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LAS VEGAS -- Cabbies taking tourists on a longer route than necessary to run up the meter is a practice known as longhauling.

The I-Team has been reporting on the problem for years. Now, one cab driver is admitting he does it and says he has no regrets.

On any typical afternoon, Ken Peterson is driving tourists around the Strip in his taxi cab. Right now, he is at home on suspension for getting into a fender bender.

"It is time somebody stood up for the cab drivers. It is time something is done." Peterson said.

He is upset at the way the Taxicab Authority and most cab companies run their business. He says the companies encourage meeting daily quotas, which is difficult to do without longhauling. He adds the Taxicab Authority uses sneaky tactics to bust drivers.

"Yes, we do long haul. I long haul, but it is to a point with the consent from the customer," Peterson said.

State laws are posted in every cab.

"The driver is not permitted to take a longer route to the passenger's destination than is necessary," chief investigator with the Taxicab Authority Ruben Aquino said.

Peterson has a way around that rule.

"I'll turn around and I'll look at them, 'Here is the deal. We can sit through the traffic lights, the surface streets, get to know each other, or we can jump on the freeway, spend 6,8,10 bucks more and we go virtually nonstop, we'll get you to your hotel and you can get your party started,'" Peterson said.

The freeway, often times, is the most expensive and longest route.

"My duties and mandate is to detect and apprehend longhaulers. That is one of my main functions here," Aquino said.

Aquino admits that a $100 first-time longhauling fine might be just a cost of doing business for some drivers.

However, he says he cannot regulate whether cab companies encourage quotas.

"That is something that we don't monitor and we don't regulate," Aquino said.

The biggest change Peterson wants to see, when he gets back behind the wheel, is fewer cabs on the road so cabbies can make a decent wage.

"I think I should be able to have a piece of the pie too," Peterson said.

Then and only then is when he says he will stop longhauling.

8 News NOW reached out to Lucky Cab Company, the company Ken Peterson works for, but did not get a response for an interview.