As industry shifts, Las Vegas cabs do some soul-searching

LAS VEGAS — The arrival of Uber and Lyft in Nevada last fall and a state audit accusing regulators of allowing cabs to charge $47 million in excessive fees each year have the powerful Las Vegas taxi industry and its overseers in the hot seat, facing down a recommendation that the agency be disbanded and its duties passed to another entity.

Legislators are postponing any decisions about whether to abolish the agency until a second, taxi company-funded audit is complete, but the meeting laid bare how cabs are struggling to keep pace with new technology and increased competition.

In Clark County, home of Las Vegas and the majority of Nevada’s population, there are about 10,000 taxi drivers, and state officials say it’s getting tougher for companies to recruit drivers in light of the competition.

Change appears inevitable for Las Vegas cab drivers, who for decades could make a comfortable living whisking millions of tourists a few miles from the airport to the Strip.