Like Ants at a Picnic

As Fourth of July weekend and the peak of the summer season approach, complaints already have been heard about the plethora of taxis operating in East Hampton Town. Some residents object to places where drivers park to rest. Others find their sometimes littered and noisy congregation points sore points, which may interfere with the public’s access to shopping.  

Another beef is cabs standing in front of various bars and restaurants, sometimes creating traffic hazards. And yet another is that taxi drivers sometimes hunt aggressively for riders or dump people to whom they have made a commitment when they think a better money-making fare is likely.  These might be legitimate gripes, but they miss the underlying point: Taxis are not the source of the problem.

Think of the plague of taxis like ants at a picnic. When they swarm, you lift the plate of fried chicken out of their reach. In the real-world case of East Hampton, sprawling nightclubs and outdoor party hangouts are the attraction; cut down on the number of patrons and the number of cabs drops, too.

As with so many other things, Town Hall seems only able to focus on the symptoms, not the causes. As long as East Hampton has booming clubs with hundreds of drink-swilling patrons, it will have a cab problem. And no amount of regulation of drivers, taxi companies, or anything else will make much of a difference. 

Want a calmer, safer, quieter East Hampton with fewer cabbies arrogantly bombing around without regard to traffic laws? You would have to close the clubs.