On Black Friday, the Cherry Creek Shopping Center becomes a magnet for independent taxi drivers like Abdi Buni.
On this day, the day after Thanksgiving, when business is so good many retailers finally turn a profit for the year, Buni has previously picked up as many as 15 customers from a taxi stand at the popular mall.
But this year, he was barred from waiting outside the mall for customers because he is an owner-operator for one of two taxi companies, Union and Freedom, that are no longer permitted to pick up clients there.
“That was a big hit on Black Friday,” said Buni, who has six children and normally makes more than $200 on the busy shopping day.
So on Saturday, he joined more than 100 horn-honking taxi drivers who encircled the shopping center to protest new restrictions that give preferential access to two competing cab companies.
“Pretty much it was a sea of orange,” said Lisa Bolton, CWA Local 7777 president, referring to the color of Union’s cabs. “It went excellent.”
The mall is one of the prime locations in Denver for taxi drivers to find clients during the busiest time of the year.
But after entering into a contract with the mall, only Yellow Cab and Metro Taxi will be allowed to wait at its taxi stands.
Union Taxi and Freedom Taxi drivers can drop off clients at the mall and, when called, pick them up, but they can’t sit at the designated taxi-waiting areas.
“It hinders competition and freedom of taxi choice,” Bolton said.
Buni said it also means that shoppers will have less money to spend in the mall because Union and Freedom drivers charge lower fees.
“If we are charging lower rates, why are they not allowing us to serve their customers?” he said.
Cherry Creek general manager Nick LeMasters said the mall has become so popular that something had to be done to restrict the volume of taxis waiting outside. It had become a traffic issue.
“It was simply out of control,” LeMasters said.
The mall entered a financial agreement with two proven companies that provide quality service, he said.
“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with them,” he said. “This is certainly not a slight on Union or Freedom.”
If mall patrons ask mall employees to call one of the other taxi companies, they will be glad to do so, LeMasters said.
The taxi contract is no different than many other business arrangements the mall has with numerous vendors that give them exclusive access to the shopping center, LeMasters said.
He added that most of the taxi drivers for Yellow Cab and Metro Taxi are minorities who are also owner-operators.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
