As a cabbie in Las Vegas I am torn between telling you to schedule your New Years Eve to include activities all over town so me and my buddies get you in our taxis…..however your best bet for NYE Las Vegas, is to stay in one place for the entire evening.
The Las Vegas Strip begins shutting down at 6pm and is closed to all vehicle traffic by local Metro Police around 8pm on December 31. Getting around the Strip is a major nightmare NYE as you can imagine. In the Downtown Fremont Street area, Police start closing freeway exits etc around 5pm. It becomes very hard for taxis to cross Las Vegas Blvd (the Strip) between 7pm and 1am. Simple $6 cab rides can easily turn into $20 fares, plan accordingly.
Remember these taxi facts if you do plan on using a taxi on New Years Eve here in Las Vegas. Taxis here can legally hold no more than 5 passengers (vans), and most hold only 4 people. You are advised against flagging down a taxi off the street as this puts a cabbie in a position to be ticketed. Vegas uses Hotel Taxi Stands only on the strip. Simply go to the Valet area of any Hotel and you can catch a taxi. It will be busy of course NYE, so plan accordingly. All taxis use regulated taxi meters. Do not fall victim to a very typical NYE cabbie ploy. The scam goes like this…some cabbies will tell you they will only move you for a flat “per head” rate. Cabbies telling you that are breaking the law and putting you at risk if they have an accident<<NOT WORTH IT. Demand meter rates only, no flat rate rip-offs. Chances are you will be buzzed so these people are trying to take advantage of you, resist and seek another taxi.
If you think drinking and driving is an option, think again as Police will be stepping up enforcement and you are really rolling the dice drinking and driving NYE in Las Vegas.Metro to Step Up DUI Patrols on New Year’s Eve
Anyhow with that said here are events worthy of your attention for NYE in Las Vegas.
The problem with the recent push to make A-Cab an unrestricted company is that it will never happen in this saturated market.
I read an A-Cab drivers statement which he presented at a recent Taxicab Authority Meeting concerning lifting A-Cab’s west of interstate 15 service restriction. Taxicab Authority has been hearing the pleas for lifting of A-Cab’s service area restriction for over a year. A-Cab is forbidden by charter from servicing any business East of I-15.
Jay of A-Cab claims there is a huge demand for their folksy style but then pushes for expanding their market area because their argument is they want to be able to pick-up customers they have dropped in the forbidden zone. When in actuality allowing A-cab to become unrestricted would simply mean their cabs would end-up in the massive lines at Strip Hotels. It is naive to think this is about A-Cab’s desire to do call-backs.
The only real reason A-Cab even exists today is because when they were formed, approved and given their Medallions they assured the industry they would focus their business on Westside Locals. Now it seems that was only partly true and really they are about getting their cabs to the Strip.
Anybody who has ever been to Las Vegas can attest to the fact there are a ton of taxis on the Strip. The taxi staging lines wrap around most strip Hotels day and night. Ask any taxi driver and they will tell you there is far more taxis than business to support.
Why do they need so many taxis? Seems like a waste of resources to have so many drivers idle? so many taxis polluting the air? Most people would also agree a taxi, with all it’s flashy advertising, is an eyesore. Clear Channel TaxiMedia would beg to differ.
Could this practice of oversupplying taxis, creating long lines of what are really advertising signs be intentional? Could Advertisers be working to flood streets with taxis to benefit their advertising business? at the expense of taxi drivers by increased competition for a finite number of rides?
According to this insightful article the practice is likely a tactical strategy which increases advertising exposure, in the trade that means eyeballs.
Strategic static taxi staging has been perfected in Las Vegas. In other locales like New York, the sheer number of taxis creates a different form of ad saturation. NYC has 10 times the number of taxis than Las Vegas.
The important thing to understand with advertising is ads only work when people see them. In Las Vegas the Hotels are providing a perfect vehicle for these Advertisers at no cost. Clear Channel is basically getting free ad space on some of the most expensive Real Estate on the planet by showing ads on staging taxis.
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