Post by casey on Jun 3, 2010 16:02:32 GMT -6
No license to drive children
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-0514-cabs-to-school-20100602,0,6658239,full.story
The white taxicab that pulled into the driveway of an Aurora home to pick up a 6-year-old girl for school had a burned-out headlight. But state and local records show that was the least of the problems.
The company, Addison-based Universal Taxi Dispatch Inc., does not have a license to operate in Aurora, despite driving children there since 2009 for two elementary school districts, a Tribune review found. A Universal cabdriver was ticketed by police as recently as April 29 for driving without a city license.
No drivers for Universal Taxi had the state permit required to pick up schoolchildren, according to Illinois secretary of state records. The state requires the cabdrivers to get school bus driver permits.
And although Universal Taxi is licensed to operate in Naperville, which is included in one of the Aurora district's attendance areas, only one of its drivers had the required city license, according to the clerk's office.
"I'm frustrated that these districts would trust a cab company that they haven't investigated appropriately," said Tonia La Rue, mother of the Aurora first-grader who was picked up by the cab last month.
School transportation officials estimate that hundreds of young students across Chicago-area suburbs take cabs every day. Most of the children have special needs and require transportation outside their enrollment zone. Districts have contracted with cab companies, for decades in some cases, to deliver these pupils, an arrangement that can save money and even sometimes result in lasting relationships between driver and student, officials say.
But the rules governing driver and car safety lead to confusion about what the requirements are and who has jurisdiction, the Tribune found. As a result, drivers who lack required state permits can slip through the regulatory cracks and drive children. Some parents and a former driver also question if the cabs themselves are safe.
The secretary of state issues school bus driver permits. But municipalities license the cab companies and individual cars, ensuring companies have adequate insurance and that the vehicles meet basic maintenance standards. In Naperville and Aurora, licensing means a driver background check and fingerprints and a safety inspection of the vehicle.
The burden of checking that cab companies have satisfied state and local licensing requirements falls to the school districts. And "some districts are more thorough about the details than others," said Dave Gauer, managing partner of Dart 303, a cab company based in Mount Prospect with 130 state-permitted drivers.
Universal drives children for Aurora-based Indian Prairie District 204 and East Aurora District 131.
Company officials could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
Karla Zozulia, director of support services for District 204, acknowledged the district didn't always know what was required of cabdrivers. It became a bigger issue this year, she said, when the district's homeless student population exploded, putting more kids in cabs as the district strove to keep them in school even if they switched addresses repeatedly.
The district required proof of background checks for drivers and insurance on the cars, but didn't require adequate proof of the bus driver permits issued by the secretary of state, records show.
"We just didn't know to ask for that, to be quite honest, and we're going to ask for it now that we know," she said, adding that she only recently learned of Universal's licensing gaps in Aurora and Naperville.
As a result, the district will open the taxicab process to bid this summer, with strictly defined requirements for bus driver permits and municipal licenses, she said.
Officials with District 131 did not respond to requests for comment.
A secretary of state official vowed to follow up on the Tribune's findings about Universal.
"Yes, absolutely we'll investigate," said Terry Montalbano, commercial driver's license administrator. "We may pay them a visit, both the districts and the company."
Drivers could be stripped of their license, and the company and school districts could face prosecution for allowing unpermitted drivers on the road with children aboard, he said. So far, such extreme measures haven't been taken during Montalbano's tenure.
Records obtained by the Tribune show that Universal official Gilbert Lietz wrote to District 131 in January and assured it that "all drivers go through school bus traing (sic)" and take "a refresher course each year."
But the state found no record of Universal drivers receiving the bus driver permit. "We don't show any (Universal) drivers at all who are licensed to drive children," Montalbano said.
The company last summer provided District 204 with diplomas for five drivers from a bus driver "refresher course" through the DuPage Regional Office of Education. But Montalbano said he found no records that any of the drivers named applied for a state permit in the first place.
A Tribune check of state records showed other suburban cab companies have dozens of permitted drivers. In addition to Dart 303, American Taxi Dispatch, also of Mount Prospect, has 98 drivers with state permits, according to records. AAA Village Limousine of Northbrook has 55.
Beyond the licensing issues, Universal was publicly reprimanded at a special City Council meeting — and its license revoked by Elmhurst in 2005. In a letter to the company, Mayor Thomas Marcucci had previously cited concerns.
One driver was "observed buying crack cocaine" and "heard using crack cocaine over a police authorized wiretap," Marcucci wrote. Two other drivers were charged with driving while impaired. Another was caught with marijuana in the cab, he wrote.
Company president Gordon Simic appealed the revocation in February 2005, citing improvements he said were made.
"It's a rough business and … we've improved it, I would say, like 90 percent," he testified. "We still have 10 percent to go to improve it to 100 percent."
The company later successfully reapplied for a city license and remains licensed in Elmhurst today.
La Rue, the mother of the young Aurora girl, said she complained to District 204 and Universal after her daughter's first few weeks were filled with tardiness and tears due to inconsistent arrival times.
La Rue has been uneasy about the cars and drivers — there have been at least a dozen this year, she said.
"I get this sick feeling in my stomach," La Rue said. "It's the most horrendous experience going to work worrying about whether your kid's going to get to school."
The state's permitting process aims to lessen such fears by putting drivers through a thorough background check and keeping them in a database of school bus drivers, so that any subsequent infraction alerts state officials, who may then revoke the license.
"You can't just be a regular cabdriver and pick up little Johnny from school," said Montalbano of the secretary of state's office.
To earn a school bus driver's permit, applicants must pass written and road tests, a thorough background check that includes criminal and traffic infractions, a tuberculosis screening, annual drug and alcohol tests, sporadic "spot checks" from the state for criminal violations, and annual refresher courses.
A recent incident involving a Universal cab underscored safety concerns. On April 28, one of the company's cabs caught fire in Glendale Heights, according to a fire department report.
The cabdriver told authorities he had picked up the cab around 2 p.m. and notified the dispatcher about "some mechanical issues" but continued on his route, according to a Bloomingdale fire department incident report.
About half an hour later, as he headed down Army Trail Road near the Town Center shopping mall with a female passenger, the driver saw "orange flames coming from vents in [the] dashboard," the report said.
So did the woman. Both abandoned the vehicle, which "became fully involved in minutes," the report said.
Zozulia, of District 204, said she met with a fired Universal driver and brought his concerns to the company in early May.
Asked if Universal would be invited to bid this summer on the district's contract, Zozulia said every company will have to prove its drivers are state permitted as well as licensed in every municipality where they operate.
"Right now they don't meet those standards," she said, "so they wouldn't be able (to bid)."
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-0514-cabs-to-school-20100602,0,6658239,full.story
The white taxicab that pulled into the driveway of an Aurora home to pick up a 6-year-old girl for school had a burned-out headlight. But state and local records show that was the least of the problems.
The company, Addison-based Universal Taxi Dispatch Inc., does not have a license to operate in Aurora, despite driving children there since 2009 for two elementary school districts, a Tribune review found. A Universal cabdriver was ticketed by police as recently as April 29 for driving without a city license.
No drivers for Universal Taxi had the state permit required to pick up schoolchildren, according to Illinois secretary of state records. The state requires the cabdrivers to get school bus driver permits.
And although Universal Taxi is licensed to operate in Naperville, which is included in one of the Aurora district's attendance areas, only one of its drivers had the required city license, according to the clerk's office.
"I'm frustrated that these districts would trust a cab company that they haven't investigated appropriately," said Tonia La Rue, mother of the Aurora first-grader who was picked up by the cab last month.
School transportation officials estimate that hundreds of young students across Chicago-area suburbs take cabs every day. Most of the children have special needs and require transportation outside their enrollment zone. Districts have contracted with cab companies, for decades in some cases, to deliver these pupils, an arrangement that can save money and even sometimes result in lasting relationships between driver and student, officials say.
But the rules governing driver and car safety lead to confusion about what the requirements are and who has jurisdiction, the Tribune found. As a result, drivers who lack required state permits can slip through the regulatory cracks and drive children. Some parents and a former driver also question if the cabs themselves are safe.
The secretary of state issues school bus driver permits. But municipalities license the cab companies and individual cars, ensuring companies have adequate insurance and that the vehicles meet basic maintenance standards. In Naperville and Aurora, licensing means a driver background check and fingerprints and a safety inspection of the vehicle.
The burden of checking that cab companies have satisfied state and local licensing requirements falls to the school districts. And "some districts are more thorough about the details than others," said Dave Gauer, managing partner of Dart 303, a cab company based in Mount Prospect with 130 state-permitted drivers.
Universal drives children for Aurora-based Indian Prairie District 204 and East Aurora District 131.
Company officials could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
Karla Zozulia, director of support services for District 204, acknowledged the district didn't always know what was required of cabdrivers. It became a bigger issue this year, she said, when the district's homeless student population exploded, putting more kids in cabs as the district strove to keep them in school even if they switched addresses repeatedly.
The district required proof of background checks for drivers and insurance on the cars, but didn't require adequate proof of the bus driver permits issued by the secretary of state, records show.
"We just didn't know to ask for that, to be quite honest, and we're going to ask for it now that we know," she said, adding that she only recently learned of Universal's licensing gaps in Aurora and Naperville.
As a result, the district will open the taxicab process to bid this summer, with strictly defined requirements for bus driver permits and municipal licenses, she said.
Officials with District 131 did not respond to requests for comment.
A secretary of state official vowed to follow up on the Tribune's findings about Universal.
"Yes, absolutely we'll investigate," said Terry Montalbano, commercial driver's license administrator. "We may pay them a visit, both the districts and the company."
Drivers could be stripped of their license, and the company and school districts could face prosecution for allowing unpermitted drivers on the road with children aboard, he said. So far, such extreme measures haven't been taken during Montalbano's tenure.
Records obtained by the Tribune show that Universal official Gilbert Lietz wrote to District 131 in January and assured it that "all drivers go through school bus traing (sic)" and take "a refresher course each year."
But the state found no record of Universal drivers receiving the bus driver permit. "We don't show any (Universal) drivers at all who are licensed to drive children," Montalbano said.
The company last summer provided District 204 with diplomas for five drivers from a bus driver "refresher course" through the DuPage Regional Office of Education. But Montalbano said he found no records that any of the drivers named applied for a state permit in the first place.
A Tribune check of state records showed other suburban cab companies have dozens of permitted drivers. In addition to Dart 303, American Taxi Dispatch, also of Mount Prospect, has 98 drivers with state permits, according to records. AAA Village Limousine of Northbrook has 55.
Beyond the licensing issues, Universal was publicly reprimanded at a special City Council meeting — and its license revoked by Elmhurst in 2005. In a letter to the company, Mayor Thomas Marcucci had previously cited concerns.
One driver was "observed buying crack cocaine" and "heard using crack cocaine over a police authorized wiretap," Marcucci wrote. Two other drivers were charged with driving while impaired. Another was caught with marijuana in the cab, he wrote.
Company president Gordon Simic appealed the revocation in February 2005, citing improvements he said were made.
"It's a rough business and … we've improved it, I would say, like 90 percent," he testified. "We still have 10 percent to go to improve it to 100 percent."
The company later successfully reapplied for a city license and remains licensed in Elmhurst today.
La Rue, the mother of the young Aurora girl, said she complained to District 204 and Universal after her daughter's first few weeks were filled with tardiness and tears due to inconsistent arrival times.
La Rue has been uneasy about the cars and drivers — there have been at least a dozen this year, she said.
"I get this sick feeling in my stomach," La Rue said. "It's the most horrendous experience going to work worrying about whether your kid's going to get to school."
The state's permitting process aims to lessen such fears by putting drivers through a thorough background check and keeping them in a database of school bus drivers, so that any subsequent infraction alerts state officials, who may then revoke the license.
"You can't just be a regular cabdriver and pick up little Johnny from school," said Montalbano of the secretary of state's office.
To earn a school bus driver's permit, applicants must pass written and road tests, a thorough background check that includes criminal and traffic infractions, a tuberculosis screening, annual drug and alcohol tests, sporadic "spot checks" from the state for criminal violations, and annual refresher courses.
A recent incident involving a Universal cab underscored safety concerns. On April 28, one of the company's cabs caught fire in Glendale Heights, according to a fire department report.
The cabdriver told authorities he had picked up the cab around 2 p.m. and notified the dispatcher about "some mechanical issues" but continued on his route, according to a Bloomingdale fire department incident report.
About half an hour later, as he headed down Army Trail Road near the Town Center shopping mall with a female passenger, the driver saw "orange flames coming from vents in [the] dashboard," the report said.
So did the woman. Both abandoned the vehicle, which "became fully involved in minutes," the report said.
Zozulia, of District 204, said she met with a fired Universal driver and brought his concerns to the company in early May.
Asked if Universal would be invited to bid this summer on the district's contract, Zozulia said every company will have to prove its drivers are state permitted as well as licensed in every municipality where they operate.
"Right now they don't meet those standards," she said, "so they wouldn't be able (to bid)."
