By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Earl Medeiros, general manager of Aloha State Taxi,
has been a cabbie for 50 years. Back then, there was lots
of aloha, he says. "Now it's dog-eat-dog."

He's owner, operator, and chief executive of Country Taxi & Tours - a 1993 Ford Taurus station wagon wearing a yellow dome.

"It's just me, myself and I. My three best friends," Fuson said, waiting for a customer recently on Bishop Street.

A good ride would be up Nimitz to the Airport, a $15 fare. But the wait could be hours and he'll be lucky to gross $75 on the day. What remains after gas, insurance, maintenance and other costs is considerably less.

Fuson is one of 2,335 licensed cab drivers trying to make a go of it in Honolulu, a town with more taxicabs per resident than New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. With twice as many drivers today as 15 years ago, it's a rider's market. But it's a tough one if you're behind the wheel.

"You've got to work a double shift these days to make what you used to make in one," said Earl Medeiros, general manager at Aloha State Taxi and a Honolulu cabbie for 50 years.

The long days - 12 to 16 hours is the norm - can yield about $100 if you hustle, Medeiros said. But that's before expenses, and some cabbies end up making less than $10,000 a year.

"I go back to a time when driving a taxi was a pleasure," said Medeiros, who started out driving for Surf Taxi in 1952. "There was lots of aloha. Drivers respected each other. Now it's dog eat dog."

Most taxi drivers in Honolulu are self-employed. They own or lease their cars, pay expenses and pocket what they can.

Some, like Fuson, avoid the big companies - SIDA Taxi & Tours, Charley's Taxi & Limousine, The Cab - and work the streets alone. They put their names in the yellow pages, carry cellular phones, hand out business cards, and pay a nominal fee for a few city taxi stalls around town.

That Charley's cab that just went by belongs to its driver, who pays about $400 a month to wear the company's dome and uniform. The fee includes the company's dispatch and stalls at hotels and shopping centers.

Charley's, which says it logs 2,000 to 3,000 calls a day, says some of its drivers make up to $50,000 a year.

Frank Nalbach, a longtime Honolulu cabbie and former president of the Oahu Taxi Owners Association, disputes the claim.

"And you hope you don't have to rebuild your transmission this year or reline your brakes," Nalbach said.

One of the biggest bites in a cabbie's income is taken at Honolulu Airport, where SIDA (State Independent Drivers Association) collects $400 a month, or $4 per trip, from drivers picking up passengers. SIDA pays the state Department of Transportation about $30,000 a month for the concession.

Critics say the state and SIDA are gouging drivers already struggling with stall fees and other heavy expenses. And they complain that a push for stricter standards at the airport, including better English proficiency, is unnecessary interference.

But Edwin Matsumoto, chief executive of SIDA, said strict control and high standards are critical because of Hawaii's tourist industry.

"A taxi is often a tourist's first point of contact, and last point of contact," he said. "It's important to give a good impression to visitors."

"Everybody wants the Waikiki run," said Nalbach.

Up to 300 taxis wait for hours in a huge lot near the airport, hoping they'll be called for a $20 run to Waikiki. On a good day, a driver will make six or eight runs. Or it could be three or four.

Thinh Nguyen, president of Honolulu Cabbies Association, works the airport from midnight to noon because there are fewer cabs on the road.

"Most of us make about three trips a day," said Nguyen, who has worked 12 hours a day for the past 15 years without a vacation. "We spend a minimum of $40 a day to make $60 or $70."

He pulled a day's receipts from his shirt pocket: four trips totaling $64. But after paying $12 in airport fees, $10 for insurance, and $15 for gas and maintenance, it was reduced to $27.

Like many struggling drivers, Nguyen wants the city to put a limit on taxi certificates. It's an interesting position from someone who represents over 100 independent drivers, many of them new immigrants from Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

"The pie is getting smaller and smaller," said David Rosa, who drives for a two-car company called Oceanic. "Too many certificates have been issued."

In New York, where a "Medallion" system limits certificates, you can't get into the business unless someone dies or sells a medallion. The system allows cabbies to build a retirement nest egg because transferable medallions are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Taxi certificates are said to be worth more than $500,000 in New York, $200,000 in San Francisco, and $3,500 on Maui, where the county has a limit of 213.

"I believe it would protect the old timers that want to retire," said Medeiros. "It's just like if you had a store and someday you wanted to sell it."

Not everybody wants a limit.

"If they want retirement, they can save it," said said Dale Evans, executive vice president of Charley's Taxi & Limousine. "The outer islands have limitations and they are very poorly serviced. The only places getting serviced are the hotels."

Charley's, a dispatch service, relies on drivers with their own cars. The company, with its dress code and other restrictions, is looking for the best drivers it can find to secure tours, hotel stalls, and other contracts. The more to choose from, the merrier.

Evans says the best thing for her business, and for consumers, is open competition.

She notes that big cities with medallion systems also have thousands of illegal drivers. "In London they have six times as many unlicensed taxis because the licensed taxis cannot meet the demand," she said.

But meeting the demand is not a problem in Honolulu, said Nalbach.

"Guys are waiting four hours at the airport for a lousy $4 fare," he said. "They're dying out there."

Nguyen, who fled Vietnam in 1975, agrees that a heavy influx of immigrants has made it hard to make a living. But for many new arrivals, he noted, driving a cab is the only alternative.

"The cab business is always an immigrant job," he said. "Look at New York."

The City Council set up a task force in 1995 to address numerous concerns, among them the question of a limit on licenses.

But the 23-member panel couldn't reach a consensus.

Meanwhile, Nguyen manages to get by with the help of his wife - a hair stylist.

Other survivors take second jobs, or look for niches.

"If I had to depend on the tourists, I couldn't make it," said Medeiros, who concentrates on services to the handicapped. He has contracts with hospitals and with the city Handi-Van program.

Darren Harris, a driver representing the Honolulu Cabbies' Association, works at being outgoing and friendly.

"You've got to talk to the tourists, try to drum up a circle island tour," he said.