All 1,200 members of the Taxi Workers Alliance will be back at 6 a.m. today, alliance president Ronald Blount announced yesterday during an afternoon rally in front of Parking Authority headquarters at 3101 Market St.
"We've made our point. We've proved that we can launch a two-day strike," Blount told reporters in front of about 25 supporters. "This system is not working. It's been almost a year now. How long are we supposed to be patient?"
The strike was part of a concerted protest with Taxi Workers Alliance hacks in New York City about the dispatch-fare system that Philadelphia has been testing and that New York drivers are supposed to get beginning Oct. 1.
As of late yesterday afternoon, New York taxi drivers promised to continue striking today; New York officials questioned the strike's effectiveness and promised group rides and flat fares to help commuters cope with delays.
In Philadelphia, Parking Authority officials also maintained that far fewer drivers joined the strike than Blount's estimate of 90 percent. The alliance's 1,200 members are the largest group among the city's 1,600 medallion cabs.
"It's hard to estimate, but it was no 90 percent," said James Ney, director of the authority's taxi and limousine division. The authority began regulating Philadelphia cabs in 2005 after the legislature transferred that responsibility from the state Public Utility Commission.
Ney said there was no shortage of taxis yesterday at Philadelphia International Airport and only sporadic rush-hour waits at 30th Street Station.
The Parking Authority had issued an emergency order allowing limousine and sedan drivers to pick up customers hailing them from the street and taxi stands. Also, some neighborhood cabbies from Germantown were allowed to serve major commuter stops in Center City.
