Lisa Reynolds-Nixon stood at East 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street longer than it took to get sunburn before she gave up trying to hail a cab.
"What's wrong with this city? Don't you people have taxis?" asked the skin- product rep from Boston who made the mistake of assuming she could make her sales calls in Denver without a car rental.
Red bikes? We've got plenty.
But on a major street just blocks from the state Capitol, the chances of catching a cab, even in broad daylight, are slim.
It seems curious then that a startup deemed operationally and managerially fit for business by state regulators has been denied its application to launch more taxis in Denver and surrounding counties.
Paul Gomez, an administrative law judge for the Public Utilities Commission, ruled this summer that Mile High Cab's proposed fleet of 150 would harm existing companies' business and "impede the ability of those carriers to provide safe, economical and efficient service."
"When a market is at or near capacity, a homogenous, undifferentiated entrant such as Mile High does not serve the public interest," he wrote.
I wonder which members of the public, and exactly whose interest, Gomez had in mind.