No ride-hailing apps here, and locals are uber-happy
NEWSHOREHAM, R.I. — Twelve miles and a ferry ride fromtheNewEngland shore, BlockIsland is oneof the last major tourist destinations in theUnited States without Uber or Lyft— and islanders want it to stay thatway.
Come summer, the sleepy island welcomes thousands of vacationers, many of whom depend on taxis to get to its bluffs, lighthouses, beaches and weathered-gray shingle homes.
Now, as at least one ride-hailing company proposes to deregulate the community’s strict88-yearold taxi code, longtime drivers are fighting to protect a way of life that helps them make ends meet in a place where the median home costs $1.2 million.
“This is our livelihood,” said taxi driver Champlin Starr, a retired oil tanker captain whose family first landed here in the 1660s. “People come to Block Island because they want an experience. They’re not going to get it with someone who doesn’t know where the landmarks are. This is our home.”
With 32 licensed taxis, each with up to four drivers, Starr said, nearly 10 percent of the island’s roughly 1,000 year-round residents spend part of the summer driving fares around. The school’s principal is a taxi proprietor. So is the retired police chief.
But some residents say they could use some competition, especially to attract younger tourists accustomed to the convenience of using apps.
“My guests are always complaining about howexpensive the taxis are, how fast their drivers are driving,” said Emma Rose Tripler, a lifelong resident who manages two inns. “They’re cranky, on top of it. And some of them are pretty aggressive.”
The town ofNewShoreham, which encompasses the island, has been setting its own taxi rates since 1929. Its rules include a surcharge for dirt roads and a requirement that someone vouch for a driver’s moral character. The average wait to get a taxi license is 15 years.
“I’m a retiree and a widow,” said Fran Migliaccio, owner of Mig’s Rig Taxi. “It’smy sole source of income.” Migliaccio said she’s not proposing to ban Uber andLyft but that their drivers should be “subject to the same level of scrutiny” as everyone else on the taxi wait list.
Rhode Island enacted a statewide law last year to formally legalize and regulate Uber and Lyft, but Block Island residents are nowpushing for an exemption.
“What Uber and Lyft are going to do is come out for two months, skim all the cream off the top and leave,” said state Rep. Blake Filippi, a Block Island Republican who proposed the exemption, to which both San Francisco companies object.
On a recent April weekday — only two taxis operate in the off-season before Memorial Day — Vin McAloon, the 77-year-old retired police chief, was unusually busy as the weather began towarm.
At the ferry station, he picked up house painters and a sales team visiting the town hospital. At the tiny airport, he picked up a resident returning from a dentist appointment on the mainland. When fares called for a ride, McAloon usually knew them by name.