Usually people applaud companies for giving something away for free. But, as residents know, Atlantic City is anything but usual. So giving casino customers free rides may soon become illegal. From the AC Press:
City Council introduced an ordinance Wednesday that would ban the Harrah’s “Total Express” shuttles from the resort streets.
Several dozen jitney drivers loudly clapped and cheered the 9-0 council vote on the ordinance that seemed designed to protect their businesses. They waved signs that said “Stop Harrah’s” and “SaveTheJitneys.com.”
Seven-year driver Vicki Piperato said she and her husband, Bob, support themselves and two children driving resort jitneys. “I voted them (casinos) in to better the community, not to take from us,” she said.
President William Marsh said council will seek meetings with officials from the Atlantic City Jitney Association and Harrah’s Entertainment before the final council vote on the ordinance.
“Let’s sit down before we get to litigation,” Marsh said in the meeting. “If all parties are satisfied, fine. If not, then we gotta do what we have to do.”
The casino is willing to talk, said David J. Satz, Harrah’s entertainment vice president for government relations and development.
He said the casino does not think the ordinance is legally valid.
For instance, he said, the ordinance seems to illegally favor one competitor over another. He also questioned how the city could set up regulations outside of the state’s transportation regulations.
Satz said previous negotiations with the Jitney Association have been unfruitful, even though he said the casino offered unspecified “meaningful things.”
Drivers booed him when he said the casino negotiated in good faith. He said patrons prefer casino shuttles.
Harrah’s started the free service last October, ferrying casino patrons between its properties – Harrah’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Bally’s Atlantic City and the Showboat Casino Hotel.
The rides were initially for anyone with a “Total Rewards” slot-club card, freely available to people 21 or older. It restricted the shuttle to higher tier cards and hotel patrons in May, citing heavy demand.
This sounds almost like a sub-plot from an Ayn Rand novel–entrenched interests using political pressure to stifle free enterprise.
Of course, nothing is really free. Harrah’s customers are paying for the shuttle, one way or another. It’s not like the Harrah’s is running some kind of magical Harry Potter bus or something. For them, it just is cheaper to run the shuttles in-house than outsource it to the jitney drivers.
On one hand, I sympathize with the jitney drivers, who don’t have it easy and as a group have been strong supporters of the city, even through its roughest times. On the other, I’ve got some real problems with a city government telling a private business what kind of services they can offer, based merely on political considerations and not legitimate public health or safety issues.