http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 785987.htm

Posted on Sat, Jun. 10, 2006

Competition grows for Latino taxi services
Firms adjust to meet rider needs, compete
LENA WARMACK
lwarmack@charlotteobserver.com

SALISBURY - The Bonilla brothers left Honduras in 1990 to find work and better opportunities for their families in the United States.

Moving to Salisbury, they found a way to make a living and provide a needed service to a growing Latino population.

Melvin Bonilla, his brother, Oscar, and their friend Ramon Jimenez created Latino Express of Rowan County in 2004.

In the region outside Charlotte, at least a half-dozen small Latino-owned taxi companies like theirs have sprung up, offering service to Spanish-speaking populations in the suburban counties. Among them are Mega Taxi and Barrio Taxi in Kannapolis and Taxi Azteca and El Guerrero in Monroe.

Although Latino populations are growing, taxi owners -- both Latino and non-Latino -- say there aren't yet enough native Spanish speakers for a taxi company to survive on their trade alone.

So many of these businesses are finding ways to draw English-speaking customers as well.

The resulting competition is starting to change the way other taxi services do business. Other companies realize they need to do more to reach out to Latino customers.

"That's the only way to get successful and to expand the business more," Melvin Bonilla, 36, said in choppy English. "We're trying to get the Spanish people and American people."

Barriers along the way

In Charlotte, plenty of cabs offer Spanish-speaking service. But other factors make it harder for a startup taxi company to stay in business.Neither Mexicar Cab Service nor International Cab Co., for example, could survive. Both were Latino-owned, and both succumbed to stiffer regulations in Charlotte.

A taxi company operating in Charlotte must keep at least 30 cars running, and all drivers must be able to read, speak and write in English.

The Charlotte ordinance was revised some years ago, taxi inspectors said, because of concern about unlicensed cab drivers and the use of unsafe vehicles. The city also wanted to maintain 24-hour cab service.

But many places in the region outside Charlotte present no such language requirements or fleet minimums.

Working factory jobs, the Bonilla brothers saved close to $20,000 to start their business.

It was enough to buy three white Ford LTD Crown Victorias and rent a small space in front of Lupitas Variedades, a market on North Main Street in China Grove.

Business was slow for the first six months, Melvin Bonilla said.

"We were not sure if this was going to work or not," he said.

They began aggressively advertising to Hispanic customers. Calls started picking up. They moved to a larger one-room office on South Main Street in Salisbury, he said.

The beige and blue, one-story brick building sits on a gravel lot beside Latino Auto Service and Cordero's Tire Center.

A year into the business, Bonilla said, they started reaching out to English-speaking customers.

"I don't think that by only servicing one group it's going to be successful or make business," he said. "But by doing for everybody, you're going to get more business...."

Sue Wales, director of planning and research for the Salisbury Police Department, said Latino Express has changed the competition in Salisbury: "I think the other taxi companies are going to have to hire or train some of their drivers to speak the different languages if they want to stay competitive."

More people, more business

In 2004, an estimated 601,000 Hispanics lived in North Carolina, said James H. Johnson, entrepreneurship professor and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at UNC Chapel Hill.

That figure could increase to between 800,000 and 1 million people in the next five years, he said.

Latino-owned Carolina Taxi in Kannapolis has mostly English-speaking drivers but is encouraging them to learn Spanish, said dispatcher Elio "Peter" Ramos, 29.

Carolina Taxi is owned by Ramon Jimenez, the Bonillas' former partner in Latino Express.

"Most of my drivers are American, and I keep telling them to learn Spanish because there's a lot more Spanish-speaking people coming to this town, and we'll definitely be needing to speak both Spanish and English," Ramos said.

"They want to learn Spanish, too, because they want to make more money."

Bonilla said his business, which has four bilingual drivers, receives a steady stream of calls.

He wants to add 10 to 15 more drivers in the next few years and eventually move into a larger office.

"Sometimes I worry about the costs," Bonilla said. "But it's like any other business. It takes time for people to know about it."


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Lena Warmack: (704) 786-2185.