SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Vaqar Hussain has been driving a cab for 20 years, picking up fares along the border at ports of entry in San Diego.
But in recent months, he’s seen his fares shrink as more and more independent drivers show up offering rides to border commuters.
Hussain is not talking about Uber, Lyft or other ride-sharing companies, but regular people who are making extra money by providing rides to people.
“They are taking our business. How are we going to survive?” Hussain asked.
At the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, Hussain told Border Report that independent drivers are not only taking their fares but also their parking spots, which are marked as taxi areas.
“It used to be we parked our cars in the white areas,” he said. “Now, we’re like the homeless parking in a corner — two to three cars at a time — and those wildcatters are working over there taking up our space.”
In San Diego County, the Sheriff’s Department fingerprints and conducts background checks on drivers and issues permits.
Hussain says drivers also pay a fee and must have business licenses.
“We don’t know who they are. Even the customers don’t know who they are because they don’t have any legal ID, we see Mexican plates, they are doing business, so I don’t know where is the Sheriff’s Department or the police,” said Hussain. “They do business here and are stealing our business, we are paying taxes, we do everything legally.”
While Border Report was at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry covering the story, one cab driver picked up a fare, the “independent drivers” got at least four.
“They charge whatever they can get. To the airport: $40. We go by the meter so why are they going to travel with us, we’re sitting here without business.”
Hussain says he and the other cab drivers would like to see the Sheriff’s Department conduct operations to restrict what he calls “illegal drivers.”
A spokesperson for the department said while it does screen drivers, allowing them to drive a taxi, Lt. David LaDieu said enforcement “falls in San Diego Police jurisdiction.”
San Diego police said it would look into the matter and would issue citations to people parked in red or taxi zones, but the actual crackdown on unregulated drivers is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Transit System.
Border Report also reached out to MTS, but it has not responded to requests for comment.
One of the “independent drivers,” who did not want to provide his name, said he and the others don’t believe they are doing anything wrong, and that they are simply “offering a service” and are “not forcing anyone to ride with them.”
Read: Read More