Council suspends taxicab inspection fees

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Springfield City Council voted 8-0 on July 28 to temporarily suspend enforcement of the city’s vehicle inspection fee for taxicabs, in a bill co-sponsored by Councilmembers Heather Hardinger and Monica Horton.

Meanwhile, the article of city code governing vehicles for hire including taxicabs, courtesy cars and airport limousines was referred to council's Finance & Administration Committee for analysis. The committee includes Horton, along with Councilmembers Brandon Jenson, Bruce Adib-Yazdi and Craig Hosmer.

According to background information assembled by city staff for council, Springfield hasn’t “comprehensively reviewed” regulations on taxicabs since 2016. More recently, council wants to review rules “for the local regulations for taxicabs to be consistent with modern technology, encourage passenger safety in a meaningful way and facilitate an even playing field for taxicabs and transportation network companies” such as Uber or Lyft.

As Springfield Business Journal reported previously, Springfield Yellow Cab Co. Inc. owner Kyle Butrick appeared at a July 2024 council meeting to speak out on behalf of his company and its 90 drivers, who are independent contractors. 

Butrick argued that taxicabs should be subject to the same tech requirements as ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. And, he told council, annual inspection fees imposed by Missouri and the city of Springfield can seriously add up: He referenced charges of $33 per taxicab inspection by the city, alongside $40 charged by the state of Missouri to inspect mechanical taximeters. Digital taximeters typically used by transportation network company vehicles allow integration with online payment systems and the precision of GPS for measuring distance, but mechanical taximeters don’t offer the same options.

“The [inspection] guys don’t really like to see our cabs,” Butrick told council on July 22, 2024. “They make the comments, ‘We don’t do Uber and Lyft; I don’t know why we’re doing you guys.’”