CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sometimes the old becomes new again. Take taxi stands, for example.
Big cities have them -- designated spots where taxi drivers park their cabs, waiting for customers to climb inside. But aside from the terminal at Yeager Airport, where can you find a taxi stand in Charleston?
There are two more, C&H Taxi CEO Jeb Corey said: One off-street at the Charleston Marriott Town Center, another on Summers Street beside Slack Plaza that most likely dates back to the wild and crazy days when bars lined that street.
When Corey asked city officials about creating a taxi stand on Capitol Street, people scratched their heads.
"I'll be honest," Traffic Engineer Allen Copley said Tuesday. "We couldn't remember when the last one was established, and we couldn't remember what the procedure was."
After studying city code, City Attorney Paul Ellis determined the matter was fairly simple -- a resolution by City Council and approval by council's Streets and Traffic Committee.
Members of that committee are scheduled to consider Corey's request late Thursday afternoon. Corey described his idea -- to carve out room to park up to four cabs on the west side of Capitol Street between Kanawha Boulevard and Virginia Street from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. -- to the group at its last meeting, Chairman Dave Higgins said.
The taxi stand would occupy an existing daytime loading zone beside the Chase Bank building. The zone starts just past the exit ramp from the Chase parking garage and runs to near the corner of Virginia Street, in the heart of the city's bar district.
"People come out after heavy drinking and look for a cab, but there is no taxi stand," Higgins said. "People just park everywhere around there.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sometimes the old becomes new again. Take taxi stands, for example.
Big cities have them -- designated spots where taxi drivers park their cabs, waiting for customers to climb inside. But aside from the terminal at Yeager Airport, where can you find a taxi stand in Charleston?
There are two more, C&H Taxi CEO Jeb Corey said: One off-street at the Charleston Marriott Town Center, another on Summers Street beside Slack Plaza that most likely dates back to the wild and crazy days when bars lined that street.
When Corey asked city officials about creating a taxi stand on Capitol Street, people scratched their heads.
"I'll be honest," Traffic Engineer Allen Copley said Tuesday. "We couldn't remember when the last one was established, and we couldn't remember what the procedure was."
After studying city code, City Attorney Paul Ellis determined the matter was fairly simple -- a resolution by City Council and approval by council's Streets and Traffic Committee.
Members of that committee are scheduled to consider Corey's request late Thursday afternoon. Corey described his idea -- to carve out room to park up to four cabs on the west side of Capitol Street between Kanawha Boulevard and Virginia Street from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. -- to the group at its last meeting, Chairman Dave Higgins said.
The taxi stand would occupy an existing daytime loading zone beside the Chase Bank building. The zone starts just past the exit ramp from the Chase parking garage and runs to near the corner of Virginia Street, in the heart of the city's bar district.
"People come out after heavy drinking and look for a cab, but there is no taxi stand," Higgins said. "People just park everywhere around there.
"That seemed like a pretty good idea to me. I tip my hat to Mr. Corey for thinking of this."
Copley, too, favors the plan. "We're going to recommend approval," he said. "I think Jeb Corey is trying to keep people from drinking and driving."
Corey said he's been working on the idea since April. "It's kind of a solution to a problem.
"The reason we chose Capitol Street is it's the primary location of Charleston's bar scene. We thought we could save lives. We talked to a lot of bar patrons.
"It's very difficult for a cab to wait anywhere there -- very narrow streets. Drivers get very frustrated. And patrons get frustrated. They may be waiting inside. They can't see the cab and somebody else might take their cab.
"It's a win-win-win situation," Corey said. "It makes it easier for the taxi drivers to wait, it makes it easier for customers to find a cab, and it makes it easier for other traffic on a narrow street."
For a number of years, Corey and C&H have offered free cab rides to overindulging folks on New Year's Eve and other high-octane holidays through what he calls the intoxi-taxi program.
"I would love to get [the taxi stand] up and implemented by Halloween," Corey said. That's when we do our intoxi-taxi program. In the past, the city helped us do a temporary stand, but this could be our grand opening."
Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5102.
