Volunteer Taxi, Nashville’s first-ever driver-led company

Nashville, TEN - More taxis are coming to Nashville and many of the new drivers will be the owners of their own cab company.

“This is the American dream,” said Shimenes Tafesse, vice president of Volunteer Taxi, a company led by a group of Ethiopian-born immigrants, now authorized as the first-ever driver-owned company in Nashville.

With a nervous crowd of cab drivers watching, the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission, which oversees Nashville’s taxi industry, voted Thursday to authorize 120 new cab permits, lifting the cap on taxis in Davidson County from 585 to 705 by next spring.

Under the agreement approved by the commission, 60 of the taxis can begin service immediately, while 60 more can hit the streets after Music City Center, Nashville’s new convention center, opens in April 2013. Read more