At about noon at 30th Street Station, some 60 drivers of medallion cabs, who normally cover Center City and Philadelphia International Airport, engaged in a loud confrontation with operators of so-called "partial rights" cabs, who are being allowed to work in Center City this week to help ease the burden of the SEPTA strike.

With about 15 Amtrak police standing by, cabs driven by the members of the Taxi Workers Alliance clogged a waiting area beside the building where disputes erupted between medallion cab operators and a few drivers of partial rights cabs.

"We came here to defuse the situation," said Ronald Blount, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania. "There were people from different cab companies arguing."

Blount said a man with a video camera who was filming the confrontation was arrested by Amtrak police and released.

When the strike began on Tuesday, the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which oversees taxi companies in the city, authorized five partial rights cab companies to pick up fares in Center City. Cabs from such companies are normally allowed only to drop off riders in Center City and the airport, not pick them up.

The order issued by the Parking Authority yesterday specifically asked the partial rights cab companies to provide service at train stations, bus terminals, the airport, the convention center and areas designated for special events.

Blount and others complained that the partial rights cab should not be at the station because Amtrak passengers there were mostly out-of-towners who were not seriously hampered by the strike.

Linda Miller, a spokesman for the Parking Authority said that by easing the rules on "partial-rights" cabs, the agency was "just trying to accommodate the needs of the riding public. I've never heard the public complain that there were too many cabs on the street."

During the morning rush hour, several taxi drivers lamented the dense traffic sparked by the SEPTA strike.

At about 8:30 on Erie Avenue at Broad Street Street, Abdul Hassan, a driver for Olde City Taxi, complained that he was unable to pick up many passengers. "It took me an hour to get here from West Philadelphia."

About a half hour later at Cecil B. Moore Avenue at Broad Street, Yusef Drame, a driver for United Cab, said the additional traffic was hindering his ability to get more passengers. "Business is less because traffic is worse," Drame said. "It is not good." He said it took him about a half-hour to drive from Broad and Spruce Streets to Temple University.

Also at Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Abdul Jah, an Olde City Cab driver said he was late driving a student to the university. "I picked up this lady at 9:08 at 25th and Reed. I just got here at 9:57. She had a test. Now she is late.