Lynn: One out of two local taxis fail annual inspection

LYNN – Half of the taxis operating across the city have failed annual inspections in recent years aimed at ensuring passenger and driver safety.The cabs are repaired promptly after failing city and state checks and reinspected before they are allowed back on local roads, but the failure rate underscores Police Officer Robert LeBlanc?s assessment of vehicles operated by four local cab companies.?Our fleet?s not in great shape,” he said Monday.LeBlanc works in the Police Department Traffic Division and, on Monday, he summarized results from annual inspections conducted by city mechanics and state Registry of Motor Vehicle and Environmental Protection inspectors.Last year, 36 cabs passed inspection without violations, but inspectors tallied up violations ranging from broken lights and seats to major problems including tie rod, control arms and ball bearing problems in 38 cabs, including three ordered off local streets.?They were beyond repair – they shouldn?t have been on the road,” LeBlanc said.Cab inspection results provided by the Police Department for 2012 and 2011 log similar inspection failure rates: 32 cabs passed without violations in 2012 but 11 others had minor inspection violations and 22 had major violations.In 2011, 53 vehicle inspections uncovered 24 cabs in need of major repairs and five with minor violations.Cab company operators, like Tom?s Taxi owner Robert Colucci, said they are doing their best to stay on top of maintenance problems. He said city streets are tough on cabs.?It?s the potholes; we?re constantly replacing and repairing,” Colucci said.Tom?s and Garcia Taxi are the city?s two major cab companies, and in 2013, 10 out of 15 Tom?s cars failed an initial inspection and four out of 12 Garcia cabs failed. The violations logged in inspection reports included ball joint and fuel tank problems that, LeBlanc said, prompted two independently owned cabs listed under Tom?s inspection report to be “taken off the road permanently.” Tom?s maintains its own repair garage and Colucci said the company spends $40,000 a year on automobile parts. He said company vehicles – many of them former police cars – are 10 years old, on average, and log 1,000 miles a week on local roads. LeBlanc said the average cab?s age locally is more like 15 years.?We do maintenance – we?re constantly doing it – but it?s an uphill battle with the streets,” Colucci said.Seven of 10 Union Taxi vehicles failed an initial 2013 inspection, according to police records, with problems cited by inspectors ranging from brake and ball joint problems to broken turn signals.Company owner Danilo Diroche acknowledged the seriousness of some of the failures, in particular ball joint problems, and said he checks with his drivers to ensure vehicles are being properly maintained.?I say, ?Bring it over? and we fix it right away,” Diroche said.All City Taxi owner Mike Cole called annual city cab inspections “kind of a snapshot” of taxi maintenance and said a van he purchased failed a city inspection a short time after it passed a Registry-required inspection. Three out of four All City cabs failed initial inspections in 2013.?The things they found wrong were kind of minor. I try to always keep my cabs up to snuff,” Cole said.LeBlanc said this year?s taxi inspection is scheduled for June 11 and 12, and he has already told company owners to prepare for another rigorous inspection.?We?re checking for everything. If it fails bad enough, we pull the stickers right off the vehicle,” he warned.