When Platteville Public Transportation was created by merging the city’s taxi and bus services, the city had one additional taxi service that wasn’t part of the merger.

The city now has no outside taxi service, after Platteville Cab went out of business. Platteville Cab was owned by Merle and Janice Forbes. Merle Forbes died in June 2014.

That has resulted in increased demand for PPT’s taxi service, which has led to increased waiting times for the taxi service, according to  city officials.

Director of Public Works Howard Crofoot said the city could expand taxi service by 250 hours for the rest of this year, costing about $5,000.

While the cost of increasing service would be slightly more than half offset by increased state and federal funds in 2016, those funds are already set for 2015, Crofoot said. That would mean the city would have to fund the entire amount if it wanted to expand taxi service this year.

District 1 Ald. Barb Stockhausen said calls to the taxi number don’t mention PPT’s bus service. The taxi is “doubling up on routes the best they can manage,” she said.

The other alternative, Crofoot said, is to let Running Inc., which manages PPT’s taxi, manage taxi hours.

The issue is expected to be considered further at the Sept. 22 Common Council meeting.