This story was co-reported with KNOM's Margaret Sutherland
A new taxi service is finally hitting the roads of Nome. The new business, Bootz & Co. Cab LLC, is co-owned by Nome residents Ashley Earp and Billi Jean Miller. The couple plan to start rides in their 2021 Toyota Tacoma as early as Tuesday.
Both Earp and Miller got chauffeur's licenses with the city, along with taxicab and sales tax licenses for the business. They signed final paperwork at Nome City Hall Monday afternoon.
“I feel like my wife has the business mind, and I'm always just amazed by that. I don't think that comes naturally to me, but I'm definitely here to support and drive, and I'm excited for it,” Earp said.
Bootz & Co. is Nome’s first licensed taxicab operator since the start of the year, when Nome Checker Cab’s licenses expired. According to the City Clerk’s office, Checker Cab owner Rodney Jones did not reapply for the six taxicab licenses the company exclusively held at the time.
The Nome Common Council subsequently moved to issue 11 new taxicab licenses in January, effectively opening the market to new operators.
But it was slow-going from the jump. Potential operators cited confusion with applying for licenses and a desire to not use their personal vehicles as reasons for the delays. In Earp and Miller’s case, they barged up a new truck this summer, freeing up their five-seated Toyota pickup truck.
“We see the demand for a cab business, and we have a vehicle that sits at home eight hours a day, and we thought, ‘why not just let that vehicle help the community while employing people’, so that was our mindset,” Miller said.
Miller said the hardest part of the process was not the vehicle – it was insurance.
“I think there are only five insurance companies that insure taxi cab drivers in Alaska now, is what we've been told,” she explained. “We had a really hard time getting a lot of no's and waiting on a lot of quotes just for brokers to call back and say ‘we're not going to insure you’.”
They plan to start operating rides from 6 a.m. to about 7 p.m. – just enough time to help people with rides to and from the airport for Alaska Airlines’ twice-daily service to Anchorage. But they hope to scale the business by eventually adding other drivers and vehicles to the fleet.
“And then we're just going to roll with it and see how many prospective employees we can obtain, and how much they want to drive, and how much they're willing to be scheduled, and go from there,” Miller said.
They plan to start fares at $6 for rides in town, $8 to the airport and $10 for out of town rides like to Nome-Beltz Middle High School. They plan to take cash or card payment through a Square reader.
Miller plans to temporarily scale back operations at Tundra Delights, a specialty drink and snack shop she runs out of her home, while getting adjusted to the needs of the new business. Her canine helper at the shop, Bootz, is still heavily involved in the taxi business too – she’s in the name and logo of the new business and holds a symbolic chauffeur's license.
Once operational, Bootz & Co will take requests for rides at 907-304-1515.
