Airport Police Crack Down on Cabbies

State police at Logan International Airport are tightening their enforcement of taxi regulations after a recent series of Boston Globe articles exposing several types of current violations.

At issue in the crackdown are cab drivers who take advantage of peak airport periods to carry multiple fares at flat rates to the downtown area. Massachusetts Port Authority regulations prohibit both multiple fare trips and the setting of flat rates without metering.

The cab drivers maintain that peak crowds at the airport necessitate multiple fares due to cab shortages and that charging a flat rate eases the burden on each customer.

Independent Taxi Association President Max Dobro yesterday defended the overflow practice and noted that "it's not done all the time."

A meeting between taxi companies and the Port Authority will take place sometime next week to discuss the issue, but it will not be the first time the question has come up.

"This is not a new problem," said Port Authority Director Edward J. King, "and it will take eternal vigilance by the Port Authority, the police and the taxi-using public to keep it under control."

Dobro took a more skeptical view of the problem. "You get some overzealous guy from the Globe and he doesn't know what the hell it's all about, anyway," he said.