The reality of taxi driving in Tampa

The Marriott Waterside cab stand

Dozens of taxicabs snake into a queue. Men shout and engines start. The line barely budges.

Rene Jeune is up front now, having waited two hours for one customer. Farther back, Jean Bourdeau watches birds fight. He has just $25 in his pocket for five hours of work.

A few men play cards. Others read. Some doze off.

All tell a similar tale: They work 80-hour weeks, yet take home what a waiter earns in tips — about $200 to $300. Some are said to be homeless, sleeping in their cabs and living for their next fare.

This is the taxi business in Hills­borough County.

In most Florida counties, including Pinellas and Pasco, supply and demand work themselves out. Here, the rules are different.

Hillsborough's taxi regulating agency — the only one of its kind in the state — restricts prices, limits the number of drivers and enforces two companies' domination of the market.

The resulting system caters to customers and companies, but it leaves drivers working double just to get by, more than 50 drivers told the St. Petersburg Times.

To operate a taxi here, drivers must enter expensive lease agreements — up to $545 per week — with one of eight local companies. Drivers said the arrangement puts them at risk: To meet their weekly debt and fuel costs, they often drive unsafe hours without health insurance and on company car insurance that covers passengers' luggage, not the drivers themselves.

Still, company executives said the system succeeds for drivers who know how to work it. And the industry's top earners agree.

Now state lawmakers are weighing in. Matching bills moving through the Florida House and Senate could revamp Florida's taxi industry. The change would strengthen company positions but also open the door for cabbie independence.

This week, a local activist and a few veteran drivers hope to gather the more than 500 local cabdrivers to talk policy and their options going forward.

"We're a ragtag bunch," said veteran cabbie Vincent Tolbert, who is pushing for a driver association. "But everybody should be entitled to have something to look forward to, other than working all the time."