Towns Should Get Behind the Wheel

There are plenty of reasons why the old notion of the East End breaking away to form its own Peconic County is next-to impossible, but a new issue — how to regulate taxis and ride-sharing services — points to the necessity of some regional cooperation.

Southampton and East Hampton Town officials have been struggling with taxis in an attempt to control what has been seen as a chaotic current situation on the roads. In the most egregious instances, out-of-town taxis flooded the South Fork in recent summers, often charging customers crazily inflated fares for short rides and getting lost along the way to a destination. Cab and ride-share drivers, in turn, gave rise to complaints from business owners here, who said they slept in their vehicles during the day in front of stores and relieved themselves in public.

East Hampton Town responded with a locals-only policy, requiring a physical address for each vehicle offering transportation. While perhaps well-intentioned, this was improperly anti-competitive; there are any number of East Hamptoners who would like to see UpIsland competitors banned, but that would not make it defensible in court.

Though it was hardly the target of local complaints, Uber went nuts, organizing a nuance-blind campaign claiming that it had been banned and bringing the town a measure of bad publicity. On its own, the Southampton Town Board is now looking to revise its taxi regulations. One consideration would be to require ride-share drivers to obtain town licenses, the way individual cab companies must now.

With so much inter-town travel, a cooperative scheme would be preferable. Unfortunately, the Suffolk County Taxi and Limousine Commission has failed to provide any measure of order in this new reality. Our take is that the county is rarely a good regulatory partner for East End municipalities, given that its work force and focus are centered to the west.

A better solution would be for the East End towns to form their own commission. This could provide effective new rules, while allowing ride-share customers access to a service they clearly desire. It might also improve safety and cleanliness and create a means for resolving legitimate complaints. The current piecemeal approach is just not working.