Nome cannot say whether a free shuttle van is a taxi

Nome's mayor told the Common Council on Monday that city code does not settle whether the free shuttle vans running around town have to carry the same licenses, and pay the same sales taxes, as taxicabs. He said he would bring back something clearer at the next meeting.

Most Nome shuttles run free between fixed points, a hotel and the hospital, say. Tour buses run predetermined routes coordinated with cruise ships rather than picking people up on request. Neither looks much like a cab, but the code treats hired vehicles as one category, requiring a chauffeur's license plus either a taxicab or motor bus license.

The mayor said city attorneys and the Alaska Municipal League told him taxicab and motor bus are effectively the same thing under the law, and that it comes down to how Nome defines them. "I don't think we've gone to that next level that we need to," he said.

The question came up because of a Sept. 5 letter from Stephen Longley, and it matters because of money. Nome's 6 percent sales tax would apply differently depending on which category a shuttle falls into.

The council went through a version of this argument earlier in the year, when the city floated repealing the licensing requirement altogether and the idea ran into opposition from council members and residents.