Troubled taxi spurs city push for new oversight

June 28--BREMERTON -- The taxi was stuffed with eight passengers, none of them wearing seat belts, all intoxicated, and two locked in the trunk.

Their cabbie, age 17, didn't have a driver's license. She'd never had one, in fact.

Police happened upon the conspicuously crowded cab, owned by Royal Taxi, on Kitsap WayMarch 29 while investigating a possible fight at a bar. The assault was determined to be unfounded, but the investigation into one of Kitsap County's biggest taxi companies was just beginning.

The teen driver, police would find, had been stopped while driving a cab before -- twice, according to records obtained by the Kitsap Sun. When an officer asked her how Royal Taxi could have authorized her to drive a cab, she told them the company had never asked for her driver's license.

She was not alone. Other Royal Taxi drivers have been to have suspended licenses. The company allowed its liability insurance to lapse in February. Drivers, unlicensed and uncovered, endangered their passengers and the public for months while continuing to operate, said Bremerton Police Captain Tom Wolfe.

"It rose to the level of public safety and that's the bottom line," Wolfe said.

The company's downfall this month, culminating with the revocation of key licenses with both the state and city, has spurred a citywide effort to reign in the local taxi industry with new regulations. At a meeting Thursday, many local cabbies -- from one-car operations to burgeoning entrepreneurs -- applauded the city's efforts.

"I think it's a great idea," said Sunny Singh, who owns Harborside Taxi. "We've been trying to do this for a long time. This is a business and you've gotta do it the right way."

The proposed regulations give the city's police chief, Steve Strachan, authority to ensure cabs are safe to ride in, possess the required liability insurance and check if drivers are properly licensed. Police will also have the power to cease any taxicab company's operations in town and will be able to levy fines, and even arrest operators, who flout the new rules. Officers will also be specially trained and assigned to enforce the regulations.

The Bremerton City Council will take up the proposal in July. But even without the required licenses and insurance, police have spotted cabs marked "Royal Taxi" continuing to operate in town.

"Those days are numbered with the passing of this ordinance," Wolfe vowed.

ROYAL'S DOWNFALL

It's unclear why Royal Taxi, with its fleet of hybrid cars, began to operate outside the law. Navdeep Maju, its owner, called it a "tremendous disappointment." Vehicles and drivers were added to the fleet without his knowledge, he says. He also blamed a "rival company" for "badmouthing" his own.

"I ran the company with good intentions," he said. "If there's a fine, I'll pay it."

There is a fine. The Department of Licensing, in revoking Royal Taxi's license for at least two years, has requested $5,000.

Maju says he sold Royal Taxi in May.

Royal's recent trouble can be traced to Jan. 29. Police say that a mechanic working on one of the taxis took the car and sideswiped two cars while crashing into a third at locations on Kitsap Way and Fairgrounds Road. Maju helped police find the car using GPS. The driver, who was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, three counts of hit and run and driving with a suspended license, told police he was "too tired to remember anything."

It wasn't the only crash the taxi company was involved in. Mike Altman, a Bremerton lawyer who specializes clients who've been injured in accidents, started to notice a pattern.

"I've never seen so many accidents with one company in such a short amount of time," he said.

The combination of the crashes with Royal Taxi's liability insurance lapse in February created a treacherous environment for other motorists, he says.

One of Altman's clients was turning onto Wheaton Way from Sheridan RoadMarch 19 when she was struck by a Royal Taxi that failed to stop at the red light, Altman said. The driver said he'd fallen asleep at the wheel.

Altman's client, who suffered neck and back injuries, had her SUV towed away. Although she had liability insurance, Royal Taxi did not, Altman said. The injured woman couldn't get her car back, and without the insurance from Royal Taxi, the car was auctioned off by the towing company to cover its fees. The woman still has no car, Altman said.

"She is literally out a car, is injured and gets nothing," he said.

That spurred the Bremerton attorney to file lawsuits against the parties involved in the crash and complaints with several government agencies, including the state's Department of Licensing.

He too is baffled why a reputable cab company would let its insurance lapse.

"You've gotta figure you're gonna get caught," he said.

'ONLY POINT TO GREED'

The downward spiral continued May 6, when a woman called police to say she'd been kicked out of a Royal Taxi at 11th Street and Kitsap Way. She reported that a husband and wife duo had picked her up after a party downtown but wouldn't take a credit card, and insisted on her going to an ATM, which frightened her. Police took her home.

But an officer had just happened to contact the couple he suspected was driving the woman the day before -- and knew both man and wife to have suspended licenses.

A few hours later, the officer found the Royal Taxi, and the couple in it. The woman, 29, was cited for driving with a suspended license and police waited for someone legal could take the car.

Then, on May 16, police watched as a Royal Taxi cab put a passenger in the "rear cargo compartment" of the car. The driver, who couldn't provide a taxi business license, vehicle registration or any proof of business liability insurance, claimed he "just wanted to get all the drunks home," to an officer.

A police sergeant investigating the case found that while Maju claimed he had insurance -- he even came to the police department with documents showing it expires in July -- the insurance company itself said Royal Taxi's insurance policy had expired in February.

Just a day later, police found a "YA TAXI" driving around, which officers could tell was a former Royal Taxi with a few letters removed. The driver did provide a paperwork for insurance but the officer, knowing about the police sergeant's investigation, didn't buy it.

The officer felt the company, through Maju, was operating a "shell game" where he was still dispatching cabs to Royal Taxi drivers who would claim, if pressed, that they were driving for a different company.

Police Chief Strachan said at Thursday's meeting that the city's proposed regulations would not only make traveling in a cab safer but it would make for a more level playing field among cabbies in Bremerton.

Anyone's best guest is that, with or without Maju's involvement, Royal Taxi's drivers were simply making more money by not paying for insurance and other requirements, which run into many thousands of dollars per year.

"When you don't have to pay those expenses, you can really cut corners," Harborside owner Singh said.

"The only thing you can point to greed," added Capt. Wolfe. "At the expense of the public."

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