EDITORIAL: Long haul taxi trips must stop

Talk about being taken for a ride.

Passengers arriving at McCarran International Airport frequently get an unusually long taxi ride to their hotel destination where a $15 fare can occasionally turn into $50.

Yes, imagine that.

The practice is referred to as long hauling. And it's as common as hundred-degree days during Las Vegas summers.

"Long hauling is becoming truly epidemic," taxi driver Stephen Lenett told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a recent story. "Originally, you saw it from the airport to the hotels, but now it's just as prevalent going back to the airport. People are coming up with more creative ways to take people on longer rides."

Nevada Taxicab Authority board member Dean Collins estimates one out of three trips out of the airport go the long way. Some drivers put the percentage higher -- 50 percent or even 70 percent.

In 2011, some 3.3 million taxi rides originated at the airport. If half of those rides resulted in an extra $10 on the meter, by the Review-Journal's calculations taxi passengers saw a collective $16 million disappear from their pockets.

What to do?

Stop it.

Cut it out.

Rein it in and make it go away.

Tourists who come to Las Vegas from all over the U.S. and distant foreign destinations face dim prospects of leaving local casinos with any profits. They should not have to face unnecessary losses from the taxi ride as well.

Taxicab Authority administrator took over his post a year ago, vowing to bring long hauling under control. He declined to be interviewed for the Review-Journal story.

His representatives said the authority has taken steps, including posting direct-fare routes on its website and that of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, conducting random enforcement actions and triggering discussions about possible reforms. The taxi authority even recently pitched a $20 flat rate fare between the airport and the Strip. But with little support -- and long hauling ever-present -- the proposal went nowhere.

But talk is cheap. It's time for the taxi authority to back up words with action. Let's start with posting signs with proximate fares at McCarran taxicab stands. If the authority takes at least that first step, it can demonstrate it's serious about putting a dent in long hauling.