Don' Vote For Bruce Harrell For Mayor Of Seattle & New Info Concerning City of Seattle Taxi Medallion Retirements & The Taxi Experience As I Know it & Quick Profile Of One Taxi, Seattle, Washington

Don't Vote For Bruce, Cut Him Loose

November 4th is election day.  If you haven't cast your ballot yet, as I keep suggesting, Harrell should not be an option since he shafted the local taxi industry by not voting to cap Uber and Lyft at 250 operators each.  There are about 45,000 Uber and Lyft drivers currently working in Seattle and King County.  Slightly more than a combined 500, wouldn't you say?  Thanks Bruce but no thanks.  Please go away.

No, You Will Not Be Losing Your Taxi Medallion on November 1st

It was initially slated that all medallion owners in Seattle had a firm deadline of Nov 1, 2025 to have their medallion active on a working taxi, but what has happened in reality is that the City of Seattle did not issue "letters of intent" on Sept 1st as was expected.  The plan now is for the these letters to be mailed out sometime next week, meaning all medallion owners will now have 60 days from that date, or from when the letter is received, to do something concerning their medallion.  After that, all inactive medallions will be retired.  Consider this a kind of bureaucratic reprieve, unintentional or not.  If you are considering putting on a taxi, I suggest you get to it before January 2026 rolls around.  And maybe you can thank the current mayor for his administration's inefficiency, another reason why not to vote for "his honor," his rhetorical effectiveness notwithstanding.  

Taxi is Personal

After all these recent months of reporting taxi news and events, I've decided to turn to the personal, to relate taxi reality as it truly is, thirty-five plus years imprinted forever on my brain.  If there is anything like an afterlife, I wonder if these memories are eternal, hundreds of thousands of miles tread deeply upon my once living fiber, tire tracks having penetrated my very skin. 

What most don't understand is how personal driving a cab is, you the lone sailor set upon your city's particular cultural sea.  It is a lonely business even though in a given day you might have shared your cab with fifty or more passengers. They are going somewhere while you are going nowhere at all, your day circular, always returning to the beginning.  I think that is in part why I could not curtail myself from traveling around the globe, dropping off at the airport telling me that I too wanted join them, soon finding myself in San Francisco or the next day, Paris, out of the cab and up up up into the wild blue yonder. 

Taxi then is a kind of mobile trap, and though perhaps for some, like me, a highly profitable trap but nonetheless a cage keeping you from touching life as it truly exists, your seat beneath the toplight equivalent to sitting in a movie theatre watching a big screen representing a world you can never enter no matter how hard you try.  Don't wonder then if that cabbie taking you to dinner seems half crazy because he/she is, at best temporarily out-of-their-mind. And I guarantee that no one is immune, you too losing your mind once you jumped behind that taxi steering wheel.  In a few hours you too will be howling at the taxi moon. 

 That is why, for the migrant cabbie, family is so important, impatient to finish "this damn business," ending their shift and  getting back to what is real for them, the embrace of his or her family.  This explains why Chinese food gained so much importance for me.  Yes, I have been eating Chinese everything since I was ten but more, for me, the many pleasant dishes a kind of welcome to a better outcome than battling traffic and negotiating the myriad personalities entering the cab.  I needed a smile and Tai Tung, 655 S. King Street, and the Honey Court, 516 Maynard Ave. S,  always providing that kind of embrace, everyone happy to see me, an hour-long refuge from my living hell. 

Thank you Harry and Milton and Mandy and Shelly and the many others who so graciously served me my Mapo Tofu.  The Chinese normally don't like hippies but with me, that didn't seem to matter.  Thanks, everyone, for the embrace and the thousands of great meals, those two restaurants in particular a kind of home away from home family.  When I first started my taxi adventures on those 1987 autumn weekends, I would sometimes eat at Tai Tung twice a day.  Back then you could still sit down and order at 3:30 AM, you and an odd assortment of night owls sharing that long white counter.  

Working the Two-day long taxi single shift.

It was my routine for years, two days on, five days off.  While working 42-44 hours out of 48 might sound insane and probably is, the tradeoff of nearly 120 taxi-free hours made the grind worth it.  And the money I made was lucrative, because I usually had my lease and gasoline by 7:00 AM Saturday morning, that translating into the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday to pile in the dough.  This was all before I won my medallion in a City lottery, and before Uber and Lyft essentially changed the association model, destroying taxi as I knew it.

If anyone wonders, I much preferred leasing to owning because I was free of the financial penury umbilically attached to cab ownership.  Pay the lease and that was it.  At the end of my taxi ownership years I was paying nearly $5000.00 for insurance.  I estimated that I needed to earn about $18,000, or more or less two plus months before I earned a real penny of profit.  Screw ownership! The only advantage I found was being in complete control of maintaining the cab, never having to worry about bad brakes or worn tires. 

Poor association maintenance caused me a couple of accidents that would have never happened if I had owned the cab.  BYG (Seattle Yellow Cab) was pretty good but not perfect keeping its cabs running. But even Yellow had its issues.  Taki, who ran the garage, was a friendly tyrant making it hard not to like the guy, Taki keeping all those cars running though try a spare tire after 6:00 PM? No way!  The garage was Taki's fiefdom, Taki BYG's  mechanical Grand Duke.  At its height, the co-op had over 550 cabs. 

Since I could always pick up my cab early, I usually got to the cab lot at about 12:30 AM Saturday morning in anticipation of hitting the 1 AM bar rush.  In those good old days I was guaranteed waiting customers almost everywhere in the greater Seattle area.  The lot was near the 1st Avenue Bridge allowing me entry to South Park and deep West Seattle. Or nearby Georgetown had its string of bars.  If nothing close was waiting  I would hit I-5 northbound and head toward Capitol Hill unless I was waylaid to the Medical, with some poor soul more than ready to leave Harborview and get home, often miles away north or south.  Suffice to say suddenly, where ever I went, it was non-stop busy busy busy, dropping off and instantly picking up, crazy taxi with every kind of early morning denizen---sober, half-drunk or over the edge---in they came and out they went all over the city and Eastside across Lake Washington.  

This alcohol-fueled melee continued to about 3:30 AM, where a brief pause allowed me to catch my taxi breath before the Sea-Tac (airport) time-calls starting rolling in. My preference was the north-end, longer the fare the better payoff but 2-4 airport-ers where ever they started were usual, it not mattering to me, though some guys preferred the hotel stands, and if finding myself downtown, and seeing an empty prime stand, I was on it, knowing I'd soon be whistled in, closing my eyes for a few peaceful minutes.  

For those interested in keeping score my personal record for Sea-Tac trips on any given day, is nine.  More usual was between two to five.  Some cabbies concentrated on the hotels, bragging about their daily airport totals. Me, I didn't care, only interested in keeping that meter ticking. $300.00 more or less was my 7 o'clock AM goal and I always made it. 

If I hadn't already, around 7:00  I would head to one of many favorite coffee shops for a cafe latte and a pastry, each neighborhood holding a special place, giving me something to look forward to.  Keeping your spirits up is utterly important when driving that cab.  The psychic desolation is very real.  Add in the physical exhaustion of getting up early, then pushing it hard to six hours, you can feel like crap even though your pockets are stuffed, and all you want to do go home and curl up but the day had in reality only begun, having another 14-16 hours of taxi fun and games ahead.

The rest of the day was just keeping on with what I was doing, paying attention to business hot spots throughout the city.   If there was a University of Washington Husky football game, that would become my next focus.  Business related to the game came in waves.  First wave is taking fans to the game.  Second wave is halftime.  If the game is a blowout, streams of fans will be looking for a cab.  If the game is close, I get into the area just before the fourth quarter, then boom! a flood of fans emerge from the stadium, and chaos reigns.  

Depending on my luck, I usually made about $200.00 alone from the Husky games, and sometimes a lot more, not bad for about 3-4 hours of my time.  Traffic was always crazy, and the cops a pain but there was a rhythm to it all, and usually I found myself in and out the area minus not too much trouble. Sometimes you could depend on post-game fan action proceeding into the early evening hours, especially if it was a big home team victory, fans lingering in the bars, getting drunker by the hour. 

By that time, after the game, I was hungry and would usually head south to Chinatown, telephone ahead for takeout, then sit at the train station chomping away.  I tell you I can eat my chicken almond subgum chow mien with chop sticks at any speed.  Late afternoon would bring grocery shopping runs and sometimes an airport trip. Maybe a "personal" would call and I would do that run. I once had a personal that bought in $2100.00 per month. Another personal, an elderly couple in Ballard, would take me all over the place, often round trip with the meter running, with a $20-40.00 tip on top.  Early evening dinner runs would commence, and they could come from any part of city.  If during the summer Pier-69 and the Victoria Clipper was the place to be, producing lots of airports and often a jackpot fare $60-70.00 taking me somewhere far.  

Depending if I caught a nap in the cab or not, I would take my serious break of the day in Chinatown, chowing down for a good hour and read the newspaper, having already rolled in a bunch of money, knowing pretty much what my final weekend total would now be. Sometimes that would be it, and I would head north toward my sister's house in the deep north Broadview. For years her basement was my Seattle bedroom after I sold my last Seattle property.  First Bremerton, White Center, then Tacoma for almost ten years were my abode. But when I was taking Gloria the bartender home, which I did for years, the day would stretch to 22 hours or so.  By that time I was beat and certainly tried to avoid temptation taking a last bell, creeping into the house and throwing myself on the bed.  Five hours later I was up, a quick shower then out the door.  Sunday I made a short day, usually 16-18 hours. Same kind of routine as Saturday, especially if the Seahawks were playing home.  I would stay in the north-end and get a fan going to the game.  

At Sunday night's end my total would be between 42-44 hours, dead tired but first I had to get the cab back to the lot, and because of the late hour, often having trouble finding a parking space.  I'd say hello and goodbye to the night Supt, for years Barry the retired Seattle cop. 

After allowing myself to sleep in, I would head on up to Capitol Hill, my old longtime neighborhood, check my PO Box, do my deposit at the Chase Bank with Mary, my favorite teller, then pick up my disabled brother and out to an early dinner we would go.  There were many variations upon a theme but this my normal for a long time.  I cherished my five days of freedom from the cab, everyday taking long walks, and when living in Tacoma, each day going to a favorite coffee shop, reading the news online and working on whatever current writing.  After coffee I was head to local parks for walks along the South Puget Sound. 

This routine changed when Uber and Lyft officially arrived, forcing many changes, including taking on an all-week leased cab before I won my medallion.  A couple of drivers shared my cab during the week but I still did my long weekends. That continued even when I was an official owner until I gradually starting driving days, and Rick, another longtime veteran, drove nights on the weekdays.  I didn't enjoy all the added expenses of ownership but the money remained good to the end, with me finally quitting in early 2023.  Those were the days. 

(Note: When writing this description, I feel I didn't truly capture the experience of those long weekends.  I skipped over much detail. Maybe sometime I will breakdown minutely a couple of hours as it really was. A lot can happen in a 120-minute span.)

A Conversation with One Taxi General Manager Daniel 

Big changes have, and are happening in Seattle/King County's cab world.  The once dominant Yellow Cab (Puget Sound Dispatch) is now in second place in terms of sheer numbers, with One Taxi at about 275 cabs and counting, expecting another 10-15 to soon join its association of independent owner/operators. Yellow, until recently had over 450 cabs but it seems that at least 200 cabs joined the exodus to One Taxi.  Why?  Part of it is a simple matter of costs asked by the rival associations. Yellow's current weekly dispatch fee of $195.00 plus the newly instituted 75 cents per meter drop has convinced many cabbies that alternatives like One Taxi is a better deal, a lower monthly lease and quickly expanding customer and account base suggesting a more advantageous future.  

For the privilege of driving at Yellow, a cabbie is looking at a yearly dispatch lease of $10,120.00.  Though difficult to believe, One Taxi's GM said that their dispatch fee is $140.00 per month.  Whether that low of a rate is sustainable, $1,680 vs over $10,000 annually, who would want to remain at Yellow?  And while $.75 may seem an insubstantial amount, it adds up quickly, making a high fee request even more onerous. 75 cents times 20 meter drops adds up to $15.00.  If the cabbie works seven days a week, averaging 20 fares a day, that means an additional $105.00 to the $195.00 dispatch fee, making for a "real-time" $300.00.  That, my friends, is REAL money, and given that Seattle is facing an depressed market, one can expect One Taxi to grow exponentially.  

Getting to my telephone talk with Daniel, I can say it is always refreshing to speak to a "real cab man."  I truly appreciated his sincerity and his enthusiasm, saying "we are a cab company owned by the cab drivers." repeating that phrase more than once.  What that speaks to is the frustration many cabbies have felt over the years, that they were not in control of their own destiny.  One Taxi's goal is to be completely owner/operator friendly while creating a competitive environment where everyone is making money minus the yoke of tyrannical forces controlling your daily fate.  All these years later, I remain furious with the late Yellow General Manager Frank Dogwilla, who was little better than a human monster, dominating all the cabbies with a dictatorial iron fist, where BYG Co-op's (Seattle Yellow) primary focus was profit taking.  I cannot forgive the abuse directed and sanctioned by BYG's then Board of Directors.  One Taxi is an outgrowth and response to that legacy of exploitation and maltreatment.  All of the cabbies remember being pressed down by Dogwilla's unkind thumb. We work damn hard for our money.  We don't like being ripped off. Or abused, treated little better than trash. 

I tried to pin Daniel down about more operational specifics, like how many dispatched calls they are averaging but he proved to be elusive, not wanting to reveal business statistics to a mere stranger, but upon encouraging him to access my blog, he exclaimed, seeing my photograph, "I know you!" which I thought he did.  Most Seattle cabbies know me by sight if not by name.  Let's just say, I can read and decipher between the lines, Daniel's hesitation providing me with lots of information.  Sometimes I shock myself concerning how much I know about damn taxi, gasoline not blood flowing in my veins. 

I ended our conversation by offering to be available for any insight that might be sought form someone who knows the industry "inside and out."  My one true wish is for the Seattle taxi industry to both survive and succeed, regardless of association.  If I was still in Seattle, I would try to encourage an industry-wide confederation of associations that would share dispatch, accounts and insurance costs.  I told Daniel that One Taxi should seek a fleet-wide insurance rate instead of individual owners paying for separate policies.  The insane truth is that while the American taxi industry is in danger of disappearing altogether, the insurance companies are asking for higher premiums more than ever before.  A friend who is thinking of putting his cab back in service is facing rates of $11,000-12,000, and this with a clean MVR and no at-fault accidents.  And the following paragraph is my comment upon how we got to this sad juncture.

As I alluded to, the American taxi industry across the country was run by exploiters only interested in milking the cabbies for every possible penny.  A good/bad example of this attitude comes from my first days driving for a large Seattle association, Farwest Taxi.  I was working the "extra board" and found that I had been given an unsafe cab.  I drove back to the lot and demanded a different car, telling them that the car required some repairs before it could be put back on the road.  Not an hour later, now in a different cab, I saw the same defective cab back on the road.  Because of this kind of operational emphasis, where profit ruled over commonsense, it created an institutional weakness that allowed Uber and Lyft to take over.  The industry also permitted itself to be regulated by bureaucrats, who no matter how well meaning they were, had never for a minute driven a cab.  And unfortunately, most taxi companies never learned their lesson, because what was true in 1969 when my father driving cab in Denver, Colorado, remains true now in 2025.  Voices like mind were barely tolerated, warning everyone, like what was happening in 2014, that we were in big trouble and if we rolled over, Uber and Lyft would kick our ass.  And of course our buttocks were kicked into taxi outer space.

Given all this, it is why I hope One Taxi maintains a clear vision forward.  As for Yellow/Puget Sound Dispatch, I fear that their days could be numbered, clinging to a business model that never was completely fair, wishing for a world that is now an illusion.  It simply no longer exists.

(Note on my father's cabbing experience: After screwing up his teaching career to where no one would touch him, he started driving cab and making $600. a week in 1969, far more than he ever made teaching.)

Recommendation for the Metro King County Council District Five Seat  

If anyone lives in South King County, namely the towns of Sea-Tac, Normandy Park, Kent and Des Moines, I say voting for Steffanie Fain is a better bet than her opponent, Peter Kwon.  Fain helps run Harborview Hospital and Kwon is a City of Sea-Tac council member.  By being on the board of directors at Harborview, she understands chaos.  She would have my vote. 

Quick Doggerel Anti-Waymo Poem

Waymo, Waymo we won't ride

They are safe, Dara Khosrowshahi lied

With millions of dollars cushioning his backside

Screw everyone is his approach

Dara a human robotic cockroach

Instead go to the airport in a taxicab

Pretend you're English and exclaim "How fab!"

Be it Black or Yellow or Blue or White

Take a human driven taxicab

TONIGHT!

Another Taxi Doggerel

Hear the poor cabbie cry and weep

Exhausted wishing only to sleep

But on and on down to the next bell

The cabbie cursing his toplight hell

Though the polite paying passenger

Always will be king

A big fat tip making the sad cabbie

sing!

____________________

This last silly poem would be a appropriate last parting comment upon my tombstone 

Greetings From Pagosa Springs, Colorado: What Is Happening At Seattle Yellow Cab? & November 4th Seattle/King County Recommendations & Palm Springs, CA Yellow Cab Company Suddenly Shuts Down & Norfolk, VA Airport Cabbies Sent Back To The End Of The Line & Seoul, Korea Cabbies Overcharging Tourists & 09/13/2025 Mrs. Mets Taxi Bobblehead Night

Hello From Colorado

Most don't know that I spent eight of my formative years in colorful Colorado, leaving for Seattle, Washington in early January 1973.  This is my first visit back in about 10 years, having picked up the infamous "she-who-can't-be-named" at the Durango airport on Tuesday evening, and then driving over to our Pagosa Springs Airbnb.  We're here for two weeks to soak in the local mineral thermal springs water.  Today was our first soak, a combined total of five hours in tubs of various temperatures at Overlook Hot Springs Spa, made for a wonderful day.  With over 14 tubs and pools, there is room and variety for every taste. $24.00 for a Senior All-Day pass. 

My last time in Pagosa Springs was in late August 1959 when, descending Wolf Creek Pass, our trailer brakes failing, momentum nearly sending us over the cliffside.  A very memorable event, and sometime during our stay we are going to try to find the very exact spot where this happened.  As the saying goes, it was "like yesterday."  I was five-years-old at the time, at that moment five years going on fifty. 

On my drive up I camped at one of the more interested landscape our planet has to offer: The Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in northern New Mexico, located about 40 miles south of Farmington.  Check it out online and find yourself viewing geological formations and landscapes better imagined on the moon.  It is other worldly.  Us cabbies find ourselves in very urban environments, and this place is anything but that.  I've read statements describing it as there is no other place like it anywhere else on earth, and I have had the great pleasure of walking a few miles over its arid grounds.  I plan on camping there again on October 14th, walking ever deeper into this alien earth-scape. As there are no trails, it is very easy to become disorientated.  If true, and lost forever, may vultures fight over my bones bleaching in the unrelenting sun. 

What the Heck!?

I've contacted Seattle Yellow Cab for more info but from what I heard from various taxi buddies, I am alarmed.  I was told that 200 Seattle operators/owners have left Yellow for a new company, One Taxi.  Also a big concern is their new Uber-like app dispatch system, that according to one friend, has led to countless no-shows.  And on top of the $195.00 weekly lease, Yellow is charging $.75 cents every time the meter is turned on. 

Another concern is that, even after losing all those cabbies, Yellow is asking for a "return" fee if you want to put on a cab. It might be $2000.00.  How does any of this make any sense?  Is the once proud and once largest cab association in the western US in free-fall?  It appears that One Taxi now is serving the old Yellow Hopelink and maybe some School District accounts.  I am hoping I receive clarification saying this is all a mistake but given my sources I am afraid it is all true.  

One very distinct problem appears to be, according to everyone who has offered an opinion, is that Yellow's current general manager is Yellow's primary issue.  Personally, after having a number of conversations with him before I ultimately left Seattle, I felt insulted, knowing full well that my ideas and suggestions were not taken seriously.  

I am the last person to say that Yellow's owner/operators do not bear some major responsibility for what is happening but intervention and more active attention to ongoing driver behavioral issues could have possibly prevented this situation altogether.  Seattle Yellow is like an embattled medieval army defending its last castle, thinking they will survive, protected by high impenetrable walls.  No one should be surprised if Yellow's ramparts are breached, finding itself ransacked and burned down to its very foundation, Puget Sound Dispatch reduced to ashes.  Anyone reading this should heed this warning instead of ignoring the obvious, that usual taxi tradition. 

Who I Think Seattle and King County Cabbies Should Vote For:

I may be right, I may be wrong but these are the candidates I think who can raise up Seattle in Electoral Song!  

For Mayor, Katie Wilson over Bruce Harrell

For Seattle City Attorney, Erika Evans over Ann Davison

For Seattle City Council, Position # 8, Alexis Mercedes Rinck over Rachael Savage

For Seattle City Council Position # 9, Dionne Foster over Sara Nelson 

Given that it is Seattle, perhaps it doesn't matter who wins given the years of incompetence but Wilson, Evans and Foster would give the city three new faces for public scrutiny.  Round and round they go, debating ad nauseam til the sun goes down, no smiles only frowns.

Palm Springs Cab Company Yellow Cab of the Desert Suddenly Stops Operations

In early September, this company operating with over 50 cabs suddenly disappeared, impacting the resort community of Palm Springs.  The Coachella Valley in California is one the state's big tourist hubs.  Now it has one less taxi company to serve the all those snowbirds seeking January suntans. 

In Norfolk,Virgina, Cabbies treated like bad school boys, sent to the end of the line

For years, the cab drivers there had priority position at the Norfolk airport, gateway to the historic Hampton Roads region, and a Norfolk population of 231,000, but no longer as airport officials have replaced them with Ubers and Lyfts.  The justification was the sad fact that more disembarking passengers were requesting TNCs and not taking taxis.  Part of the unintended theme of this month's blog is the decline of the taxi industry almost everywhere you go. Sad but true and time to cry your tears boo hoo hoo. 

Bad Seoul Cabbies

A Japanese television crew staged a sting and caught Seoul, South Korea cabbies overcharging tourist passengers. At least one cabbie was fined. This is another prevalent theme. Cabbies who are still working a strong market continue to violate passenger trust by ripping them off.  When will they ever learn?

On Sept 13th, the First 15,000 Fans Received a Mrs. Mets Taxicab Bobblehead

Strange or wonderful as it might seem, the New York Mets MLB team offered early arriving fans a promotional bobblehead featuring a female figure in a Mets uniform sitting on the hood (bonnet) of a NYC Yellow Cab.  The promotion was presented by Cadillac and I tell you, the car does not look like any Cadillac I've seen.  More like a 2002 Toyota Echo, if you know what that looks like. You can now get one of these collectable bobbleheads online but the cheapest I have seen is for $29.99.  I am going to wait for it to descend in price before I place one on my taxi altar with the rest of my desk-sized miniature taxicabs. 

Athens, Greece Taxi Unrest 

On October 1st there was a nationwide transportation strike, and throughout the month of September cabbies in Athens staged various work stoppages. It is the usual story of local officials trying to bring in Uber, etc, changing the economic environment minus input from those they are affecting. 

Damn Seattle Mariners! Winning now that I am gone: I always wanted to work a World Series

On Wednesday evening, September 24th, the Seattle Mariners MLB team wrapped up their first division title since 2001, hitting an amazing 5 home runs, with two of them by the catcher Cal R, hitting his 59th and 60the homes.  They are now favored to reach the World Series and I hope they do but if they do, I won't be pulling in the big money associated with it.  Sitting here in faraway New Mexico, in baseball terms, I have struck out! 

Only in Seattle: Cabbies Can't Honk Their Horns but Jesus Freaks can Megaphone you to Hell!

Did you know that in Seattle, you cannot use your car horn as "language" to tell the fool in front of you to get moving?  SPD will ticket you.  I have come close to receiving one of these "compliments" from Seattle cops but it has somehow been okay for on-street preachers with loudspeakers and megaphones to verbally harass Mariner and Seahawk fans before  and after games at a high 120 plus decibel volume.  This has been going on for years though now the MLB Seattle Mariners are seeking help from the Seattle City Council with a new law banning such theological nonsense screamed at them by deranged attention-seeking ninnyhammers.  I've encountered these metaphysical jackasses many time dropping off and picking up after games, their antics unproductive, serving only to alienate, something they fully achieve. 

I can still see the enraged cop rushing toward my cab, pissed that I had the impertinence to speak my displeasure with my cab's horn.  No ticket but his point was made: shut up cabbie! or else!  All I was trying to do was enhance traffic flow, not to heaven but simply forward on Second Avenue South, something I know the Taxi Gods would provide their full blessings to, moving down the road and street essential to taxi mobility, searching for wayward souls looking for a ride. 

Brevard (North Carolina) City Cab is Shutting Down September 30th After 80 Years in the Business

To quote the current owner, Pam, over the telephone she told me "It breaks my heart that I have to close."  Why is she shutting down?   A combination of events, along with a monthly insurance rate of $2000.00 for her three remaining cabs means she can no longer reach payroll.  Decisions made by Transylvania County to allow competing van and bus companies in, along with cancelling a major County Medicaid transportation account, has led her to make the difficult choice of shuttering a company she has operated for 15 years, having taken over from her parents who ran it for 25 years.  Originally she had seven cabs but dire circumstances brought it down to the current three. The city of Brevard has a population of 7,973 per the 2024 census. Taxi is dying across the United States, Brevard City Cab just the latest casualty. 

Piss Off! Only 70 Relief Stands (Bathrooms/Restrooms) for 13,000 Cabbies and 82,000 TNC Drivers

Pending NYC Council Bill #1000-2024 is trying to open up load zones to both cab and Uber and Lyft drivers so they can use a restroom.  The rationale for this is due to the lack of parking spaces in America's largest and most congested city.  Delivery truck drivers are opposed to Council-member Justin Brannan's proposal, and I can understand why due to the reality of NYC streets.  

There are over 1000 public restrooms throughout the city but in a city of 8.5 million and with 65 million visitors in 2024, you can see that there is a real problem.  There has been yearly talk about expanding the relief stations but with each passing year, nothing is happening. What seems to be especially unfair is that in 2024 NYC issued 10,013 public urination citations, many more than DUI tickets.  Talk about misplaced priority. Why does the city think someone peeing will significantly taint an already toxic and polluted urban environment? My suggestion for NYC cabbies is to scout out isolated parts of Central Park, where they can quickly pee into a grassy or bushy area.  In and out of your cab should take just under one minute. Consider yourself a contestant in a Taxi Olympics event where speed makes you the winner.  

In Seattle, especially in the neighborhoods, there are plenty of grassy alleys to urine in.  I know all of them along with many verdant city parks.  DT of course if more of a problem but even there I know of many dirt and gravel alleys where it is easy to make a quick stop and go.  

What many don't understand is that for cabbies, and TNC drivers, time is money, so even entering a building for five minutes can cost you the great fare you have been waiting all day for.  Making it easier then to quickly use the toilet is essential.  It is not only humane, it makes economic sense for the drivers involved in providing important transportation in a crowded city.

Las Vegas Can Thanks Mister Trump

Visitors for the same period last year is down by over 400,000, leading to complaints by local TNC and taxi drivers that their usual business has been cut in half.  Canadians are going elsewhere.  Who wants to be treated like a criminal when instead your intent is to spend some money and have a good time?  The answer is obvious.  Canadian visitation to the USA is down by 29% so far this year.  And American visits to Canada is down by 25%.  

Overall in Las Vegas, the visitor downturn has hit all sectors of the tourist economy, not only cabbies.  Waitresses, card dealers, anyone you can think of connected to the casinos are either being furloughed or laid-off.  But good news for Mexico, because instead of going to Las Vegas, the Canadian "snowbirds" are flying further south to sunny Mexico.  Search for any Trump comments concerning this downturn and you won't find nary a one.  

No One Involved With The Seattle And King County Taxicab Industry Should Vote Bruce Harrell For Mayor & Fired NYC Cabbies To Receive $140 Million Dollar Settlement (And Why That Isn't Enough)

 If Venus Velazquez hadn't gotten Drunk, Harrell would never have been elected Mayor

It's not that I hate Bruce Harrell, dislike is a better description, along with Sally Bagshaw, Tim Burgess, Sally Clark. Jean Godden, Nick Licata, Tom Rasmussen, and Kshama Sawant.  What do they all have in common?  They were all Seattle City Council members in 2014 who voted to eliminate the TNC cap of 250 cars per company (Uber & Lyft,) thus opening the floodgates that inundated Seattle's taxi industry.  Mike O'Brien was the only sitting member to oppose the motion.  In common parlance, we were "sold down the river," Mayor Ed Murray and the City Council caring little if we all drowned.  Please also remember that Uber and Lyft were allowed to operate illegally between 2012-2014 without penalty. 

As I wrote recently, I still see the grinning Harrell in my mind's eye, casting yet another damning vote, plunging a figurative knife into our cabbie hearts.  There we all were, sitting in the city council chambers bleeding to death, and no one, not anyone at all offered to bind our wounds--- no bandages, no medical attention---just a boot in the rear to the nearest cemetery.  

That's why, guys and gals, you should never consider for a moment voting for that "fill-in-the-blank" Harrell, Mister Insipid himself.  Yes, we were betrayed by Mayor Ed Murray and Sawant but they are long gone.  Harrell is the only one left, along with Burgess who remains deputy mayor, so by kicking Harrell down the road, you also rid Seattle of his complicit sidekick.  Revenge may be sour, but there are few options left given the late hour. 

What is not funny is that back in 2008, when running for the first time, his opponent for the city council seat, Venus Velazquez, was routing him in the polls.  He was not going to win until, mere weeks before the election, dumbbell Venus was arrested for being drunk behind the wheel, tipsy coming back from a campaign event.  Thus, due to her poor judgement and too much booze, Harrell trounced the once strongly favored Venus, voters finding him the more moral candidate.  

The irony here is that after Venus requested a jury trail, she was  subsequently found not guilty but of course at that point it was long after the election was decided and over. So we can thank Venus for giving Seattle Mister Harrell, and now in November, we can thank Katie Wilson, who is leading in the polls by 51 percent, for giving Bruce an early mayoral retirement.  

I then urge everyone to please participate in the upcoming election and give Harrell an electoral middle finger.  Seattle's taxicab industry is greatly diminished and he helped make it that way.  Remember that, dear lady readers, when your male TNC driver does something shocking.  You can thank Harrell and his 2014 Seattle City Council Members for the driver's behavior.  Yes, thank you both Sallys, Bruce, Jean etc. 

How do you like these for potential campaign slogans:

"We don't need him! We don't want him! Send Harrell out the door and on his way! Hip Hip Hurray! 

or

"Open that door, giving Harrell a swift kick, not wanting his kind 'round no more!" 

or

"Harrell, it is time you leave, and I guarantee we Seattle voters will not grieve!" 

or

"Vote Harrell out, the dirty lout!" 

or

"Don't pout, yank Harrell out by his sniveling snout!"

Elections can be entertaining, serious monkey business masquerading as Pluralist Democracy.  Humor is always helpful but poor governance is not a laughing matter. 

And PS to all this: In the August 25th Seattle Times online edition, there was a headline article about drug contamination at the Civic Hotel, a facility rented under the auspices of both the City of Seattle and King County to be used as a homeless shelter. The City and County are now being sued by the hotel owner for leaving rooms contaminated by dangerous drug residues left by illegal drug use.  

Now predictably, the City and County are pointing fingers at each other, claiming someone else is responsible. I bring this up to illustrate why no one should vote to reelect Harrell. His governance is purely theoretical, evoking fantasy then claiming it to be real, a trait some might say he shares with Donald Trump.  

But in this case, the evidence is undeniable, rooms were used inappropriately, and now the City of Seattle says it is not responsible. Wait, I know who is at fault!  It was either God or his/her evil Universal partner, Satan who should be sued.  Aren't they the ones responsible for all human behavior?   Open the high gates of Heaven and let Justice reign!  Mighty Jehovah! You be the Eternal Judge! 

When $140 Million Dollars is a Drop in the Taxi Bucket

This is the second time I have written about this upcoming settlement that is inching closer to a final summation.  For those who don't know or remember the details, this sordid saga encompasses a period in New York City taxi history from 2003-2020 where any kind of arrest, even for jaywalking, resulted in a NYC cabbie losing their taxi for-hire license, their ability to drive a cab.  

For anyone interested in reading a recent newspaper article about all this, I recommend the New York Times online edition August 13, 2025, and the article reported by Taylor Robinson, "Cabbies Who Lost Licenses After Arrests Near $140 Million Settlement." On that same day, Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals made final preparations to make the long awaited awards to the maligned cabbies and their lawyers.

The much shortened version of this travesty of justice concerns the thousands of NYC cabbies permanently suspended by the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission between the years 2003-2020.  The vast majority of the accused cabbies were given no ability to contest their suspension or explain the circumstances behind their arrest.  It is estimated that 90% of those arrested had their charges either dismissed or downgraded.  One egregious example was a driver arrested in 2017 after a minor fender-bender accident at New York's LaGuardia airport.  Minus a hearing, his taxi license was immediately suspended.  And it begs the question, why would anyone, cabbie or otherwise, he arrested for a commonplace accident?  Last month I reported on the spate of contrived fraudulent accidents committed by a cartel of bad actors in NYC. Was this accident in 2017 one of them? 

It was sometime in 2020 that the Commission updated its policy years after the 2006 class action suit questioning their actions. The new policy states that the Commission must consider whether a driver is "a direct and substantial threat to public health and safety."  

That this case took nearly 20 years to reach conclusion says everything about how much the Commission cares about New York City's taxicab drivers.  Remember, these are the same folks who encouraged medallions to be worth over one million dollars, something that bankrupted many naive cabbies, leading some to kill themselves. Where was the apology for that incredible disservice to the NYC taxicab community? 

Immorality is nothing new in the Big Apple. Donald Trump and the now mayor, Eric Adams certainly symbolize that.  Money talks and in this case it walks all over past and current NYC cabbies.  The expected payout is about $30,000 per eligible driver.  How does that compensate for losing twenty years of income?  Clearly it doesn't, not even close.  Given the City's track record, don't be surprised to hear if yet another Commission attack upon the cabbies isn't in the works, angry because they had their hands slapped.  When you don't care, you simply don't, pretense, saying you are sorry when you are not isn't even something condoned by the Pope, sincerity in the confessional considered both divine and holy. 

And She had the Cab Wait

All veteran cabbies know that passengers are capable of anything and everything, and about five years ago,  Aimee Betro, from the dairy state of Wisconsin, while involved with a British romantic partner, decided to try once again to murder her lover's enemy, something having to do with a failed business deal.  Three night previously, when a jammed pistol prevented her from succeeding, she arrived back once again to the scene of the crime in a Black Cab, telling the cabbie to wait nearby while shooting up her intended victim's house, three shots ringing out. 

Thankfully, all that this madness achieved were arrests, with Amiee Betro on the lam for four years until recently found hiding out in Armenia.  On August 21st, she was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison for her failed assassination attempts.  There is no word whether she tipped her cabbie.  If she stiffed the driver, add another year, with hard labor. 

The lesson for all cabbies is, always get a cash deposit when the passenger leaves your cab, and if you hear gunfire, you might decide that something is terribly wrong.  Yes, a possible logical conclusion.  A cab makes a great getaway car.  And don't we all know how to drive fast?   Zoom! Zoom! down the getaway highway.  "Drive faster, cabbie, I left a boiling kettle on my stovetop!" 

Gordon Bowker Once Drove a Cab

I know nothing concerning the details but in a Seattle Times obituary, it was mentioned that Bowker, the co-founder of both Starbucks Coffee and Red Hook Beer, once drove a cab in Seattle.  For those of us who know, we know that we can be a talented crew.  Screw all the bad press!  We cabbies, the unsung transportation heroes driving beneath the toplight radar! should shout to the sky "Go to hell! and we know why!"

Light-Rail Accident at the 9800 Hundred Block of Martin Luther  King Jr Way on August 29th, 2025

I mention this as yet another bad example of bad governance and planning by the City of Seattle and King County.  During the initial planning stages for the much needed regional transit system, though very aware of the danger  of vehicles colliding with street-level train cars, they decided against elevating the tracks through Rainier Valley.  Multiple accidents since illustrate how dumb that decision was.  But when it comes to the legacy of governmental decision making in Seattle and King County, it displays how important it is that voters choose the correct candidate.  Unfortunately, the history is dismal. 

Sometimes a real capable person like the late Seattle mayor, Charles Royer comes on the scene but usually instead we have sorry examples like former Seattle mayors Norm Rice, Paul Schell, Greg Nickels, Paul Schell, Ed Murray, Bruce Harrell and King County Executives like Ron Sims and Dow Constantine, a true 'Rogue's Gallery" of hubristic incompetence.  

I can't tell you how many times when in my cab I had to quickly avoid an oncoming light-rail train on MLK.  And  my prediction is that it is going to take many more collisions until finally, new funding is located and the tracks are elevated above the roadway.  How many more injuries and deaths will have to occur before this happens?  In the hundreds, if not in the thousands.  As I keep saying, welcome to Seattle, the City of Somnambulism.  How do you like that for a catchy city motto? 

The San Francisco, California Taxi Industry is in Real Trouble due to High Medallion Costs

More than 300 SF taxi medallion owners have defaulted on their loans for medallions sold to them by the City of San Francisco for $250,000.  Drivers are currently asking for relief, requesting that the cost be lowered, complaining that their business model has been battered by the City's decision to allow Uber, Lyft and Waymo driverless cars into their market. The SF Taxi Workers Alliance is urging the the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Federal Credit Union (SFFCU) to either provide relief or buy back the medallions. 

There are currently over 800 Wayno driverless taxis in San Francisco, and as I have reported in the past, nearly 45,000 Uber and Lyft operators.  How can the cabbies compete with those kinds of numbers?  The quick answer is that it is probably impossible.  To drive Uber and Lyft, all you need to do is buy a used car costing about $20,000 and you are on the road.  To own a cab in SF you have to make monthly payments on a $250,000 loan along with yearly insurance costs between $5000-7000.00 dollars.  Then of course add in the costs of maintenance and fuel.  Bloody insane is what this all is.  

Poem

_______________________________

A real incident on the first day I met Hajji (Given name was Donald).  Pronounced "ha-gee."  And in the poem, if I can call this silly piece that, Hajj should be Hajji.   Since I copied and pasted it in, my computer won't allow me to alter the text. Over the years I continued to see him around, especially in north Seattle though no taxi, instead driving limousines.  I saw him last in 2024, months before I left Seattle. No talk of swinging axes but Hajji remained the consistent Hajji, the years not changing him a bit. We always have a friendly chat.  Hajji later once owned/shared a cab with another American Islam convert, Don W. later known as Zaid, a former NBA and Seattle Supersonic player whom I first met on the Madison Hotel cabstand. Characters both but Zaid the more serious of the two and perhaps more of a tragic figure than Hajji. Zaid wrote a pretty good autobiography, noting he once scored 21 points against Wilt the Stilt. As I keep repeating, taxi in America is our version of the French Foreign Legion.  No camels, only taxicabs. 

_______________________________________
The kid was white, of course not understanding how his hijinks could have resulted in an unwanted haircut. 

Uber and Lyft Drivers in CA Win Path to Unionization

Assembly Bill 1340, sponsored by SEIU (Service Employees International Union) California, and Senate Bill 371, sponsored by Uber and Lyft, clears the way for TNC drivers to organize for increased pay, job protections and other benefits.  In exchange,  Uber and Lyft will be getting reduced insurance coverage mandates.  Uber and Lyft, in a rare move, actually helped form the legislation with Governor Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, all Democrats.  This all comes after the dumbbell voters in California voted to Pass Prop 200, something backed by $200 million in advertising spending, to kill TNC driver's rights.  The ruling government in Sacramento never liked that outcome, resulting in this recent agreement.  Now if only cabbies were to receive equal treatment but don't hold your breath waiting for that because you will only faint dead away.

PS:  I just read some of the details concerning California's agreement with Uber and Lyft and it seems that not only will it reduce costs but due to lower coverage, it could shift liability to both drivers and passengers in case of a very serious accident.  Always remember that Uber in particular is not your friend. In my October post, I will provide more detail.  I also read something yesterday about the startling number of reported sexual assaults committed by Uber drivers.  Something like 400,000.  Is that possible?  But then, as the next section shows, crazy behavior isn't isolated to Uber.  In Mexico, you have to watch out for those hungry cabbies!

Bad! Cabbies in Cancun and Tulum, Mexico

From all reports, taxicab drivers in these tourist hotspots on the Atlantic coast of Mexico are ripping off tourists at every opportunity.  I just watched a video and clearly part of the issue are inexperienced travelers not understanding that they must adjust being in a poverty stricken country, and that cabbies and everyone else view them as their personal ATMs.  

In all my travels across the globe, I have only been over charged twice in essentially 40 years. Once in Romania 2011 and once in southern Spain 1991.  The guy in Bucharest took a roundabout route to go a few blocks, which was obvious.  And in Spain, the driver took me past the first bus stop, stopping a mile or so at the next.  Not a lot of money was involved and of course, no tip for them.  In Tallin, Estonia in 2015, I found that cabs were able to set their own rates, making the fares highly variable, some cheap, others not.  Due to that, I simply walked to where ever I needed to go. 

My overall advice when traveling to Mexico is to avoid the most popular resorts. And do dress normally, not like you are on a beach in Miami. Maybe I should start teaching classes on how to be a sane and happy American traveler.  My first suggestion is to look up the definition of the word foolish and try to understand how that might apply to yourself when visiting a foreign land.  

When I am traveling, I can immediately spot an American tourist from hundreds of feet away.  The way they walk, the way they dress and the tone of their facial features. Always a dead giveaway.  And you can be sure that the savvy cabbies in Tulum and Cancun know this too.  They are waiting to pick your pocket. Beware! 

 

Early July Nationwide German Taxi Driver Protests Against Uber And Bolt & Local Casinos Close & NYC Taxi Watercolor

Hurrah for Germany's Cabbies: July 2nd Protests 

I suggest you go online to watch two video news reports concerning the taxicab protest that occurred in a number of German cities, including Cologne (Koln) and Berlin.  Watch 500 Cologne cabs protest Uber and Bolt rates that are undercutting taxicabs.  As one Union leader stated, all they want is an equal footing with the app-based ride-share companies.  Cologne's magnificent cathedral holds a special place in my memory, and in the longer video, you cannot escape seeing its wonderful Gothic (begun in 1248) splendor towering in the distance behind the parked taxicabs. 

It was early April 1982, during my very first trip to Europe on my honeymoon, and on our way to Brussels from Dusseldorf, that our train passed through Cologne, providing us a quick glance of the cathedral, a "mind photograph" forever imprinted on my brain. I had never seen anything like it before.  It was and is so incredibly beautiful.  Since then I have visited many of the world's great cathedrals. Chartres, outside of Paris, might be my favorite. I've been there four times. 

Though I was in Germany in October 2023, Cologne was not on my agenda, concentrating instead on Berlin.  Next time I am in Germany I will make a point to visit Cologne and yes, take a cab to that special church.  It was in Dusseldorf that I rode in my first European cab.  It was a Mercedes. 

We Always Hate to See Our "Bread & Butter" Casinos Close

Three local casinos are no more.  The Dragon Tiger in Montlake Terrace, the Silver Dollar in Renton, and the Roman Casino in Skyway have all been shuttered by their parent company due to bankruptcy.  Any Seattle cabbie knows that gamblers love to gamble, and over the years I have had countless runs to casinos over the greater Puget Sound area, an one-hundred dollar fare not unusual.  The three mentioned as closures were always minor not major destinations for the addicted gambler, so maybe business to casinos will remain about the same but as many of these fares came out late, it was always wonderful to get a fat-ass fare at 2 in the morning.  Something to stay awake for. 

Sketchbook of NYC Scenes by Christoph Neimann---New Yorker 07/07-14/25  Edition  Page 59

What you will see by opening that particular issue is an aerial view of two NYC Yellow Cabs.  Also other NYC watercolors.  

What the New York Post Didn't Say

The New York Post Murdoch newspaper, always looking for sensationalist headlines, screamed that a black NYC Yellow Cab driver verbally blew up at a passenger, spouting an anti-semitic "you f _ _king Jew!"  The newspaper quotes the passenger as saying "you know you will be losing your license."  What the article doesn't say is what the passenger did or say to cause the driver's outburst.  

But from my long experience, this is typical, placing the entire blame upon the cabbie, someone of course unworthy of commonplace deference.  Of course it has to be all his fault.  What other explanation could there be?  While not shouting any slurs, I know this kind of episode, with the passenger saying "he/she was going to get me." 

Does anyone think that the driver might have been insulted in some way?  Or that having driven 12 hours straight in heavy Manhattan traffic, he was exhausted, sleep-deprived and in general, was mildly out-of-his-mind?  And when a difficult situation arises, he goes "off-his-head."  Welcome to real taxi as I know it.  No excuses. Merely reality as it is for the everyday cabbie battling the streets. 

The Death of Bartell Drugstores

It is in sorrow to tell everyone that all those wonderful Seattle homegrown Bartell Drugstores are now history.  I knew the end was near when the 24-hour Bartells in lower Queen Anne was shuttered.  It was one of the few pharmacies in the entire Puget Sound area where you could get a prescription filled at four in the morning.  Driving cab late, I often dropped by that Bartells to get a "candy fix" to keep me going. They had a big selection, including lots of organic chocolate.  But alas, no more, Bartells disappearing into the mist of time. 

All Cabbies, Beware of Young (or Old) "Love-lys" Inviting You Inside

On a British Empire Victorian day in 1864, London Cab (horse-drawn) driver James Rintoul was invited upstairs for a sip of gin by Elizabeth Bagwell (posing as Elizabeth Manning).  After saluting the fair damsel, and downing the gin, Mr. Rintoul fell unconscious, only awakening later to find himself alone in a darkened room minus his gold watch and chain, ring and 25 shillings. What happened to him was then commonplace, accepting a spiked beverage from a woman with evil intent.  You might be happy to know that the bad Ms. Bagwell, on 01/02/1865, was sentenced to seven years of penal servitude. 

Especially in my younger taxi years, invitations to "come inside" were commonplace. I remember one early morning in particular, when they were now officially "off-duty," two young, very attractive hookers wanted to know if I would join them in their residence, no charge of course.  I declined their kind offer, along with others like it.  Men too also made similar suggestions.  As Mr. Rintoul found out, mixing business with questionable pleasure can be a very poor idea.  So beware of the beguiling smile and forked tongue.  If you must go upstairs, supply your own booze. And don't forget a condom.  A STD is the wrong kind of tip. 

This story was taken from the June 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine, from an article written by Rosalind Crone, "Spiked Drinks, Counterfeit Coins and The Lodgers From Hell," You'll find it on page 41. BBC History Magazine is my favorite magazine, filled with the greatest stories.  I depend on it to expand my forever shrinking brain. 

Operation Bright Eyes: New York City Cabbies taking on Scam Accidents

The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers have announced an initiative to install dash-cam cameras in the over 10,000 cabs plying New York City streets, beginning with an initial 500 taxicabs.  The cameras, filming customers and the front and rear sides of the cab, are relatively cheap at $250.00 each per installation.  These first cabs are backed and sponsored by the dash-cam company, Displayride, American Transit Insurance, and the Queens (NYC) based NYAB Brokerage.

What this is all about is an effort to halt what is called an over 1 billion dollar business based on fraudulent accident claims.  One cabbie spokesman I listened to called it an organized cartel made up of lawyers, doctors, physical therapists and civilian drivers initiating the bogus accidents.  

Why this is so serious is directly connected to cabbie insurance rates, high to begin with, even with a clean 5-year MVR.  Have an accident or moving violation and boom! your insurance rates explode upward.  At one point, due to Seattle Yellow Cab's (BYG) leniency, keeping on drivers after at-fault accidents, they were paying $11,000 annually per cab.  Those kinds of costs are simply unsustainable. 

A few years ago, I wrote in these pages how a woman driving down the wrong side of the street struck my cab while stopped at a red light.  Unbelievably, the Progressive Insurance agent took the side of the other driver, even though she had yelled at me, "I hope you are T-boned and die! die!"  I took the time to make it clear that it wasn't possible that the accident could be my fault.  My car was legally at a standstill, waiting for the signal to change.  That is why having cameras in your cab is so important.  As I have written before, I have been accused of every possible crime beneath the toplight sun.  Having a camera ends that kind of nonsense.  As I jokingly say, the only reason I wasn't accused of murder was the messy necessity of producing a corpse.  

It is great that the New York cabbies are getting themselves organized and protected. No one else is going to do it for you, unless, like in this case, it was taking money out of insurance companies' pockets.  

Troublesome Bike Lanes in Toronto, Ontario Canada

I decided to mention this problem plaguing Toronto streets because the NY Times article quotes a veteran cabbie.  The article, reported by Vjosa Isai, July 26th, 2025, is entitled "Drivers vs Cyclists: Battle for the Streets in Canada's Largest City."

The reason I find the situation in Toronto so personally interesting is due to watching Seattle's efforts over the past five years to accommodate bicyclists in downtown Seattle, taking out lanes and parking to create bike lanes that are only very infrequency used.  

For those unfamiliar, Seattle might be, or is, the hilliest city in the country, making it very difficult to get from point A to B on a bike.  I find what Seattle has done to be nonsensical.  Here is the quote.  I hope the powers in Toronto listen to this cabbie, heeding his words. He knows all about it.  Given his comments on the long winters, this past Feb the temperatures dropped down to minus 22 degrees F.  Who wants to ride a bike in that kind of weather?  And Toronto averages 42 inches of snow during the winter.  You don't need a bike, you require a snowplow!  But I have a suggestion.  During the winter months, convert the bike lanes to dog sled lanes.  Having driven dog teams up in far northern Alberta in 1964-66, I know it is a good way to get around. Woof! Woof!

"There so much traffic because of bike lanes," said Nasser Moradman, who has driven a taxi in Toronto for 30 years.  The lanes aren't even used much during the long winter, he complained, adding "It's miserable. It's very tough to drive in the city."

His comments says it all.  I support bike riding but commonsense should be applied, something often lacking in Seattle.  Seattle's bike lanes have destroyed south-bound 2nd Avenue and north-bound 4th Avenue.  Seattle loves theory over practice.  And you can quote me.

"Manifest" Destiny at Seattle Yellow Cab?

Manifest Destiny of course was a US Government policy in the early 19th C (think President James Monroe) concerning westward expansion across North America.  It reflected a kind of cultural superiority superseding everything, including Indian tribes or anyone or anything else blocking its moral imperative.  But what is occurring at Yellow Cab Monday-Friday is far different, as each weekday approximately 15 selected Yellow cabbies are provided a manifest list of account fares to service throughout the day.  

Why is this happening? Is it a kind of company "feeding" to favored drivers?  No, the situation is more basic.  Given that the majority of drivers do not want to deal with account fares, Yellow Cab has decided to preassign drivers to make sure the bells are covered.  It isn't unlike the days when school runs were preassigned.  It seems to be worthwhile as the drivers are making $200. plus each day.  It also relieves the stress of having to search out fares.  

Toward the end of my days at Yellow, I stopped serving most accounts, especially Hopelink and MV because they were too much trouble to deal with, along with declining rates.  Before that, I was eager to work the accounts, my biggest fares ever being Hopelink-based, usually taking me across the Cascade Mountains to Eastern Washington.  I loved those $500.00 plus runs. 

I was also told, and and have read about, that traffic in Seattle, due to I-5 construction, is horrible.  So for the interim, having guaranteed money and known routes can make the life of a cabbie easier.  But it does show that driving cab ultimately isn't fun.  If it wasn't for the money, why do it?

Chicago Tribune  07/28/ 2025 Editorial Concerning Bad Cabbies

It appears to be true that too many Chicago taxi drivers are charging customers "off the meter," asking far more than meter rates.  One thought is that they are doing this in response to high Uber and Lyft rates which could be true but there is no justification for stealing from your passengers.  In my 35 plus years I never once overcharged.  In my irritation I sometimes gave free rides, even to the point to tossing money out onto the street, refusing payment.  But asking for more than the metered fare, never. 

Something to Think About When Driving for Uber and Lyft: Could Uber be held liable for not warning Lyft?

There were two State of Missouri court cases involving drivers killed while operating under Uber and Lyft apps, Newman vs Uber and Ameer vs Lyft. It is about communication between the two companies, whether one platform should tell the other about passengers who have committed car hijacking and other forms of serious violence and criminal behavior.  If you not a lawyer, and I am not, the legal points might seem very esoteric and arcane, which is why I suggest, if interested in knowing more, to visit the Reason Website and read the opinion piece and column, The Volokh Conspiracy, dated July 15th, 2025, authored by Eugene Volokh.  There are probably other sources related to these court cases.  Search and ye shall find. 

No More Cheap Motels Left in Seattle?

KOMO News has reported that the Oaktree Motel on Aurora Avenue North has been issued a chronic nuisance order from the City of Seattle, citing over 43 SPD calls in 2025.  From dead bodies found in rooms to various assaults, the Oaktree appears to have become a kind of "house of horrors."  When I was driving, it was one of the few holdovers where someone could rent a room for under $75.00 per night in Seattle's north-end.  It was funky but safe.  Clearly that is no longer the case.  You can still find some cheaper motels on East Marginal Way South near the First South Bridge but after that you have to either go way down to near Sea-Tac or way up north past the Aurora Village into Edmonds.  

A standard taxi run was trying to find someone a cheap motel room late at night. Making it harder was someone with no credit card or ID.  The Jet Inn, located in Tukwila behind a 7-11 store, was one of the few.  If the passenger had cash, they were in.  The managers were always nice, easy to work with. Only issue with the Jet Inn is that they were too popular, often having no vacancies.  If they had no room, off we went even further south on Pacific Highway South, into Des Moines or even Fife or Milton.  Driving cabs, you become an explorer, discovering new worlds known only to a select few. 

Greek Thessaloniki Taxi Driver Gregorios Sachinidis and his mighty 1976 Mercedes-Benz 240D

And I thought the Ford Crown Victoria was a high milage car!  In a conversation with an old taxi comrade yesterday, Micheal H., he told me about the greatest car ever used as a cab, and this car can now be found sitting in the Daimler-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.  The total miles (and remember, these are taxicab miles!) were 2,850,000 or metric, 4,586,630 kilometers.  That is of course truly amazing!  In 2004, Mercedes traded the driver, taking his loyal cab, and in return providing him a new C-Class Mercedes.  

There is also something very remarkable about this, and that's the miles the cabbie put on his body. In 28years, the cabbie averaged almost 102,000 miles a year.  I averaged in my cab around 60,000 miles per year.  Talk about a busy cabbie.  How did his body hold up to all those miles?  A mystery. 

Micheal also reminded about how his cab driving days ended, something I had forgotten.  He had a stroke in the cab while on 1-5.  Unreal.  He called 911 and was taken to the hospital.  He quit driving and now he and wife run a business in Tucson, Arizona.  He is completely healthy. 

Poem

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Yes, folks, this is a true story.  It was many years ago, somewhere in the greater Crown Hill neighborhood.  And yes, I was surprised not to be rewarded for my efforts, crawling through the window, then searching for her house keys.  A too often prevailing attitude was that the cabbie was their personal servant, deserving of very little. And in this described situation, that is exactly what I got.  Nothing. 

Johnny Liddell, Fictional Private Detective, Rides Cabs In New York City, Cira 1963 & If You Can Avoid It, Do Not Vote For Bruce Harrell & Uber Enters the French Language

Pages 51, 52, from the potboiler novel "Johnny Come Lately" by Frank Kane

I found this "DELL First Edition 40 cents" paperback in a rubbish pile.  Not something I normally read but I found the cover amusing.  Under the title on the cover is the description: "She was just a country girl---but she knew how to use her assets," with an illustration displaying the woman's favorable physical features.  This was the kind of book I would find my parents reading back in the early 1960s, when we were living in that aluminum and sheet metal ghetto known as Todd's Trailer Court located on the poverty edges of the eastern Colorado prairie in unincorporated Adams County. Also there were stacks of pulp paperback westerns next to my parent's bedside.  I didn't like them.

They, my mother and father,  then were voracious but lowbrow readers, Sinclair Lewis, Steinbeck or Faulkner not for them but I know they would have enjoyed Pearl Buck's novels if they had been aware of her.  The first adult novel I ever read was one of their paperbacks, Robert Ruark's "Something of Value" when I was ten, a fictional account about Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion against the British colonists.  How it ended up in our home I had no idea. 

Is the Frank Kane book any good?  Perhaps yes, perhaps no but what I enjoyed reading was Johnny Liddell taking lots of cab rides, which is why I include one of Lane's description of a typical New York cabbie.  Stereotyping yes but entertaining nonetheless. 

And before the Kane quote I want to tell you that I found another paperback weathering in the brutal New Mexico sun, an Erle Stanley Gardner "Perry Mason" novel, "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito," originally published in 1943, this edition from 1950.  Its cover also featured a woman---a red lipsticked pretty brunette wide-eyed with terror.  Just like today, sex sells, however soft or hard the intonation, or is it invitation.

The Mason book is well written, better than the Lane novel but I only mention it due to Perry Mason's famous secretary, Della Street, and the shortcut route up from Seattle's MLK Jr Way S. to Beacon Hill and the VA Hospital via South Della Street. Either driving up or down Della Street, which I have done thousands of repetitive times, I was always instantly brought back to my childhood days, watching Perry Mason win yet another entertaining court case on our huge black and white screened Westinghouse TV, bought mere days after I was born in 1953.  Yes, I am a "Golden Age of Television" child, born and bred. 

 In the novel Mason actually asks Miss Street to marry him but is rebuffed, Della not wanting to disturb their professional relationship. If there is irony here, the actor who made the TV role famous, Raymond Burr, was a gay man clearly hiding in the Hollywood closet. But of course all these characters are fictional, reality mattering little, Liddell and Mason always winning in the end despite all the harrowing circumstances involved, paperback heroes to the rescue. 

"Outside the Dispatch, Liddell waved down a south-bound cab, gave the address of Metropolitan Hospital, settled back against the cushions.  The cabby threaded the car in and out of traffic with ease born of long experience.

"Take it easy," Liddell told him.  "I'm not going to have a baby on you.  And I'd just as soon get there in this heap as in one of their delivery trucks."

The cabby glanced up at Liddell's reflection in the rear-view mirror, grinned around the toothpick he was macerating in the side of his mouth. "You think this is bad? You ought to see these streets comes around 5:30."  He spun the cab around a slow-moving truck, almost took the fender off a cab coming in the opposite direction.  The drivers exchanged screamed compliments as they whizzed by each other.  He squeezed back into the line in front of the truck, whose driver expressed his annoyance with a deafening toot of his horn. "I don't know how some of these characters they get a license to drive," the cabby complained.  

"Yeah.  They ought to give them a license for a gun instead. It's quicker and cleaner," Liddell grunted.

The cabby glanced up into the rear-view mirror with a puzzled frown. He rolled the toothpick to the other side of his mouth, shook his head.  Pushing a hack like this you run into all kinds of whacks, he consoled himself.

At the hospital, he swung the cab out of the slow-moving stream of traffic with such violence that it banged a wheel against the curb, skidded to a stop.  Liddell got out, pushed a bill through the window, waved away the change."

I can recognize myself in this, at least with the driving.  Every veteran cabbie is a low-speed  performance driver, the city streets our racetrack.  If you think it's easy, try it folks!  And as to the baby reference, one afternoon on a clogged south-bound I-5, yes I had a woman in labor on her way to Swedish Hospital.  It was damn close but I made it before I had the time honored tradition of delivering an infant in a cab.  I called ahead and a team of nurses were waiting our arrival. 

Don't Vote for that clown Bruce Harrell!

Boot his ass out!  Kick him down the road.  I haven't liked this guy like forever, and to further demonstrate my affection for the asshole I am reprising an excerpt from a 2018 post that was included in Craig Leisy's 2019 examination of taxi and Uber, "Transportation Network Companies And Taxis---The Case of Seattle," Routledge Books.  

Did you know that he is a millionaire lawyer, a professional kiss ass that doesn't care about you cabbies? He voted to lift the cap off of Uber and Lyft.  Know it!  Believe it!  Vote for Katie Wilson.  Leisy's opinion and my blog excerpt can found on page 220 in the chapter entitled "Pending Issues." 

 Leisy has expressed that he thought taxi would disappear from America's cities but so far, no.  Now the industry is threatened by Waymo in San Francisco and other cities.  Soon Waymo will be in New York City.  The world Lane described in his novel is rapidly disappearing.  And it is a profane reality politicians like Harrell and others have no interest in changing.  

Unlike the brave striking cabbies in France, our industry rolled over, capitulating in 2014.  As I have written in these posts, I was willing to fight but the suck-asses running BYG (Seattle Yellow Cab) weren't willing to do anything but acquiesce to madness.  As I have recently pointed out, it was VP Biden in January 2017, at the Davos Economic Forum where in a speech, lauded Uber, this after a private meeting with Uber founder, Travis Kalanick. With that kind of support, and big money backing, you had to be tough like the fictional cabbies described by Lane.  They weren't taking any crap from any body, F_ _ K You! their usual operational philosophy.  Too bad it was only a fictional defiance.  

From Craig Leisy's book, page 220:

"Joe Blondo, a long-time taxicab driver who writes a blog, expressed the exasperation of many drivers in the taxicab industry in a recent blog. He clearly believes that Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell, and other members of the Council, are now attempting to fix the mess they made when they admitted an unlimited number of TNC drivers into the market in 2014.  But the damage has been done and it might be a case of too little, too late.

Monday, April 9, 2018

An open letter to the current City Council President Bruce Harrell, April 9th, 2018

Dear City Council President Bruce Harrell,

   With great interest I have been following the city council's proposals and deliberations concerning the well-being of Seattle's Uber and Lyft operators (owner-drivers), the council supporting efforts to not only unionize but also increase the Uber minimum rate from $1.35 to $2.40. Clearly there has been much discourse as to why they are not making enough money to survive, yet I find it interesting that you and your fellow council members are searching for solutions created solely by your own actions, voting, as I am sure you remember, to toss out the city council bill capping all ride-share companies at 250 vehicles each.  The real reason ride-share drivers can't make a living is due to there being 57,000 of them competing in a very small market that is Seattle. Yes, Uber might be immoral but that isn't why their market is saturated. Again, the core reason all this is occurring is because the city council decided to open the ride share industry to unfettered expansion, minus any real enforceable regulation and oversight." ________________

Note that Leisy included a correction in the chapter notes, stating that the actual number of TNC operators at that time in Seattle and King County was 37,103.  Uber only admitted to having 15,000 operators.  I did get my figure from something I read back then but can't remember where.  What is true is that now there are about 44,000 TNC drivers in Seattle and King County, with, according to friends, more being added daily.  At its height, Seattle and King County had about 1500 operational cabs. We wanted more but were denied.  Right now, including the airport, there are about 800 or so cabs now working Seattle and King County.  Another feature to all this is that KC is raking in the fees.  Each for hire costs the applicant $75.00, or at least I think that's what it is these days.  Even if I am wrong, $75.00 times 44,000 is a lot of money. 

I will remind everyone that I was sitting in the City Council chambers when they threw out their TNC cap.  Mr Harrell was sitting directly in front of me, about 30 feet away.  He was grinning as he cast his yes vote.  All this was prompted by then Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's decision to embrace Uber, this after campaigning against them.  I always thought money was involved, the slippery mayor eventually leaving office in a forced resignation in September of 2017.  

All this is why I urge everyone, in the upcoming Seattle primary, to vote for Katie Wilson.   At this time, Harrell is trailing in the polls,  Let's keep it that way.  

A New French Word

It is "Uberiser."  In the French lexicon, it means in general the digital conquest of services.  I subscribe to this French (in English) news website, called "The Local."  Though I have been in France many times now, the longest period being in late summer, early fall of 1984, I hope to navigate there for a full year sometime soon.  Probably Paris but who knows where fate will land me? 

A Taxi Poem

Given my continuing lack to how to do much on the computer, if you want to read this, you might find a magnifying glass.  Whether this is good poetry is very debatable but like the one I included last month, it does capture what driving a cab is really like.  And what do you know!? I just made the print a bit larger! Hurray.  

And maybe there isn't much about taxi that is poetic.  Pathetic yes but poetic? Taxi is Yellow, Taxi is Blue,

when I sit beneath the toplight I cry boo hoo hoo!  What can a poor cabbie do?

 

Greetings From Richmond, California: May 19th Paris Taxi Strike (Taxi En Greve) & Important Information Concerning City Of Seattle Taxi Medallions

Hello from the San Francisco's East Bay:

I am here eating Chinese and East Indian with that sometimes personage gracing these pages, "she-who-can't-be-named." This afternoon, while sitting waiting for a bus in North Beach neighborhood (adjacent to Chinatown), she refused to take a taxi up to Coit Tower.  Sacrilegious of course but there was no arguing with her.  Though many might remember that it was upon her suggestion I begin this blog 13 years or so ago, she now hates taxi, saying "don't mention that word!"  I am happy to report, opposite of what I reported last time I was here, that there were a number occupied cabs. Today, this being a Saturday, San Francisco was hopping, people and events everywhere.  San Francisco is one "alive" city.  What is Seattle?  Do I have to say it? 

TAXI STRIKE! in Paris, Pau, Montpellier, Amiens and other French cities Monday May 19th, 2025

By the time many of you reads this, the strike will be old news but not the implications. The following announcement was made by the "Federation Nationale du Taxi(FNDT): "On Monday, May 19th, France's cabs are mobilizing at the call of the unions against the pricing model and the impunity enjoyed by digital VTC platforms." The Union's demands: 1) Immediate freeze of the new Medical Transport Convention; 2) Retention of the locally set metered fares; 3) Enforcement of sector rules. 

The VTC (Video Teleconferencing) platforms they are referencing are Uber and others.  Cabs have formed roadblocks on the Boulevard Raspail.  At least 5000 cabs are expected to go on strike in Paris alone. It is all about the national government's decision, in a cost saving measure, to reduce taxi medical patient transport rates by one quarter, or 25 percent. The rate changes are scheduled for October 1st, 2025. 

Currently, federally subsidized medical transportation by taxis costs France about 3 billion euros annually.  To put this figure in perspective, France has been spending annually about 70 billion euros on defense, with an expected rise of another 30 billion, making for an estimated 100 billion euros in defense expenditures.  It just goes to show government priorities, the potential killing of people versus the enhancing of life, of assisting the ill and disabled. 

As I have mentioned in an earlier post this year, I was surprised at some app collaboration between Uber and Paris cabs.  Parisian cabbies hate Uber.  Firecrackers and other small explosives have been set off on Rue du Raspail, further irritating responding police.  Tires and wooden pallets have been set ablaze. At least 64 cabbies have been arrested so far, with nationwide protest continuing into the week. The latest development announced on Friday, May 23rd, is that the French Prime Minister, Francois Bayrou, with be meeting with representatives of the striking cabbies.

One thing everyone might notice is that France has a nationwide taxi union.  If the USA had had a similar union back in 2012, Uber's story might be very different at this point in time.  USA taxi was then, and remains, disjointed and disorganized. (Note: Two paragraphs that are part of this original section somehow jumped ahead on the digital page as I was writing the piece about my longtime taxi colleague and friend Jerry.  You might want to skip ahead before returning to Jerry.)

A Telephone Conversation with former longtime Yellow Cab Superintendent Jerry Defoi

Jerry, who is now living in Cumberland, Maryland, is someone I consider as a kind of Seattle taxicab industry historian, having first started driving way back in the mid-1970s.  I called him to ask what he remembered about that period of rate deregulation back in the early 1980s, a time when associations and individual independent cabs were allowed to set their own rates.  Chaos ensued, and by the time I started driving cab in September 1987, rational rate regulation had returned.  A new version of that is now returning to Seattle and King County, with associations receiving permission to set new permissible, competing meter rates.  What Jerry remembers is that all hell broke loose.  That is what I have also been told over the years from various sources.  One piece of history I didn't know is that what was originally Farwest Taxi were a group of disgruntled Yellow Cab owners who decided to break away, feeling an all-owner run association was better than what they had been dealing with.  What impressed me is that they made sure everyone involved, other than the cashiers, had to work some taxi shifts, wanting employees to fully comprehend taxi reality as it is, minus theory.  In other words, no General Managers like the late Frank Dogwilla, who thought Yellow Cab was a kind of aircraft carrier! It is a mandate I would have implemented if I had been a taxi general manager.  I still remember, when I drove for Farwest between 1988-91, at my surprise seeing Greg W., the lead superintendent, in a cab. "That's different!" I thought.

More Thoughts On the French Taxi Strike and How it relates to my experience--Continued (Note: Somehow, these 2 paragraphs jumped ahead of the Jerry Defoi piece, and I don't know how to reverse the process)

While I was too busy to really think about it, the Evergreen State Taxi Association, a taxi business group, never once invited me to their meetings even though it was widely known that back in 2011/2012, through my personal intervention with the State of WA L&I Department, statewide I saved the industry tens of millions of dollars.  Somehow my leadership and insight wasn't important.  And what did ESTA achieve in its years of existence?  Nothing as far as I know, the Seattle and King County taxi industry now a mere shadow of itself. 

This isn't a complaint as much as an observation: the taxi industry in the USA has been dysfunctional, and plainly dumb, for a very long time.  And is it now its final death throes?   Very possibly true, is my gloomy assessment.  If I was managing a taxi association now, I tell you my voice would be heard nationally.  I would do everything I could to kick some Uber and Lyft ass.  And their political helpers too!  

Unlike the Paris cab drivers, who are willing to actually physically fight for their rights, their American counterparts sit on their hands, allowing themselves to be abused out of existence.  And when the going gets tough, where do the majority of USA cabbies turn to, and do?  To drive Uber, of course. 

Another update: Entering the week of May 26th, 2025, the French taxicab strike and action continues with slowdowns around the country, including targeting the area around the upcoming French Open tennis matches.  So far, despite a meeting with unhappy cabbies, the Prime Minister remains adamant that the rate reduction scheduled for October will be enacted. That's to be seen, is my judgement. 

Update May 31st:  I can't say that the taxi strike is over, with service returning to normal but from what sources I can find, the upheaval that began on the 19th has simmered down to an uneasy truce.  Anyone traveling to Paris (and France in general) should expect sudden flareups where taxi is concerned, as French cabbies not pleased having been recently treated as Uber's stepchild.  I expect this agitated conversation to continue into the summer.  There are some interesting current comments that can be found on Rick Steve's travel forum.

PS June 6th: Strike actions will continue into the new week.  This quote says it all, "We're being taken for fools by the government advisors.  They have no intention of changing their methods or the rates they impose on us." Bernard Crebassa, the head of the National Federation of Taxi Drivers. 

PS Update June 10th: Now Both Taxi & VTC (ride-share)

Further protest actions are occurring this week. Taxis on June 10th outside the French Finance Ministry. June 11th renewed blockades of Paris CDG and Orly airports.

VTC protests against Uber, Bolt, Heetch June 10th.  Rallies in Paris, Lyon, Nice, Montpellier, Nantes, Bordeaux.  Asking for caps on driver number due to surplus and calling for an increase in minimum fare scales. 

Seattle Taxi Medallion Fee Waivers and Notice of Medallion Retirement Updates

For those considering reactivating their City of Seattle taxi medallions, the good news is that all past due fees will be waived.  Only current and future fees will need to be paid.   

There has also been some confusion about just when you need to make that medallion active on a real live physical taxicab.  On 09/01/2025, inactive City of Medallion owners will be issued a "Notice of Retirement," which serves as a kind of warning or wakeup call to get your butt in gear.  Two months later, if the medallion isn't active on a cab, then on 11/01/2025, an "Order of Retirement" will be issued, meaning your medallion is gone, it has been taken away.  

In other words, to make it clear to all those still confused, you have to the end of October 2025 to put that cab on. If not, on that Halloween's Eve, you will turn into a taxi pumpkin.

Any further questions should be addressed to:

cregan.newhouse2@seattle.gov

_____________________________________________________

A Taxi Poem:  Working the Extra Board

You never knew, and picking up the cab

at four in the morning, good luck if your

cab was a death trap but you needed the

money otherwise why would you be on 

the extra board, knowing that, along with a

junker cab, the keys might be missing

or the cab short-tanked or no spare

tire or could it be the heater is out, all

this part of the extra board fun and games

you are paying for, no one really 

caring because no one did, it all pretense

as you drove off the lot in the dark

morning air, hoping for that early airport

run, and damn, is that an exhaust leak

I am smelling? 

___________________________________

This poem, guys and dolls, really does capture the taxi experience as I know and lived it.  And as usual, the double spacing is my computer's idea, and not mine but I think it adds a kind of clarity.  And for all you numbskulls out there who are asking, "Who wrote it?" who the hell do you think is writing this blog? In the past, I've had fools pose that very question, one dumbbell woman somehow not believing I wrote a poem that took me about five minutes to jot down.  She wanted to reprint somewhere but it never happened since I wouldn't tell her who wrote it.  Just like the countless passengers who couldn't believe I knew a quicker and faster route than them.  "No, I just got into the damn cab five minutes ago and you are my very first customer ever!"  Yeah right!

Another something I will never understand when Seattle Yellow Cab (BYG) was King or Queen of all Western taxi associations was not providing a key to the shop after 6:00 PM where there was a big wall board holding all the extra taxi keys.  As the poem states, sometimes the wall board in the superintendent's office didn't have the have the key for the cab you were assigned.  But peering through the crack in the garage door, there was the key, just hanging there.  Also, if you needed a spare tire due to the day driver having a flat, the tire track remaining locked until the first mechanic arrived at 7:00 AM or so.   All this was true due to Taki, the BIG BOSS mechanic, who ran the shop like his personal fiefdom.  Taki was great but to treat him like a kind of royalty, a princely Duke in charge of his royal garage estates was both a mistake and dumb.  As I will always say to my last breath, welcome to taxi as I know, love and hate it!

Two Can't Miss Restaurants 

Enjoy Vegetarian Restaurant, 839 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA----Chinese

Udupi Palace, 1903 University Ave, Berkeley, CA---East Indian 

Too Many Empty Cruising Cabs in San Francisco & Finally, A Verdict In The Murder Case of Cab Driver Nicholas Hokema

Vacant Cabs  

During my first week in April visit to San Francisco, I saw many, too many vacant cabs plying downtown streets.  With every passing cab I looked to see if it was occupied.  It was distressing, maybe 5 % of the cabs carrying passengers.  Not that I think it was the entire story, as one cabbie I talked to in the Deep Mission told me, in complaining fashion, that he only rolled $100.00 since noon and it was now almost 3:30 PM.  I thought that was pretty good, concerning the circumstances but the disgruntled cabbie, clearly a veteran of many years, longed for the days of "taxi wine and roses" and all that easy money.  

But from what I viewed, fleets of Waymo autonomous taxis were seemingly everywhere, along with the more or less 40 thousand Uber and Lyfts operating daily in San Francisco, one had to be either insane or a blind optimist to think your taxi day would be easy.   

Having flown in and out of Phoenix, that city too dominated by Waymo, depressing to see them converging on the airport.   Five years ago I remember arguing with fellow cabbies sitting at Amtrak/King Street station, saying "no way!" would these robot cabs make inroads into our business. It wasn't possible, I said.  Boy was I dead wrong.  No fun driving hour after hour with no customers.   And you wonder why most urban cabbies are ill-tempered?  That San Francisco cabbie's face was the epitome of disgust.  It was almost funny. Almost. 

US Army Private Jonathan Kang Lee Pleads Guilty to the Murder of Nicholas Hokema

Regular readers of this blog have been kept appraised of this case since it happened on January 15th, 2024, at 4:00 AM, when Redicab cabbie Nick Hokema's body was found dumped in a Southcenter shopping center, Tukwila parking lot, stabbed to death over a fare dispute.  His murderer, as it had been known almost immediately, was Lee, who had fled Fort Lewis when facing trail for child sex crimes. 

On April 23rd, 2025, over 15 months later, Lee pled guilty to the murder, saying he was sorry.  During the court marital, he is quoted to have said, "There was a lot of blood.  I didn't think he would live."   Though he was sentenced to life in prison, that along with a 64-year-long sentence for the sex crimes previously given, reports say he is eligible for parole in 2045.  A child rapist and murderer could somehow regain his freedom?  That doesn't sound at all reasonable. 

Now I hope comes the second phase, which is when the US Army is sued for their mishandling of a dangerous Lee, allowing him to escape Fort Lewis and murder Hokema.  Lee had been allowed to live on base minus custody, though it was known he was facing what was essentially a life sentence for molesting his two step-children, ages 4 and 8.  The US Army needs to pay Hokema's survivors.  I can only hope the award is in the tens of millions of dollars.  The US Army must experience some real accountability.  

Despite this tragedy, there could be lessons here for all taxicab drivers, and since the service is essentially the same, for TNC (Uber/Lyft) operators too.  In the "Stars and Stripes" article concerning Lee's sentencing, it describes a physical altercation between Lee and Hokema.  From my experience in the cab, getting into a physical fight over a fare is something that should never happen.  Fare run-outs and no-pays are part of what happens in the cab.  If you have any strong concerns, ask for money upfront. Given that it was 4 in the morning, a better option than fighting would have been to let Lee out of the cab, then calling 911.  While there is no guarantee that Tukwila Police would have responded quickly, if they had, they would have easily found Lee wandering the parking lot.  There is also a good chance that a bulletin for his arrest had been issued by the US Army, thus ending this whole story before it began. 

Though it has never been said exactly where Lee was picked up by Hokema,  it was at least a half hour or more from Southcenter, more than enough time for Hokema to assess Lee as a passenger in the back seat.  Hokema had been driving for a number of years, more than enough on the job training experience to be fully aware of who is there on you back seat. That is part of the mystery here.  How did Hokema not realize he was in danger? It is imperative that you know when trouble enters your cab. Someone who is facing a potential life sentence for child rape qualifies as trouble. And given the early morning hour, you must be alert to every possibility.  Too many people are simply nuts.  To think otherwise is naive. 

Every veteran cabbie knows you must instantly assess all who enter your cab.  It is an essential survival skill. My response to trouble entering the cab was to directly inform trouble that I understood the potential, and any false move meant the ride was over, "get out and stay out !"  There was no game playing.  The ride was over. 

When the passenger did refuse to leave, as has happened, I have pulled into the middle of an intersection, throwing open all the doors, and suddenly the person in question is gone, out the door.  The taxi credo all should remember is that YOU are in control of your cab, NOT the passenger.  

There was never any "hijacking" allowed in my cab.  The passenger either followed my instructions or the ride was over. When they said "I am paying for the cab!" I either replied, Fine.  The ride is over." or "I don't want your money. The ride is now free," 

In these cases, when the passenger insisted on paying, I threw the money out the window.  That folks, is how you stay in control of your cab.  No bullshit allowed, smiling as I watched the money blow down the street.  "Screw your money, asshole!

Post Script: RIP Craig Sailor 1963-05/01/2025

Craig Sailor, a longtime reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune, died on Thursday, May 1st at age 61.  I had a number of email exchanges with Craig concerning the Hokema murder case.  He was very attentive and responsive.  A great reporter and writer.  Sad to know that his byline will no longer be part of my morning perusal of Northwest news.

Again, Waymos Everywhere

During my recent time in both Phoenix and San Francisco, Waymo Autonomous taxis were everywhere, especially in San Francisco.  They are also in Austin, Texas, where a Waymo came to a complete stop on a freeway, trapping the passengers inside.  Another incident had a Waymo driving in concentric circles, again with a trapped passenger.  Someone is going to get killed.  You can quote me.

I Just had a Long Telephone Conversation with Carl

It isn't that I miss driving a cab because I don't but it was fun talking taxi with a long time "beneath the toplight" colleague, Carl P., exchanging war stories like the veterans we are.  Most everyone is truly clueless concerning the taxi experience, unlike any other occupation on this spinning planet.  So it is always a pleasure talking to someone who knows it like I do.  Thanks, Carl.  I enjoyed sharing all those memories!

___________________________________

Recent Taxi Poems: Ya Git the Idea!