Hitting the road for a fare
Ace Taxi's 25 cabs have the latest technology, such as satellite tracking devices and credit card machines

Last fall, when a canceled Continental Airlines flight filled his North Ridgeville hotel with guests who couldn't get cabs the next day, Bhupendra "Robert" Bavishi knew it was time to start a business he had talked about for years.

"It clicked with me right away," said Bavishi, owner of the 90-room Traveler's Inn just off Interstate 480.

Moving from talk to traffic patterns, Bavishi two weeks ago opened Ace Taxi, bringing to three the number of cab companies in Cleveland.

Ace has hit the road with 25 cabs -- a mix of new Chevrolet Astro vans and Lumina sedans -- that are being outfitted with the latest technology, including satellite tracking devices that help speed the nearest cab to callers and credit card machines like the "swipe" devices in supermarkets.

"It's a retail business on the road," Bavishi said of the sparkling blue taxis with the crisp white lettering.

Next week, Bavishi hopes to put 20 more Ace cabs into service, and, by the end of the year, he expects to have 75 on Northeast Ohio streets.

With Greater Cleveland undergoing a transformation from industrial grit tom tourist glitz, Bavishi believes his taxi business is poised to take advantage of a pending economic boom.

"This was the perfect time to start a business and then get into the swing of it before [the new economy] os already built," he said. The list of attractions he believes will keep his cabs filled with passengers includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and expanding flight schedules at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Indeed, economic indicators are favorable. Passenger travel at Hopkins, for instance, broke records in 1996 for the fifth straight year, rising 3.6 percent to almost 11.6 million.

David Nolan, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, however, doesn't believe economic trends alone were strong enough to lure Bavishi into the taxi business here.

Nolan is critical of cab service in Cleveland, saying there are some good drivers with clean cabs, but also many inadequate drivers operations dirty, ill-kept vehicles.

"The fact is, we're inconsistent as relates to service and availability," he said.

Cleveland's 331 licensed cabs, including Ace's 25, are more than enough to meet the city's needs, Nolan said. So he thinks Bavishi could become the dominant cab company by offering better service in terms of competent, attentive drivers and reliable response times.

Nolan is delighted that Bavishi is sending all his drivers through the training classes the Convention Bureau offers to businesses whose workers deals with visitors to the city.

Bavishi himself won't criticize the competition and, in fact, goes out of his way to stress the executives of his competitors, Yellow Cab and Americab, came to visit his new headquarters on E. 55th St. and wished him well.

Officials of Yellow Cab and Americab could not be reached for comment.

Ace has 15 employees working in its headquarters and about 50 drivers, all of whom lease their cabs. Bavishi said he has put together a health insurance plan for everyone involved.

Lest anyone think he has jumped blindly into a new venture, Bavishi makes it clear that he spent years studying taxi operations, "the problems, the security and safety issues, the ups and downs of the cab business."

He predicted it would take about two years to begin reaping a return on his investment, $700,000 of which went for leasing vehicles.

In addition to studying the business for many years, Bavishi said he spent many years picking the brains of the cabbies that came to his hotel.

He became a close friend and associate to two, Lou Kish and Kevin Gillissie, who have joined him at Ace in supervisory positions, Kish as general manager and Gillissie as head of operations.

"It was not just me saying, 'Hey, I want to be in the cab business,'" said Bavishi. He moved with his wife to Cleveland from South Carolina in 1985 when he bought the hotel.

Before that, Bavishi was a biochemist in public health for the state of South Carolina. A native of Bombay, India, he went to college in England before coming to the United States in 1973.