid award.

E&K charges first mile rates of $5.00 plus $2.50 for each additional mile; and for local rates outside the village charge $6.00 for the first mile and an additional $3.00 per each additional mile. On the bid, E&K states, "We are willing to maintain current rates charged to Ridgewood residents."

In its rejected proposal, Ridgewood Taxi proposed raising structures to $3.50 for the first tenth of a mile, then 30 cents for each next tenth of a mile, a $1.00 increase of the current fair. There would have also been a "rush hour/nights" surcharge of $1.00, "as per other transportation companies," according to the bid proposal.

Rates to the airports were larely the same–with Ridgewood Taxi charging $81 to Newark; $98 to LaGuardia; $130 to JFK but with a $10.00 surcharge for pickups. The airport trips includes all tolls, and there would be a $10.00 surcharge on holidays. Trips to uptown Manhattan and downtown Manhattan would have been $87 and $98, respectively. All prices for E&K were the same, spare a $1 more fare to Laguardia and with no surcharges.

Ridgewood Taxi also objected that regulation of airport services "is beyond the jurisdiction of the village" but complied to fulfil bid requirements.

Village 'thoroughly examined' bid?

Deputy Mayor Tom Riche said the village unquestionably did its due dilligence in awarding the bid.

"This is the most thorough examination of any bid that I've seen received in the village to date," Riche said Wednesday night at the council meeting.

The deputy mayor added that the village weighed certain categories in determining the winning bid, of which he said rent was only "10 percent" of the total factors, among them financial stability of the business, insurance requirements, customer service, responsiveness.

"The rate given by the company that had been awarded the bid was more inclusive of the first mile or two miles than some of the others," he said. "So when you look at the current rate structure versus the bid rate structure, it's not significantly different."

E&K, according to the bid, will be charging largely the same non-local rates inclusive of fares, tolls and applicable taxes. There were no noted surcharges in the bid.

Any chance Ridgewood Taxi stays?

Village officials say the timetable for Ridgewood Taxi's departure isn't yet known, nor what, if any, impact the loss of bid would have on Ridgewood Taxi's garage, located further down on South Broad Street. Ridgewood Taxi similarly did not comment on the matter.

Any hopes Ridgewood Taxi could find another spot to operate out of in the village seemed dashed on Wednesday night, as explained by Village Attorney Matt Rogers.

"The ordinance allows for one license to be issued and that license be [for] the building at Broad Street in the present place where Ridgewood Taxi is situated. That's what the ordinance allows for–one license," Rogers said.

Ridgewood Taxi isn't currently operating with a license, but instead has been operating under Village Manager's approval for months.

Though its license appears to be gone, Ridgewood Taxi–under ownership of the Rutler family for the last 40 years– is anything but.

David Rutler told Patch on Thursday night that "Ridgewood Taxi is a family business in full operation, serving the community as it has for 40 years."

"I'm proud of the loyalty of our long time employees and grateful to our equally long-time customers. We will continue to serve the community."

[Editor's note: For full disclosure, Kathleen Rutler has written articles published by Patch. This had no bearing on the reporting or writing of this article.]