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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A new taxi company is in the works for Yellowknife after 10 drivers left Diamond Cabs two weeks ago, citing animosity between them and the company's management.

John Dinn, who was among the drivers who left, said he has 27 drivers on board as shareholders in the company, which he said will be named Aurora Taxi. Leadership for the company will be elected from the shareholders and the company will have its headquarters in the industrial section of Old Airport Road.

Dinn said he gave one month's notice that he would be leaving Diamond Cabs on March 6 for a variety of reasons, including feeling drivers are under pressure to take fares from troublesome people, including drug dealers, and a week later was told his services were no longer needed.

"We're forced to do it, and if we don't do it we face suspension for 24 hours. That's not right," said Dinn, who had been with Diamond Cabs since it started in 2002.

"We didn't have the freedom down there to say, 'We don't want to go to your place, you're giving me a hard time, you're not making it easy for me to do my job, so I don't want to go to your house,' but they tell me, 'You have to go, or you're suspended,'" said another driver, who asked that his identity not be made public.

"Good luck to them," said Ted Yaceyko, who owns Diamond Cabs. "If they succeed in business, then I taught them correctly, that's what Fred Henne used to tell me.

"No, I don't think there's enough people here for three companies. Besides, other companies have started and have not succeeded."

For his part, Yaceyko said he believes the drivers were wanting to refuse trips because they wouldn't get a tip, such as medical trips, which are on a flat rate. He said if a call is coming from a house that is known for drug dealing, the company would not dispatch to the location.

"If we know, we don't go. I wouldn't go."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem expressed skepticism as to whether a third taxi company in Yellowknife can survive.

"The history in Yellowknife is that two companies prosper, and with three, life becomes interesting for the third," said Van Tighem.

Van Tighem said at last count there were 87 livery licences for City Cab and 24 licences for Diamond Cabs, with 170 licensed taxi drivers. The city can issue as many licences as are requested by taxi companies, he said.

Yaceyko said the drain of drivers from the fleet is a concern, "but not an overly big concern."

But Dinn said as long as the new company's drivers do a good job, they can make it work.

"The best company with the best service will survive. That's the main thing for the public," said Dinn.

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