Fight Rages--Free Rides or Illegal Taxi?

COVINA â€”  Some elderly residents say Jill Burgess is a savior. City officials consider her a nuisance.

Burgess uses her Buick LeSabre to shuttle residents to shopping centers, beauty salons, doctor’s appointments and anywhere else they want to go. She said she does it because the city’s Dial-A- Ride program fails to accommodate the elderly people it is supposed to serve.

City officials, however, say Burgess is running an illegal taxicab service and have asked her to stop. They are concerned that she is taking customers away from Dial-A-Ride, don’t know whether she has proper car insurance and are worried that the city could be sued in case of an accident because it failed to regulate her.

The matter stumped officials for months because no law prohibits a person from giving free rides.

Then Michael A. Marquez, Covina community development director, found a notice he says Burgess posted at Joslyn Senior Center, soliciting riders. He said Burgess told him she had purchased a cellular telephone, maintained a growing list of clients and carried 100 people a day.

Marquez concluded that Burgess had established a business. In December he wrote to her, telling her to stop or face a misdemeanor charge, which could mean a fine of $500, six months in jail or both.

Burgess, 44, works as a driver for Domino’s Pizza in San Dimas and says she drives Covina residents as a service for friends. She does have a cellular phone, and says she’s driven up to 109 people in a single day, though she averages about 70. She said she only accepts donations for gas and has never made more than $11 a day.

“I’m doing something good for old people, nothing illegal,� Burgess said. “If no one else will do it, I will. Let them take me to court, I won’t back off.�

Assistant City Atty. Paul Yoshinaga said officials have not decided what they will do.

The dispute began last summer when Covina ended its two-year, $161,834-a-year Dial-A-Ride contract with Yellow Top Cab Co., whose drivers picked up customers whenever they called and took them wherever they wanted to go for 50 cents.

City officials contended that Yellow Top violated contract rules by taking riders more than five miles out of Covina for non-medical services and by using taxicabs instead of vans the city had bought.

The new contractor, Glendale-based Medi-Ride Inc., started Aug. 4 and does not bend the rules, officials said. Medi-Ride requires residents to call at least 24 hours in advance and allows them to travel up to five miles outside the city for medical appointments only, though drivers will go to the Eastland Center shopping mall in West Covina.

Medi-Ride is paid $29.63 an hour by the city, or about $194,135 a year, and also charges customers 50 cents a ride.

Some people complained that they missed the comfortable rides in cabs and could no longer go to places such as the Social Security office in Glendora. So they started calling Burgess, a former driver for the Dial-A-Ride contractor before Yellow Top and, briefly, for Yellow Top. Irwin Rosenberg, senior vice president of Medi-Ride, said Burgess’ taxi service isn’t affecting Medi-Ride, which is paid by the hour.

But the city letter upset some of Burgess’ regular riders.

“She’s a godsend,� said Jan Francis, 52. “If it wasn’t for Jill, some people would starve to death. I don’t know why they don’t leave that girl alone. I hope nothing happens. I would be in the same state as before.�

Janet Carlson, 67, accused the city of harassing Burgess. “It’s the same as me calling my next door neighbor to take me to the beauty salon,� Carlson said. “Would they tell her that she needed a license? It’s the same thing. It’s just awful what the city is doing.�