SEATTLE - Get ready for a taxi war at Sea-Tac Airport. The Port of Seattle recently awarded a new five-year contract to a different cab company for the first time in 20 years.
But the company that lost out, STITA, which stands for the Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association, says it's not giving up. It is filing a lawsuit and some cab drivers say, it's not just money, it's personal.
Taxi driver Patty Stephens has been with STITA longer than any of the rest. But as a fellow owner-operator, she says she fighting for all of them, fighting for a way of life.
"It was supposed to be my retirement in not too many more years. But unfortunately it looks like I may not have it now," she said.
STITA cab driver Jesse Buttar warns this contract change could have a drastic effect on passengers as far away as downtown Seattle. Buttar claims Yellow Cab might be spread too thin.
"If you think it's is difficult to get a cab in the city of Seattle now, wait and see what happens when STITA goes out of business," said Buttar.
In a competitive bid demanded by state auditors, STITA lost out to the owners of Yellow Cab. Yellow Cab offered about $5 million more for the right to exclusively pick up passengers at Sea-Tac Airport. But STITA says guidelines were misleading, causing STITA to bid too low.
"I know STITA got a raw deal in this," said Stephens.
The port says that's simply not the case.
"It is incumbent on us to make sure that we have a fair and open and transparent process in this, so that everyone who is proposing can feel like they had a fair opportunity at this contract. And we're confident we did that," said Mark Reis, Port of Seattle.
STITA is an unusual cab company. The Port of Seattle actually created it in 1989. Before then, many considered the cab situation at the airport a mess.
"We had fist fights trying to get the first in line. Frankly at the time the county was not regulating taxis very well from cleanliness, driver familiarity, for language etc.," said Reis.
So this band of owner-operated cabs was born. With it came complaints of a cab monopoly, but STITA drivers say all these years they've been doing right by Sea-Tac, keeping their cars clean and maintained, and, like Stephens, investing in green vehicles.
In fact, all the vehicles in STITA's fleet are green, either compressed natural gas or hybrid. But that's something in the competitive bidding process that the port didn't give STITA any credit for.
"The greenest fleet of cabs anywhere in the state and perhaps the country. So STITA, there's no question was very helpful and responded well to our requirements. But that doesn't mean other cabbies couldn't, if they were given the opportunity to," said Reis.
What's bad for STITA drivers is good for other cabbies. And cities like Seattle support more drivers getting in on Sea-Tac's lucrative fares. But with cab licenses capped and maxed out in Seattle, STITA drivers like Stephens say they have no place else to go - and won't go quietly.
"We're taking what savings we had, and we're fighting. We're not going down without a fight," said Stephens.
Until September, Stephens is taking it one fare at a time.
