Whitehorse's business community is calling on city council to force taxi companies to clean up their shabby cabs and dirty drivers.

At a Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce luncheon with members of city council Tuesday, Main Street business owner Rolf Hougen said he and other chamber members would like to see city council clean up the city's taxi services.

The age of the cabs and the cleanliness of the drivers, Hougen said, need to be addressed.

'Our taxi service by and large is atrocious,' he said.

'Surely there's something you can do.'

Answering questions on behalf of Mayor Bev Buckway, city manager Dennis Shewfelt said he concurs with Hougen but there is not a lot the municipal government could do.

'I fully agree with Rolf on this,' Shewfelt said.

While the city can and does license the businesses and ensures the taxicabs meet certain standards, Shewfelt added, there is very little the city can do in terms of ensuring taxi drivers do things such as take showers and wear clean clothes.

'It's very hard to make sure the drivers are clean. This is a private business,' he said.

Shewfelt said there isn't a large number of taxis in the city and where and how the service operates is up to the individual businesses.

'We can lobby the owners, but it's difficult to put in regulations.'

According to Northwestel Inc.'s telephone directory, there are currently six companies offering taxi services in the Whitehorse area: 5th Avenue Taxi, Global Limo Van, Global Taxi Service Ltd., Whitehorse Taxi, Yellow Cab Ltd, and Yukon Taxi Service.

Graham Jackson, the owner of 5th Avenue Taxi, Whitehorse Taxi and Yellow Cab Ltd., said this morning he is offended by Hougen's and Shewfelt's comments.

'That's unfortunate,' he told the Star. 'I'm kind of insulted.'

He said he has brought in 10 new vehicles to his fleet of 25 in the last year. All of them meet city standards, he said.

None of his cars is unclean or unsafe, Jackson added.

'We have new cars coming into town all the time. We've put more new cars on the road recently than we have in a long time.

'We have to meet the standards set up by the city to ensure our cabs are safe.'

The cars, he added, are used vehicles but are not former taxis.

Graham said he also has conditions of service for his drivers, including standards for cleanliness, that they agree to before working for one of his companies.

'It says drivers have to be respectful, courteous, clean and neat.'

Jackson said he preferred not to provide a copy of the conditions to the Star.

He said he'd like to get more cars on the road but the problem he's having is finding drivers.

'There's cars sitting in the yard without drivers to drive the cars,' he said.

Jackson said he's been offering a $1,000-bonus for any new drivers who sign on with one of his companies but he hasn't been able to fill up his companies' rosters.

'I've been trying to find drivers for a while but it's tough. Most of my drivers make $100 to $200 a shift, take-home. My best drivers make $4,000 to $5,000 a month, and that's more than me.

'I'm sorry these things had to be said but maybe some good can come out of this. Maybe I'll get some drivers out of this,' he said.