The True State Of Seattle Taxi: 1700 Miles Away, She Called Me For A Cab Ride

 As my Favorite Dispatcher from the "Voice" Days used to repeat, "That's a true story!"

Yes, Janis, in faraway West Seattle, who still had my business card, called me for a cab ride.  For better and often worse, passengers rarely forgot this cabbie.  Sometimes they loved me and other times hated me but across the taxi board, they found me memorable.  When Janis said she was at "Park West," I responded, "yeah, the 1700 block of California."  

That's what you got with me, I knew the city and still do.  Janis had tried Lyft and had a negative ride, and at the time of night she called, I am guessing there just wasn't any Yellow cabbies interested in flying across the West Seattle Bridge rescuing a fair damsel recovering from a broken leg.  We ended up talking for over a half an hour, Janis feeling a bit isolated in her rehab room. 

And folks, that is what taxi driving is all about, responding individually to a passenger's needs, whether they are 16 inches away sitting in the backseat or 1700 miles directly northwest of you.  Maybe that's why I was both loved and hated: I was attentive.  If you were nice and polite, you received a taxi ride of a lifetime.  If an asshole, I was always at first tolerant but warning: continue your evil ways and sorry buddy, you gotta go, and I mean now!  

Ah yes, sweet old taxi, how I don't miss you though some clearly miss me.  You may call me conceited but I knew when I stopped driving cab a gap in overall service would be one of the results.  The reason why is simply, again, I paid attention.  More times than not I rescued passengers trying to catch their flight by noticing an unattended "bell" sitting in a given part of town.  The Cebu callcenter might have been clueless but I wasn't, picking up the call, and like a proverbial "taxi bat out of hell," somehow, someway getting them to Sea-Tac on time despite all the screw-ups sabotaging their ability to get a cab. 

That's why Janis called me.  And why Yellow Cab is still limping along.  Most of the veteran cabbies like me are gone to better pastures, in my case Southwest New Mexico.  Uber and Lyft, they will never replace the professional cab companies and the professional cabbies.  It just isn't possible.  Ask Janis.  She'll tell you all about it.