More taxicabs may roll on Salt Lake streets during the Olympics, thanks to a temporary lifting of cab restrictions.
After much discussion the Salt Lake City Council voted to allow the city's three licensed cab companies ? Ute, City Cab and Yellow Cab ? to gauge the demand for taxis and respond accordingly.
Normally the companies are limited to running some 232 cabs in the city, but Mayor Rocky Anderson, himself a former cabbie, anticipated a leaping demand for taxi service during the Winter Games. The mayor asked the council to permit some 100 additional cabs next month ? and if it turned out that they weren't needed, Anderson wanted the authority to rescind the temporary allowance.
The council members decided Tuesday to keep that authority for themselves. They voted to give the city's existing cab companies the choice of running more cars, but reserved the right to rescind the ordinance if taxicabs outnumber Games-time calls for them.
The number of cabs permitted to operate in Salt Lake City will return to normal when the Olympic ordinance sunsets on March 31.