What would you do if a half-naked, very frantic man approaches your cab seeking help, someone everyone is avoiding "like the plague?" Maybe like me, you make a quick assessment, judging that, instead of the guy just being "ordinarily crazy," something serious and dramatic occurred, assistance and intervention logical and necessary. Pleading "Help me! Help me!" even got this jaded cabbie's attention. Saying he needed to get home to Everett and having the fare, I said "get in" and off we started north.
This is his story: Having left the Mariners' baseball game, heading toward his car, suddenly two hours later his life a total mystery, awakening prone on the ground in a tunnel behind the train station minus half his clothing, keys and telephone gone but somehow retaining his wallet and cash, clueless as to what had happened. Once again standing, he rushed panicked out of the tunnel, seeking help from an unresponsive public. Coming upon me, I guess he got lucky, me of course having seen almost everything possible already in the insane asylum cab, so the young Vietnamese man originally from New Orleans was not a complete surprise, someone instead to properly assess and make accurate judgment upon.
Having proceeded only four blocks northbound on 4th Avenue, we called his "worried-out-of-her-mind" girlfriend, agreeing to meet her back at the train station as she made her way down from Lynnwood, the aggrieved gentleman in question just happy to be warm and dry in the cab, but first, grabbing my flashlight, we reentered the tunnel looking for his belongings. All this took about 45 minutes, the girlfriend pulling up behind me, my passenger hugging me goodbye, saying "keep the $60.00" he had given me for the ride up north, and reaching my window, the appreciative girlfriend handing me an additional five dollars. How this all occurred will remain unresolved but hey, it has been at least recorded here, unimportant yet important history in this United States of Uncertain and Sometimes Mysterious America.
Yes, the dumbbells always ask me
Yes, they do, asking "why aren't I driving Uber?"
and finally I have come up with the correct answer, because usually I don't respond at all to such inanity.
I now say, "Imagine asking a soldier in the American Army why he/she isn't a mercenary instead?" One problem I have is that many have no idea what I am referencing, cultural illiteracy my worst enemy.
Do I give up? Yes, I do.
How long will it take before PSD (Seattle Yellow Cab)
realizes that the Manila-based dispatch callcenter is a very bad idea? How many "lost calls" will it take? "Taxi gods!" help us all, is all I can say. "This is crazy, man, just crazy!" or something like that. Shall we all laugh or cry or just simply die! Haha boohoohoo!
Monday, September 23, 2019
Sunday, September 15, 2019
More Upon Paul Roberts' Taxi Article But First, Why Taxi Is Sometimes Okay
Yes, first is right, trying to write this in 55 minutes. Yeah that's right, taxi at this juncture, less than less but still, picking up my first student run of the new school year Tuesday morning, making cab okay when the Somali mother showed such grave concern for her disabled son, with me transporting the child to a special education school in Renton. I called her back, telling her we had arrived safely. Mostly, taxi is nothing times nothing but that morning meant something important and good and meaningful.
That took five minutes. Now to that Seattle Times article. The reason Roberts wrote it is because the City of Seattle is considering ways to somehow mitigate, assuage the harm done by them to the local taxi industry. Roberts was somehow attempting to explain the trials and tribulations faced by us but didn't help much by referring that we have made it a habit of refusing to provide "short destination" rides, along with the insult saying how we "scam " drunks, libelous comments to be sure.
I asked him to retract his comments but I knew he (the Seattle Times) wouldn't do it. Why would they want to right an egregious wrong while simultaneously placating us? No reason whatsoever is the sorry answer. Roberts did say that Uber is in trouble, which it is. And now with the State of California saying Uber and Lyft drivers are employees, stay tuned with that new development. Now if only my fellow cabbies can awaken to their new found opportunity, taking up the new ground once lost to Uber but of course I have grave doubts, especially after, once again, thousands of potential rides post-Husky were left wanting.
That took me eleven minutes, and yes, it is true, yesterday Seattle's taxi industry once again ignored the UW Husky football game, the match versus the University of Hawaii a blowout, the score 38 to 0 just before halftime, with only one cab to serve the hordes dashing out of the stadium, me. In just over two hours I made $100.00 spread over five rides. Only at game's end did I see another cab. That was it. Making it worse was how my request to publicize the game over our dispatch was ignored, instead repetitious messages telling us what we already know, and should know, etc. Is anyone truly serious about anything in our shared Taxi-land? Doesn't seem like it. The Huskies trounced the Rainbows 52-20.
That took me nine minutes. Isn't brevity wonderful! the total piece taking, including editing, 36 minutes to complete. "She-who can't-be-named" will be pleased!
That took five minutes. Now to that Seattle Times article. The reason Roberts wrote it is because the City of Seattle is considering ways to somehow mitigate, assuage the harm done by them to the local taxi industry. Roberts was somehow attempting to explain the trials and tribulations faced by us but didn't help much by referring that we have made it a habit of refusing to provide "short destination" rides, along with the insult saying how we "scam " drunks, libelous comments to be sure.
I asked him to retract his comments but I knew he (the Seattle Times) wouldn't do it. Why would they want to right an egregious wrong while simultaneously placating us? No reason whatsoever is the sorry answer. Roberts did say that Uber is in trouble, which it is. And now with the State of California saying Uber and Lyft drivers are employees, stay tuned with that new development. Now if only my fellow cabbies can awaken to their new found opportunity, taking up the new ground once lost to Uber but of course I have grave doubts, especially after, once again, thousands of potential rides post-Husky were left wanting.
That took me eleven minutes, and yes, it is true, yesterday Seattle's taxi industry once again ignored the UW Husky football game, the match versus the University of Hawaii a blowout, the score 38 to 0 just before halftime, with only one cab to serve the hordes dashing out of the stadium, me. In just over two hours I made $100.00 spread over five rides. Only at game's end did I see another cab. That was it. Making it worse was how my request to publicize the game over our dispatch was ignored, instead repetitious messages telling us what we already know, and should know, etc. Is anyone truly serious about anything in our shared Taxi-land? Doesn't seem like it. The Huskies trounced the Rainbows 52-20.
That took me nine minutes. Isn't brevity wonderful! the total piece taking, including editing, 36 minutes to complete. "She-who can't-be-named" will be pleased!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Raining Like Heck! Thousands Of Fan Leaving the Stadium And Where Were All The Yellow Cabs? No Where To Be Seen
This week's posting concerns local Seattle, how its operators function, along with media and public precepts of our industry, specifically Paul Roberts' front page featured article in the September 2nd, 2019 edition of the Seattle Times. I do have some commentary upon an outsider's analysis of this complex subject, complex at least to longtime researchers like myself, this deranged occupation known as driving a cab.
But first, related to the Roberts' article, concerning how much money cabbies are earning, I have to relate Saturday's experience at the University of Washington's Husky Football stadium, and why, when thousands fled into the rainy, thunderous night following an official weather-related game delay, why was I the only cab available to serve the sodden, rain drenched fans?
How is it possible, someone could ask, that Yellow's Cab entire fleet remained uninformed concerning 70,000 fans gathered for a late starting (7:30 PM) Saturday night college football game? The answer from an interested observer, me, is simple. The vast majority of the approximate 2000 plus Seattle-area cabbies plying local streets began their taxi occupation ill-prepared for the task, an unfortunate genesis begetting now poorly formed business skills and concepts resulting in Saturday night's cabbie debacle: thousands of potential passengers wailing for the cabs failing to appear. Five times I dipped into that agitated mass of drenched humanity, my last three fares taking me in order to: DT Bellevue, Clyde Hill and Kirkland, the Bellevue fare resulting in a $29.00 tip. After the game resumed 2 1/2 hours later, I decided it was time for a well deserved dinner break, basically retiring for the evening.
Talking to cabbies later that night, and the next day, at the train station, to a person no one had been aware a local college football game was scheduled and played I asked, "do you read the newspaper? do you listen to the radio?" And the answer is clearly no, they don't, not taking the effort for a few minutes beneficial research. One might ask, just what do these fellows do to understand what is occurring locally around the city and county, to source financially beneficial information upon a given day or week? The unfortunate answer is, essentially, nothing whatsoever which of course results in no money earned whatsoever, the relation causal and fixed to not knowing what you certainly need to know. Complaining that "I am not making any money!" is no help, only sorry lamentations tossed into the misbegotten night.
All this ties into the Seattle Time's featured article by business reporter Paul Roberts, "Seattle Taxis are hanging on as Uber & Lyft lose billions." While mostly sympathetic, it contained the expected "guesswork" from someone looking from the outside in, attempting, in a page long article, to explain an over one hundred year old industry. Roberts' first presents as exhibit # 1, Tegegne Mersha, owner of Orange Cab 825, a nine year taxi veteran Mersha rightfully points out his Post-Uber financial demise, saying his once easy income declining to a now hard $100.00 a day.
How and why Mersha was chosen to be featured is a mystery, personally knowing many Seattle-area cabbies better able of explaining the Seattle taxi experience. As I already related about the crazy weather Husky stadium Saturday night---lightening strikes filling the electrified air---there is much to know about "taxi in total," making it clear Mersha, amongst many others, are still learning how to successfully drive a cab.
And I can say, me too, having previously said each day something new, different and awful occurs in the cab, hopefully translating to my fatigued brain additional and helpful insights. I can only pray to the taxi gods for Mersha and his immigrant brethren, hoping that Uber will indeed fail, and once more opening the door to fewer hours and easy money, heaven on taxi earth indeed made manifest over munificent streets.
I end with having said almost nothing close to what I intended to concerning the Roberts' article but I have a ready excuse: I only have one body. If granted another, I will be more productive. Ain't that a scary thought, two Joe Blondo's running amok. Yikes! And the concept of 2 bodies is borrowed from Yogi Ananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi." If his Master could do it, don't know what is stopping me from splitting in two.
Required Reading
New book, just out, "Super Pumped----The Battle for Uber" by Mike Issac
Norton, 408 pages $27.95
I bought a copy. You should too!
Postscript 09/10/2019
For those interested in knowing more about Paul Roberts article, tune in next week for a more complete examination of his attempt at explaining taxi to the curious, inquiring public. Tired yesterday, I remain the same, tired, just like my exhausted prose.
But first, related to the Roberts' article, concerning how much money cabbies are earning, I have to relate Saturday's experience at the University of Washington's Husky Football stadium, and why, when thousands fled into the rainy, thunderous night following an official weather-related game delay, why was I the only cab available to serve the sodden, rain drenched fans?
How is it possible, someone could ask, that Yellow's Cab entire fleet remained uninformed concerning 70,000 fans gathered for a late starting (7:30 PM) Saturday night college football game? The answer from an interested observer, me, is simple. The vast majority of the approximate 2000 plus Seattle-area cabbies plying local streets began their taxi occupation ill-prepared for the task, an unfortunate genesis begetting now poorly formed business skills and concepts resulting in Saturday night's cabbie debacle: thousands of potential passengers wailing for the cabs failing to appear. Five times I dipped into that agitated mass of drenched humanity, my last three fares taking me in order to: DT Bellevue, Clyde Hill and Kirkland, the Bellevue fare resulting in a $29.00 tip. After the game resumed 2 1/2 hours later, I decided it was time for a well deserved dinner break, basically retiring for the evening.
Talking to cabbies later that night, and the next day, at the train station, to a person no one had been aware a local college football game was scheduled and played I asked, "do you read the newspaper? do you listen to the radio?" And the answer is clearly no, they don't, not taking the effort for a few minutes beneficial research. One might ask, just what do these fellows do to understand what is occurring locally around the city and county, to source financially beneficial information upon a given day or week? The unfortunate answer is, essentially, nothing whatsoever which of course results in no money earned whatsoever, the relation causal and fixed to not knowing what you certainly need to know. Complaining that "I am not making any money!" is no help, only sorry lamentations tossed into the misbegotten night.
All this ties into the Seattle Time's featured article by business reporter Paul Roberts, "Seattle Taxis are hanging on as Uber & Lyft lose billions." While mostly sympathetic, it contained the expected "guesswork" from someone looking from the outside in, attempting, in a page long article, to explain an over one hundred year old industry. Roberts' first presents as exhibit # 1, Tegegne Mersha, owner of Orange Cab 825, a nine year taxi veteran Mersha rightfully points out his Post-Uber financial demise, saying his once easy income declining to a now hard $100.00 a day.
How and why Mersha was chosen to be featured is a mystery, personally knowing many Seattle-area cabbies better able of explaining the Seattle taxi experience. As I already related about the crazy weather Husky stadium Saturday night---lightening strikes filling the electrified air---there is much to know about "taxi in total," making it clear Mersha, amongst many others, are still learning how to successfully drive a cab.
And I can say, me too, having previously said each day something new, different and awful occurs in the cab, hopefully translating to my fatigued brain additional and helpful insights. I can only pray to the taxi gods for Mersha and his immigrant brethren, hoping that Uber will indeed fail, and once more opening the door to fewer hours and easy money, heaven on taxi earth indeed made manifest over munificent streets.
I end with having said almost nothing close to what I intended to concerning the Roberts' article but I have a ready excuse: I only have one body. If granted another, I will be more productive. Ain't that a scary thought, two Joe Blondo's running amok. Yikes! And the concept of 2 bodies is borrowed from Yogi Ananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi." If his Master could do it, don't know what is stopping me from splitting in two.
Required Reading
New book, just out, "Super Pumped----The Battle for Uber" by Mike Issac
Norton, 408 pages $27.95
I bought a copy. You should too!
Postscript 09/10/2019
For those interested in knowing more about Paul Roberts article, tune in next week for a more complete examination of his attempt at explaining taxi to the curious, inquiring public. Tired yesterday, I remain the same, tired, just like my exhausted prose.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Two Older African-American Women From Memphis Ask About Uber
Passengers are always asking about Uber, and this time, these two inquiring tourists from Tennessee received a very unexpected response. Though before I tell you my reply, I think everyone should know that the positive embrace Uber received from local governments was not accidental, something often cited as nothing less than a prescient embrace of a new technological age sweeping the nation but I know it as something much more, something insidious and malignant. While few will admit, or comprehend, it is related to the year 1619 and beginnings of slavery in North America and the kinds of institutionalized discrimination and hatred we still grapple with today in 2019 in these United States.
What Uber's founders, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had in common, was being both Caucasian and socioeconomically Upper-Middle Class, traits easily recognizable to elected bureaucrats in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere in modern America, this essential point forming the crux of my response to the shocked residents visiting from Memphis: that the Uber founders were white, making them easily embraceable by the majority white mayors and City and County Council members, applying a kind of trust never before seen by the nation's taxi industry. I told them that I knew they knew all about it, themselves treated as second-class citizens in this fine country we share, something they certainly couldn't deny.
And being white is why Uber continues to have investor support while losing over 10 billion dollars alone since 2016. Can you imagine this kind of financial trust in a company run by African-Americans (blacks)? How much money has Uber loss since its 2009 inception? Something between 30-40 billion. It is breathtaking, the kinds of losses investors have absorbed but still holding onto the fanciful, financial mirage that is Uber, and to a lesser degree, Lyft.
And what color is America's taxicab industry? Black and brown, along with a smattering of feral Caucasians like myself who just aren't quite white enough, me with my Eastern European and Sicilian heritage. Why did the City of Seattle and King County continue to insist on fingerprinting us annually year after nonsensical year? Well, you know the answer. It is obvious. I just told you.
What Uber's founders, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had in common, was being both Caucasian and socioeconomically Upper-Middle Class, traits easily recognizable to elected bureaucrats in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere in modern America, this essential point forming the crux of my response to the shocked residents visiting from Memphis: that the Uber founders were white, making them easily embraceable by the majority white mayors and City and County Council members, applying a kind of trust never before seen by the nation's taxi industry. I told them that I knew they knew all about it, themselves treated as second-class citizens in this fine country we share, something they certainly couldn't deny.
And being white is why Uber continues to have investor support while losing over 10 billion dollars alone since 2016. Can you imagine this kind of financial trust in a company run by African-Americans (blacks)? How much money has Uber loss since its 2009 inception? Something between 30-40 billion. It is breathtaking, the kinds of losses investors have absorbed but still holding onto the fanciful, financial mirage that is Uber, and to a lesser degree, Lyft.
And what color is America's taxicab industry? Black and brown, along with a smattering of feral Caucasians like myself who just aren't quite white enough, me with my Eastern European and Sicilian heritage. Why did the City of Seattle and King County continue to insist on fingerprinting us annually year after nonsensical year? Well, you know the answer. It is obvious. I just told you.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Puget Sound Dispatch's MTI System Transition: Jury Deliberations Continue
PSD's new dispatch system has been with us for two weeks, time enough I think for a quick assessment on how it has been going. But first, I would certainly be amiss in not mentioning the fervid months of preparation put in by Amin, Zem, Tom and others in getting the system up and running. While criticism comes easy, everyone must realize no transition is completely smooth, and compared to the "George System" changeover, all recent difficulties should be considered minor. Above all, PSD remained functional with most "bells" served in timely fashion. But some questions do require answers, especially as to why our Las Vegas call center was replaced by one in the Philippines, something done minus first consulting us, we the single owners paying PSD's bills.
One quick, and obvious answer is past history, Yellow Cab's bad habit of making major decisions without any or all serious consultation with those directly affected. That must change, and while it appears there now exists more of a predisposition for openness and negotiation, the Manila (if that is where it is) call center has collectively shocked the entire Yellow single owner community, this after we were told "everything would now be local" but how a separation of 6,651 miles or 10,107 kilometers between Washington State and the Philippines is "local" distorts all acceptable definitions of "just down the hallway." Maybe they neglected to consult a map, google mapping instead the now popular alternative.
Our biggest ongoing issues have been in order of:
1) an unexpected Android update shutting down most every one's computers (tablets). Amin has spent many hours assisting the distressed drivers.
2) our credit card processing shut down for a few hours, and making it worse, at least for me, no one informing us when it was up and running again. Manila didn't know, I can tell you that, and making it more confounding by simply not understanding what I was saying. Perhaps PSD should offer all of us a "crash course" mastering the Filipino language. It might prove to be helpful. A cabbie told me yesterday that "more communication" is required. Now that is what I call an understatement upon the subject. Ha Ha Ha!
3) the mystery that is Zone 160, never knowing upon accepting a Magnolia bell if it actually is in the 160 or not until the address is revealed. Very irritating, especially when at the moment your are offered only two solutions, to do a "no show" or request to "cover your call" when it is miles away but only to find you have now been penalized 15 minutes for something not caused by you. I have requested PSD to explain to us why they think they have legal authority to penalize for a service we are paying for? I look forward to the explanation.
Yes, a few problems here and there but truly "small taxi potatoes" overall. The new system installation was very efficient, along with all the classes and individual tutorials provided. I like the new MTI system, I really do but would someone please promote and advertise our new dispatching app? Customers truly like it. Can we please tell the world that we are ready to punch Uber & Lyft in the nose? Thank you!
.
One quick, and obvious answer is past history, Yellow Cab's bad habit of making major decisions without any or all serious consultation with those directly affected. That must change, and while it appears there now exists more of a predisposition for openness and negotiation, the Manila (if that is where it is) call center has collectively shocked the entire Yellow single owner community, this after we were told "everything would now be local" but how a separation of 6,651 miles or 10,107 kilometers between Washington State and the Philippines is "local" distorts all acceptable definitions of "just down the hallway." Maybe they neglected to consult a map, google mapping instead the now popular alternative.
Our biggest ongoing issues have been in order of:
1) an unexpected Android update shutting down most every one's computers (tablets). Amin has spent many hours assisting the distressed drivers.
2) our credit card processing shut down for a few hours, and making it worse, at least for me, no one informing us when it was up and running again. Manila didn't know, I can tell you that, and making it more confounding by simply not understanding what I was saying. Perhaps PSD should offer all of us a "crash course" mastering the Filipino language. It might prove to be helpful. A cabbie told me yesterday that "more communication" is required. Now that is what I call an understatement upon the subject. Ha Ha Ha!
3) the mystery that is Zone 160, never knowing upon accepting a Magnolia bell if it actually is in the 160 or not until the address is revealed. Very irritating, especially when at the moment your are offered only two solutions, to do a "no show" or request to "cover your call" when it is miles away but only to find you have now been penalized 15 minutes for something not caused by you. I have requested PSD to explain to us why they think they have legal authority to penalize for a service we are paying for? I look forward to the explanation.
Yes, a few problems here and there but truly "small taxi potatoes" overall. The new system installation was very efficient, along with all the classes and individual tutorials provided. I like the new MTI system, I really do but would someone please promote and advertise our new dispatching app? Customers truly like it. Can we please tell the world that we are ready to punch Uber & Lyft in the nose? Thank you!
.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Taxi Do's & Don't's Conclusion: Working Hotel Stands & Zones
While concluding my self-styled series of what the alert cabbie should do, I remain doubtful I have captured even half of what is required to successfully drive a cab. Each week I experience something new and different, meaning I could live to be one thousand years old and still be surprised, pleasantly or not, by who is stepping into my cab. Later I will relate to what happened on my one and only ride from Wednesday's Rolling Stones concert to a Pierce County address located outside of Bonny Lake, knowing I would have handled it far differently in 1989 than I did 30 years later upon a August 2019 evening.
In other words, I can provide the greatest suggestions possible but my written instruction never replacing the 200,000 plus road miles required to make anyone a truly prepared and professional cabbie. Each month I put 5,000 plus miles upon my faithful 1092, each mile more fully inscribing the living taxi tutorial upon my fatigued brain, hopefully translating into even better performance.
And Wednesday might have proved I remain the good student, having my first three one-hundred dollar-plus fare days in my long 30 year taxi career, those three fares adding up to $380.60. Some like to say "taxi is dead" but I see everyday that instead, we are very much alive and, day by progressive day, regaining our industry footing, constantly meeting passengers who say they will never again take Uber to where they need to go. And in fact we often prove to be cheaper, Uber charging $70.00 from the Pier 91 Cruise Ship port to Sea-Tac International Airport while we'll get you there for $47.00, lessening the financial incentive to skip good, old taxis.
More Money Making Strategy: Working Hotel Cab Stands & Taxi Zones
My first more or less two years, I worked independently, meaning not for a large association, something translating into only a handful of dispatched calls and prompting a daily search for the best place to get that elusive fare. Often, like all the other independents, I would usually end up upon a hotel cab stand but which hotel to chose was the question of the moment. Pick wrongly and you could end up sitting for hours, going, as it is said, nowhere fast. This is when I discovered that taxi was a kind of science, with investigation required to understand the functional biology of finding a fare. Like all investigative research, repetitive testing is needed to know just where and when to go. As should be obvious, each day and even hour is changeable, making it essential you are aware of what you need to do and why you are doing it.
The cab stand "player" then knows which convention is in town, how many in attendance, and when it is leaving, and of course knowing which hotel is full or not. To not know these facts can kill a day, which is why so many cabbies "die upon the stand," never truly understanding what hit them. In short, as I have said elsewhere, the successful cabbie is ever alert, paying attention to what, business-wise, is occurring around him/her. One method, which I never liked, and have found too painful, is to sleep upon the stand, waiting for the "early, morning airports." While sometimes successful, it leaves you ragged and weary, making you feel like "death warmed over" which is an awful feeling, making the money you earned harder than it needed to be.
Picking a zone to book into is similar, knowing your city's particular demographics essential, pertaining as to why the local residents are taking cabs or not. Just like the hotel stands, fares might come out at 5:00 AM but it might be completely dead twelve hours later. So what I am saying is, know why something is occurring minus as little guesswork as possible. I have known taxi buddies, longtime 20-30 year veterans who neither knew or cared about what I have just told you, and were, or are forever complaining about not making money. When errors are pointed out, "go to hell" is their usual response but it's them instead assigned to taxi's nether regions, damnation and perdition their sorry fate, Uncle Screwtape their happy sponsor.
In conclusion, taxi is a damn hard business if you insist upon driving in proverbial circles day after day. My advice then is don't, don't do it. Instead, think, think, and think again about what you are doing. And if one strategy fails, try another until you succeed because succeed you will, I can promise you that. I do know, for better or for worst, all about it, and before I forget, which I did, I'll relate my short story of how knowing what you are doing makes all the financial difference between making $180.00 or driving back to Seattle angry as hell and out all that time and money.
Post-Rolling Stones
He staggered into the cab, flattening out upon the backseat, saying he was going a long way southeast of Seattle, over halfway to Mount Rainier. In other words, this was going to be a very good fare. When I was a rookie, I would have demanded money up front, and if it wasn't coming, he would have been out of the cab and on his way but the years have taught me how to gauge a passenger no matter how inebriated he or she might be.
The ride was great, the passenger totally out but of course knowing trouble awaited once I had to wake him out and discover just exactly where I was taking the disoriented fellow. And problems I had, the guy screwing up his debit card pin number, and worse, vomiting up beer.
But it all turned out okay, avoiding all those cars whizzing by on State Highway 410, including a local cop who stopped to inquire "just what was going on?" Once halfway sobered up, my passenger, the good guy he was, directed me to his house where the wife wrote a check for $180.00, $20.00 of that for necessary cleanup.
It was all cordial though their dog considered the canine wisdom of biting the intrusive cabbie standing in the kitchen. But hell! who could blame the pooch, so rudely awakened in those early morning hours. As for me, I remained cheerful yet tired, eating my "meal-of-the-day" at the Bonny Lake Denny's, the waitress great, a true professional serving me my T-bone steak and eggs. I couldn't complain, everything fine upon an early taxi morning, good money made and certainly ready to go home. What else can I say? Nothing whatsoever is the answer.
In other words, I can provide the greatest suggestions possible but my written instruction never replacing the 200,000 plus road miles required to make anyone a truly prepared and professional cabbie. Each month I put 5,000 plus miles upon my faithful 1092, each mile more fully inscribing the living taxi tutorial upon my fatigued brain, hopefully translating into even better performance.
And Wednesday might have proved I remain the good student, having my first three one-hundred dollar-plus fare days in my long 30 year taxi career, those three fares adding up to $380.60. Some like to say "taxi is dead" but I see everyday that instead, we are very much alive and, day by progressive day, regaining our industry footing, constantly meeting passengers who say they will never again take Uber to where they need to go. And in fact we often prove to be cheaper, Uber charging $70.00 from the Pier 91 Cruise Ship port to Sea-Tac International Airport while we'll get you there for $47.00, lessening the financial incentive to skip good, old taxis.
More Money Making Strategy: Working Hotel Cab Stands & Taxi Zones
My first more or less two years, I worked independently, meaning not for a large association, something translating into only a handful of dispatched calls and prompting a daily search for the best place to get that elusive fare. Often, like all the other independents, I would usually end up upon a hotel cab stand but which hotel to chose was the question of the moment. Pick wrongly and you could end up sitting for hours, going, as it is said, nowhere fast. This is when I discovered that taxi was a kind of science, with investigation required to understand the functional biology of finding a fare. Like all investigative research, repetitive testing is needed to know just where and when to go. As should be obvious, each day and even hour is changeable, making it essential you are aware of what you need to do and why you are doing it.
The cab stand "player" then knows which convention is in town, how many in attendance, and when it is leaving, and of course knowing which hotel is full or not. To not know these facts can kill a day, which is why so many cabbies "die upon the stand," never truly understanding what hit them. In short, as I have said elsewhere, the successful cabbie is ever alert, paying attention to what, business-wise, is occurring around him/her. One method, which I never liked, and have found too painful, is to sleep upon the stand, waiting for the "early, morning airports." While sometimes successful, it leaves you ragged and weary, making you feel like "death warmed over" which is an awful feeling, making the money you earned harder than it needed to be.
Picking a zone to book into is similar, knowing your city's particular demographics essential, pertaining as to why the local residents are taking cabs or not. Just like the hotel stands, fares might come out at 5:00 AM but it might be completely dead twelve hours later. So what I am saying is, know why something is occurring minus as little guesswork as possible. I have known taxi buddies, longtime 20-30 year veterans who neither knew or cared about what I have just told you, and were, or are forever complaining about not making money. When errors are pointed out, "go to hell" is their usual response but it's them instead assigned to taxi's nether regions, damnation and perdition their sorry fate, Uncle Screwtape their happy sponsor.
In conclusion, taxi is a damn hard business if you insist upon driving in proverbial circles day after day. My advice then is don't, don't do it. Instead, think, think, and think again about what you are doing. And if one strategy fails, try another until you succeed because succeed you will, I can promise you that. I do know, for better or for worst, all about it, and before I forget, which I did, I'll relate my short story of how knowing what you are doing makes all the financial difference between making $180.00 or driving back to Seattle angry as hell and out all that time and money.
Post-Rolling Stones
He staggered into the cab, flattening out upon the backseat, saying he was going a long way southeast of Seattle, over halfway to Mount Rainier. In other words, this was going to be a very good fare. When I was a rookie, I would have demanded money up front, and if it wasn't coming, he would have been out of the cab and on his way but the years have taught me how to gauge a passenger no matter how inebriated he or she might be.
The ride was great, the passenger totally out but of course knowing trouble awaited once I had to wake him out and discover just exactly where I was taking the disoriented fellow. And problems I had, the guy screwing up his debit card pin number, and worse, vomiting up beer.
But it all turned out okay, avoiding all those cars whizzing by on State Highway 410, including a local cop who stopped to inquire "just what was going on?" Once halfway sobered up, my passenger, the good guy he was, directed me to his house where the wife wrote a check for $180.00, $20.00 of that for necessary cleanup.
It was all cordial though their dog considered the canine wisdom of biting the intrusive cabbie standing in the kitchen. But hell! who could blame the pooch, so rudely awakened in those early morning hours. As for me, I remained cheerful yet tired, eating my "meal-of-the-day" at the Bonny Lake Denny's, the waitress great, a true professional serving me my T-bone steak and eggs. I couldn't complain, everything fine upon an early taxi morning, good money made and certainly ready to go home. What else can I say? Nothing whatsoever is the answer.
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Graded By The Better Business Bureau? & Debut Of PSD's New Dispatch System
For those following my cabbie do & don'ts series, expect more next week, including more about making money, and specifically, how to work hotel stands, something I now rarely do but once serving as my independent taxi "bread & butter" while refining and honing my skills during my first couple of years beneath the top-light. Instead, I will concentrate upon the oddest of animals, a complaint received through Seattle's Better Business Bureau, something I couldn't have imagined, or anyone else at Yellow, for that matter, unique and different if not pleasant, another kind of naive bureaucracy reaching out in confused embrace.
Normally, all official complaints are filtered though the City of Seattle but for reasons unknown, the complainant chose the BBB to register her alleged injury but perhaps I do know why, her complaint unfounded, embellishing truth into unnecessary lying. More than the actual incident, what spikes my curiosity is just as to why would anyone go to such lengths to not only fib but leave themselves open to a libel suit? My taxi educated guess is a toxic combination of alcohol and domestic discord, the woman's husband alcohol-fueled aggression and irrationality prompting her response, finding herself navigating alone a daily traumatic melodrama minus end or easy resolution; easier then to blame anyone other than the individual solely responsible for their combined misery.
Before I report what she said, I will tell you what really happened, something taxi mundane and usual, not noteworthy because it is a commonplace occurrence well known to anyone who has driven a cab: the out-of-control drunken bully who refuses to cooperate. If we can't invite drunks to leave the taxi, what then are we supposed to do when belligerence raises its ugly face?
Belled into a house near the corner of 6th NW & NW 84th, clearly there was a drunken party occurring, the usual shenanigans in full view. Watching the man approach, I recognized trouble, his unsteady gait and angry face telling me everything I didn't want to know. After turning around, and hugging equally drunk friends, he and his wife entered the cab, telling me they are going to N 104th & Greenwood N., a more or less $6-7.00 dollar cab ride, approximately five minutes away.
Normally, unless people either are drunk or insane, that is where it ends but when you are a bully, it is yet another opportunity to bully, crossing over usual and accepted lines of civility. Gruffly telling me to turn right (all I could do), I warned him he had to stop or the ride was over, this response taken directly from my own "taxi" textbook stating you never let drunk, angry or crazy behavior take over the cab, something never allowed in airplanes, buses or trains, recognized for the danger it is. As is obvious, I don't have an undercover air marshal sitting next to me. I only have me to respond. When "all-hell-breaks-loose," which it sometimes does, five minutes is a long wait to be rescued from what might be fatal. Instead, I quickly state what needs to occur, and if the passenger fails to agree, the ride is over.
In this instance, we barely moved 100 feet down the road before the man said he was getting out of the cab. The wife, only wanting to get home, pleaded with him to just let me take them there but there was no arguing, he was gone and that was the end of it, other than calling me back to pick them up again. Why would they do that? Alcohol induced confusion, forgetting dispatch's number (206-622-6500) and calling the cabbie back instead, something I have experienced often in similar circumstances.
What the wife, in her BBB complaint, said occurred, is that I shouted at them "to get the f _ _ k out!, then refused to let them out of the cab, implying for a quick moment they were kidnapped, held against their will, while also stating it was very "scary." Why I would have done this isn't truly explained, the wife making no mention of alcohol or menacing behavior. The truth is, I wanted to take them home, especially the wife but her husband's unacceptable behavior prevented me doing the basic, driving the few blocks northeast to their home.
Getting back to the complaint, you might see the logic in my supposition as to why she made her complaint, perhaps assuaging the beast that is her husband. Having dealt with unfounded complaints before, sometimes the motive appears to be simple revenge, trying to punish the "bad"cabbie. Over the years I have been accused of theft, unwanted sexual advantages, driving drunk or stoned, beatings and the usual "taking them for a ride," meaning "dishonesty is the standard cabbie policy." That I recently returned $500.00 left on the back seat to a regular rider or, as some readers might remember, the potential $5-10,000 left in the black travel bag I found and returned a few months back, won't stop the next unwarranted accusation coming my way, poisoning the day.
All this is the "taxi reality" I know too well and accept as "part & parcel" of doing business and driving cab. The last HopeLink complaint I received was classic, the passenger (he did not have to pay a dime) complaining I took the wrong way to his NE 65th & Ravenna NE apt building, saying I didn't take Montlake Blvd. And why didn't I take the usual and prescribed route, Montlake transitioning into 25th NE, the entire length closed both ways for construction, meaning it was impossible to break through barriers blocking the road. Despite the obvious, this complaint lingering for months before resolved.
I did request for BBB to contact me, instead of using PSD as an intermediary but only if they truly are interested in knowing what it means to deal with nonsensical, irrational behavior entering the intimate space that is a taxi. There is no other public business environment like a cab. I would like for them to understand. A mere half hour conversation would suffice. Let's talk!
MTI Dispatch System Now Installed at PSD
After months of preparation, yesterday, the "San Francisco George" system was switched off and MTI was switched on. It seems user friendly. More later about MTI and our now Manila-based call center. How many shoes do they own?
Uber Quarterly Loss
5.2 billion is the figure. Amazing one might say!
1
Uber! Uber!
Where did you go wrong?
Spending investor money like tap water,
are you preparing all your dumbbell investors
for one final, inevitable financial slaughter?
2
In the Wall Street morning after,
In the fiscal bleeding night,
will everyone be waving goodbye
as misbegotten Uber's good ship Misery
drifts out of sight!
Normally, all official complaints are filtered though the City of Seattle but for reasons unknown, the complainant chose the BBB to register her alleged injury but perhaps I do know why, her complaint unfounded, embellishing truth into unnecessary lying. More than the actual incident, what spikes my curiosity is just as to why would anyone go to such lengths to not only fib but leave themselves open to a libel suit? My taxi educated guess is a toxic combination of alcohol and domestic discord, the woman's husband alcohol-fueled aggression and irrationality prompting her response, finding herself navigating alone a daily traumatic melodrama minus end or easy resolution; easier then to blame anyone other than the individual solely responsible for their combined misery.
Before I report what she said, I will tell you what really happened, something taxi mundane and usual, not noteworthy because it is a commonplace occurrence well known to anyone who has driven a cab: the out-of-control drunken bully who refuses to cooperate. If we can't invite drunks to leave the taxi, what then are we supposed to do when belligerence raises its ugly face?
Belled into a house near the corner of 6th NW & NW 84th, clearly there was a drunken party occurring, the usual shenanigans in full view. Watching the man approach, I recognized trouble, his unsteady gait and angry face telling me everything I didn't want to know. After turning around, and hugging equally drunk friends, he and his wife entered the cab, telling me they are going to N 104th & Greenwood N., a more or less $6-7.00 dollar cab ride, approximately five minutes away.
Normally, unless people either are drunk or insane, that is where it ends but when you are a bully, it is yet another opportunity to bully, crossing over usual and accepted lines of civility. Gruffly telling me to turn right (all I could do), I warned him he had to stop or the ride was over, this response taken directly from my own "taxi" textbook stating you never let drunk, angry or crazy behavior take over the cab, something never allowed in airplanes, buses or trains, recognized for the danger it is. As is obvious, I don't have an undercover air marshal sitting next to me. I only have me to respond. When "all-hell-breaks-loose," which it sometimes does, five minutes is a long wait to be rescued from what might be fatal. Instead, I quickly state what needs to occur, and if the passenger fails to agree, the ride is over.
In this instance, we barely moved 100 feet down the road before the man said he was getting out of the cab. The wife, only wanting to get home, pleaded with him to just let me take them there but there was no arguing, he was gone and that was the end of it, other than calling me back to pick them up again. Why would they do that? Alcohol induced confusion, forgetting dispatch's number (206-622-6500) and calling the cabbie back instead, something I have experienced often in similar circumstances.
What the wife, in her BBB complaint, said occurred, is that I shouted at them "to get the f _ _ k out!, then refused to let them out of the cab, implying for a quick moment they were kidnapped, held against their will, while also stating it was very "scary." Why I would have done this isn't truly explained, the wife making no mention of alcohol or menacing behavior. The truth is, I wanted to take them home, especially the wife but her husband's unacceptable behavior prevented me doing the basic, driving the few blocks northeast to their home.
Getting back to the complaint, you might see the logic in my supposition as to why she made her complaint, perhaps assuaging the beast that is her husband. Having dealt with unfounded complaints before, sometimes the motive appears to be simple revenge, trying to punish the "bad"cabbie. Over the years I have been accused of theft, unwanted sexual advantages, driving drunk or stoned, beatings and the usual "taking them for a ride," meaning "dishonesty is the standard cabbie policy." That I recently returned $500.00 left on the back seat to a regular rider or, as some readers might remember, the potential $5-10,000 left in the black travel bag I found and returned a few months back, won't stop the next unwarranted accusation coming my way, poisoning the day.
All this is the "taxi reality" I know too well and accept as "part & parcel" of doing business and driving cab. The last HopeLink complaint I received was classic, the passenger (he did not have to pay a dime) complaining I took the wrong way to his NE 65th & Ravenna NE apt building, saying I didn't take Montlake Blvd. And why didn't I take the usual and prescribed route, Montlake transitioning into 25th NE, the entire length closed both ways for construction, meaning it was impossible to break through barriers blocking the road. Despite the obvious, this complaint lingering for months before resolved.
I did request for BBB to contact me, instead of using PSD as an intermediary but only if they truly are interested in knowing what it means to deal with nonsensical, irrational behavior entering the intimate space that is a taxi. There is no other public business environment like a cab. I would like for them to understand. A mere half hour conversation would suffice. Let's talk!
MTI Dispatch System Now Installed at PSD
After months of preparation, yesterday, the "San Francisco George" system was switched off and MTI was switched on. It seems user friendly. More later about MTI and our now Manila-based call center. How many shoes do they own?
Uber Quarterly Loss
5.2 billion is the figure. Amazing one might say!
1
Uber! Uber!
Where did you go wrong?
Spending investor money like tap water,
are you preparing all your dumbbell investors
for one final, inevitable financial slaughter?
2
In the Wall Street morning after,
In the fiscal bleeding night,
will everyone be waving goodbye
as misbegotten Uber's good ship Misery
drifts out of sight!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)