Port warns transportation firms: Obey rules or face fines

Port Canaveral officials are warning commercial ground transportation providers that they must obey the rules — or risk being fined or barred from the port entirely.

The port plans to implement a new set of rules on Oct. 1 for businesses that drop off cruise passengers at Port Canaveral before their cruises and pick them up after their cruises.

Eddie St. Clair, the port's senior program manager, said change is needed in the rules and enforcement at Port Canaveral.

St. Clair said the new ground transportation rules are designed to reduce traffic congestion and improve public safety.

"This is actually about customer service," St. Clair said. "The whole point is not to be punitive," and the port is not trying to act like "Big Brother."

"This is a new beginning," St. Clair said. "This is a new opportunity. Our ground transportation is strained right now."

St. Clair said the port worked with existing ground transportation providers to develop the rules, and also examined rules now in effect at other Florida cruise ports and at Orlando International Airport.

Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said he sees the new ground transportation rules as "an exciting opportunity going forward."

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During a meeting with transportation providers last week, St. Clair said the port will "aggressively" enforce rules against transportation companies that try to lure customers away from other companies that already have pre-arranged reservations with customers.

"Solicitation is not going to be tolerated," St. Clair said, adding that violators will be subject to $500 fines, under the proposed rules. "That's a serious violation. We take that very seriously. You are not allowed to solicit anybody you don't have a pre-arranged trip for."

St. Clair said that, in the past, enforcement of existing rules related to ground transportation has been somewhat lax.

"There has never been, truthfully, effective enforcement here," St. Clair said.

But he said that will change.

St. Clair said the port plans to add five ground transportation agents to help enforce the rules and monitor compliance at its cruise terminals.

"We will have boots on the ground at every active terminal," St. Clair said. "We have an obligation to protect the public we serve. Those are the people that we have a duty to protect, and the only way that we can do that is a very systematic, uniform system of regulations and enforcement. These rules are not worth the paper they're written on if you do not enforce them."

Once word spreads after the port fines a few people $500, St. Clair said, he expects other ground transportation operators will comply.

"It doesn't take long," St. Clair said. "It will resonate through everyone else."

St. Clair said the port wants to protect its cruise passengers against unscrupulous businesses that don't have a permit to operate at the port — "somebody who gets a can of spray paint, and paints 'taxi' on the side of their car."

He advised legitimate ground transportation operators to report to the port the transportation companies that shouldn't be operating there.

"When you see a 'gypsy cab,' turn them in," St. Clair said, adding that repeat violators could be barred from the port entirely.

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St. Clair added, though, that as the new rules are being rolled out, there will be an orientation for permit holders, and the port initially will be "very forgiving" in only giving warnings to providers who may not be familiar with the rules.

In response to questions from those attending the briefing, St. Clair said the ride-hailing service Uber is welcome at the port, as long as its drivers follow the rules.

"We don't want to exclude Uber," St. Clair said. "Uber is a new, exciting opportunity for the community."

Fares on Uber typically are significantly lower than on more traditional ground transportation like taxicabs.

Among other provisions of the port's proposed rules:

• All commercial ground transportation providers at the port will be required to have permit decals, and will need to provide a security deposit and meet specific insurance requirements.

• Drivers of commercial vehicles will need to stay within 5 feet of their vehicles.

• A special "meet-and-greet" area will be established within 50 feet of a cruise terminal building entrance for tour operators and other transportation providers to meet up with their customers that have arranged their transportation in advance.

Other transportation providers will not be allowed in that area as a way to help eliminate "chaos and confusion," St. Clair said.

The port's ground transportation agents will be allowed to ask transportation providers the names of people they are there to pick up.

• Fees charged for transportation providers will be based on the "dwell time" the commercial vehicle is in the port's cruise terminal area commercial zones. The times the vehicles enter and leave that area will be tracked with an electronic system, using a SunPass-like transponder affixed to the vehicle's windshield.

This transponder-reading system will be installed first at Cruise Terminal 1, east of the port's Cove area in October, and will undergo testing there. The equipment then will be installed in the coming months at the port's north side cruise terminals. The new payment system should be implemented by Jan. 1, St. Clair said.

St. Clair said the port officials plan to post the proposed rules on its website (www.portcanaveral.com) by the end of this week, to seek a last round of input from the community, before finalizing the rules in advance of the Oct. 1 implementation date.

In conjunction with the new rules, St. Clair said, the port is seeking to modify traffic patterns at cruise terminals to better separate commercial and personal vehicles, as well as to improve signs directing cruise passengers to its various terminals.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com.

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