Rein in long-hauling taxi drivers

Las Vegas is a town known for separating willing tourists from their money with games of chance. But a new legislative audit has found some companies are taking tourists’ money by outright fraud.

According to the audit, nearly 1.5 million visitors were “long-hauled” by Las Vegas taxicabs in 2011, overcharged by an estimated $14.8 million on trips to and from McCarran International Airport that were longer than they should have been.

The extra miles added about $10 to the average cab fare, benefitting cabbies and cab companies, but giving Las Vegas a black eye in the process.

The agency charged with enforcement of the law against long-hauling — the Nevada Taxicab Authority — has been woefully ineffective at preventing the practice. The agency’s police officers try to conduct stings, but word spreads quickly by radio through the close-knit cabbie community, rendering such enforcement efforts moot almost immediately. Checkpoints serve only to inconvenience customers and are similarly thwarted. Whatever sanctions have been imposed thus far have clearly not stopped the problem.

What might go a long way toward ending the practice of long-hauling is education. Infrequent or first-time visitors should be told how to avoid being ripped off. The Taxicab Authority has actually begun this campaign by posting signs at the airport and inside taxis that display the estimated fare to popular resorts, so customers will know if they’re getting overcharged. That’s a good start.

At some point, however, the utility of the Taxicab Authority itself comes into question. If authority investigators cannot put a dent in what’s obviously a large and continuing problem, or even perform basic functions, someone at the Nevada Legislature should ask whether it shouldn’t be replaced by a more effective method of protecting tourists — and something that allows entry by more free-market competitors, to boot.

This problem needs to be solved, and quickly.