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http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005339
Democrats Support Vouchers!
The party of the people wants to rip off Boston cabdrivers.
BY HAROLD HUBSCHMAN
Sunday, July 11, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT
With John Kerry's fund-raising going so well, you'd think the Democratic National Committee wouldn't need to hustle Boston cabbies for a cheap ride--or illegal campaign contributions. But that's pretty much the effect of the DNC's misguided plan to provide subsidized cab rides for delegates at their Boston convention.
At issue are the taxi vouchers the DNC wants to give to delegates arriving at Boston's Logan Airport. Under the DNC's proposal, taxi drivers would be required to accept the vouchers, worth $12 per passenger, in lieu of payment, even though the meter fare from Logan into the city, including tolls and an airport surcharge, is typically over $40. To add insult to injury, they'd then have to apply to the DNC to redeem the vouchers.
In the spirit of civic boosterism, the Massachusetts Port Authority magnanimously offered to waive their surcharge, although the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, known for making fire engines stop to pay tolls on the way to emergencies, declined to follow suit. So even with three passengers per cab, which the DNC's voucher rules permit, the drivers would still be subsidizing the cost of the ride.
What the cabbies want to do is nothing more revolutionary than to charge the meter rate--something they do for every other convention that comes to town, from dentists' to paleontologists'. Many have threatened to take the week off. Some are even talking about filing a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, on the grounds that the voucher scheme amounts to a coerced contribution to the Democrats. In short, it's been a PR nightmare for the party of the working stiff.
This fiasco could easily have been avoided if the DNC had simply applied some basic knowledge about how people make choices in competitive markets. One obvious approach would be to let the delegates pay for their own rides. According to published estimates, 35,000 people will be spending around $125 million at the convention. That's an average of over $3,500 per person, and that doesn't include the cost of airfare or cab rides between the delegates' homes and home airports.
On top of that, each delegate had to organize and win a caucus election in his state in order to be chosen to attend the convention. So these are people who clearly don't need incentives to come to town. Given that they're already spending so much time and money, you'd think a free ride to and from Logan wouldn't improve the quality of their experience all that much.
But hey, the DNC wants to make a gesture. If they're that determined to offer transportation subsidies, a better, market-driven solution would be to remove the middleman and have delegates submit their vouchers directly to the DNC for redemption, at whatever rate the DNC wants to pay. This way, delegates could choose whichever option for getting to and from Logan they prefer: taxi, shuttle bus, limo, even the subway for the more adventurous traveler. They would pay cash for the ride, then send in their vouchers, along with their receipts, to the DNC. If three people decide to cab in together, one could pay, collect vouchers from the others and be reimbursed for all three. Some delegates may even choose to make a voluntary contribution to the DNC by simply not redeeming their vouchers.
A voluntary voucher system would also generate competition that would improve the quality of service for delegates and potentially increase profits for cabbies--with no added cost to the DNC.
Ironically, the DNC is proposing the identical plan for taxi vouchers that the Democratic Party opposes for school vouchers. Maybe Boston cabbies would accept the DNC's vouchers if they could get the same system for their kids' public-school educations.
Mr. Hubschman is a Democratic political consultant based in Brookline, Mass. He plans on walking to the convention.
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