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, almost sending us over the cliffside. A very memorable event, and sometime during our stay we our 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 in 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, Taxi One. 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 starting $.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 Taxi One 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 the onathtogether. 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 last 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 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 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 it 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 2024 NYC has written 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 over by 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 visitors 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.
