My Hour Long Conversation With A King County Taxi Regulator

 Last Friday, March 12th, a King County licensing official called, and in the ensuing hour we talked about all issues taxi, what they (the City and County) have been thinking and mulling over these past few pandemic months and how they might and will affect us local, hard working cabbies.  This particular individual is clearly on our side, having taken a noticeable interest in the issues affecting our everyday wellbeing.  He is straight forward and to the point.  Do you wonder why I find that refreshing?  What you have before you is a quick synopsis of what was said.

The long requested regional licensing will be coming soon, meaning that everyone will be able to serve the entire King County with only one joint medallion.  The current system of City and County separation is long outdated and I am glad to see its extinction, something akin to the eradication of the smallpox virus, the two medallion system a malignant pox upon both passenger and driver.   He said some cabbies currently owning dual-plated cabs voiced some objections but for me their lingering nostalgia for times past are extremely misplaced since our taxi medallions are now essentially worthless, the last big Yellow medallion owner having given away his last 36 City of Seattle plates.  No, regional medallion licensing is way of the future, and in that sense, attempting to provide a viable future to our much wounded industry.  

Another big change is the transformation of the flat-rate cars into taxis, meters replacing their much disparaged zone fare system, something which allowed all those thieves to habitually cheat their customers.  A year ago I would have been shouting to "high heaven!" about this change but now I feel it doesn't matter much, certainly not in the short term for us already established taxis.  Eastside-for-Hire has been decimated by the pandemic business falloff, meaning they and the other smaller flat-rate companies will be slow to recover.  And given Uber's ever expanding rates, I see business averaging out, with  customers abandoning Uber and Lyft while transferring more to whom they trust, meaning the established taxi industry.

One disagreement we had is the City and County plan to allow taxi associations more flexibility with adjusting rates, allowing for something similar to Uber's "surge charging."  My objection is based upon what I have been saying all along about the current non-regulation of the taxi associations, that by allowing them to be unaccountable to the single owners, the City and County have created a kind of taxi industry "monarchical absolutism" answerable solely to themselves, meaning empowering them even further could hold dire consequences.  I ask everyone to think back to 1975 and Seattle and King County's taxi industry de-regulation experiment, and how the ensuing anarchy countermanded any possible positives, displaying minus any doubt how big an error that was.  Bringing us forward to 2021, it's clear to me the taxi industry still requires guidance---the guide dog's sharp fangs prepared to bite!  

Another plan I questioned was the proposed two-tiered for-hire licensing, one license for basic passenger transportation, and the other a higher level for-hire license clearing people for Hopelink passengers, etc.  One requires fingerprinting while the other doesn't.  I think the security requirements should be the same for Uber/Lyft and taxi drivers.  He said both background checks are mostly the same but still, doesn't it make sense that everyone is gone over with the proverbial "fine-toothed comb." thus guaranteeing the passenger public with a reasonably sane driver?  I think so.

One pleasing decision is the extension of the for-hire driver licenses forward for a full year, providing us operators with one less thing to concern ourselves with.  As I said in the beginning, a friendlier FAS has emerged and I'm happy for it, open communication always better than the regulatory hammer.  May the new Spring grace our industry and spirits. Let the robins and sparrows sing!

 

 

 

 

Five Taxicabs Total To Serve The Entire 2,307 Square Miles That Is King County, Washington

Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning Yellow Cab had, including me, a total of five cabs working to serve numerous rapid-fire bells (taxicab requests) originating from all over Seattle and King County.  In a futile effort to serve everyone, I worked through the night, not getting to bed until past 7:30 in the morning.  Already dead-tired, a last fare from downtown took me out to the countryside outside of Marysville, an over $100.00 cab ride.  That I drove most of the way though a fierce rainstorm only added to my misery.  I did enjoy the breaking dawn, stepping out to breath the new morning air, new light kissing the trees and sky. 

Why I know there were only five cabs working is because, curious, I called dispatch for the figure, and was told we had five cabs working a service area that could be the largest in the United States.  Yes, potentially the largest, because, as stated in the title, King County's total land (and water mass) is 2,307 square miles, or 5,980 square kilometers.  That it isn't possible for five cabs to serve such a large area is obvious but that's what has been happening weekend and after weekend night since the pandemic hit, a handful of taxis attempting the impossible, trying to serve all of the callers in a timely fashion. 

To put this in some kind of understandable perspective, I am listing land areas of some selected countries and American states to illustrate  how difficult a task we all faced during those often harrowing hours.  The European country of Liechtenstein is comprised of 61.78 square miles. Nearby Luxembourg is 998 square miles.  That Caribbean island, Barbados is 166.4 square miles.  And using two states as a measure, Rhode Island is 1, 214 square miles, while Delaware is a trifle larger than King County, with a total square mile area of 2, 489. 

 I ask you this.  Do you think these countries and states would only utilize five cabs to serve all their citizens and visitors during the nighttime hours?  I would say clearly not, so why in the world is Seattle Yellow Cab attempting what isn't possible to do or achieve? 

As I have repeated often in these pages, isn't that a good question when pondering head-scratching decisions made by those dictating taxi reality.  And you can believe that if I wasn't bringing up this issue  now, yelling out loud to gain everyone's attention, nothing, and I mean nothing would be done to address it, no one truly caring that passengers are waiting too long for their cab.   One customer I met started calling at 2:00 AM before I finally arrived at 5:00 AM, his persistence finally paying off.  Is this absolute nonsense?  Of course it is.  What would you think if it happened to you, what would be your response?

Some might respond that this issue is nothing new, problems with "passenger or bell coverage" commonplace and historical, but since the demise of the Yellow Cab (BYG Co-op), coverage issues have only worsened minus any step toward remedy.  Before the Uber/Lyft onslaught, Yellow had over 500 cabs providing 24/7 coverage, their "4 to 4"  day and night shifts guaranteeing you a cab where ever you might be calling from. 

Now with a paltry more or less 130 cabs working, with most of them operated by "single owners," zone coverage has dropped precipitously, most often due to drivers going home after 6-8:00 PM, especially Saturday and Sunday, leaving the Seattle and County poorly served until about 6:00 AM the following day.  But as I keep saying, since Yellow has traditionally been a 24 hour service company, people keep calling, expecting their cab to arrive just like they did ten years ago, most city-zones being 10-15 minute service areas.  And given that people will keep calling Yellow at all times of the day and night, is there a solution to the current lack of zone coverage during the "witching hours" of the now vacated weekend nights?

I say there is, and it's extremely simple, and it's merely providing a shift subsidy or credit to those willing to work the late weekend hours, say the period between 10:00 PM and 3:00 AM, a five hour-long slot now usually devoid of cabs.  Make the subsidy minimal, deducting $5.00 per worked hour from the owner's weekly dispatch fee during the already stated five-hour slot, adding up to a total reduction of $50.00 over the two-day period.  

I strongly feel there should be no objection to this kind of subsidy because it is the association's legal obligation to provide coverage for the company's customers, everyone hopefully remembering that Yellow (Puget Sound Dispatch) and the other taxi associations are regulated and licensed transportation companies, translating into quickly dispatching a cab to any person requesting one.  When the associations fail to do this, they are in violation of their licensing agreement and thus subject to penalty and even revocation of their business license. 

That the City and County cab regulators have been asleep at the taxi wheel is more than obvious, failing to protect the customer public from poorly performing associations.  This kind of governmental malfeasance clearly needs to end and end now.  It is time for City and County regulators to loudly state to everyone involved: the single owners, the associations, the dispatch companies that you must do what you are licensed to do---pick up the passengers, damn it, and quit making excuses. 

Now that I have brought this important issue to everyone's attention, what will all of you do to make sure passengers will longer wait one to two to three hours for the cab to arrive?   Making people wait for long periods in the cold and rain is not just immoral, it's criminal.  

I can only hope that in the next few weeks I will be able to report a substantial uptick in late weekend cab coverage.  As I said, it needs to happen and it needs to happen now.  No excuses! 

  

The Not-So-Hidden Secret Behind The Awful Driving Conditions In The Marysville To Olympia I-5 Corridor And Why It Remains Incredibly Dangerous & Health Update Upon Superintendent Jerry

That it might be subjective as to why driving on the Seattle and area I-5 Corridor is more hazardous the past year, one aspect of the local driving experience is abundantly clear---driver patience is shorter while speeds are faster---a frustrating combination endangering everyone driving down the highway.  Locally this means that nearly 95 % of the drivers are ignoring the posted 60 MPH speed limit within the Marysville to Olympia corridor regardless of time of day, traffic and weather conditions wet, snowy or dry.  

The not-so-hidden secret is the tacit permission given by Governor Inslee and the Washington State Patrol allowing  everyone to speed 5-10 MPH over the speed limit minus fear of being pulled over and cited, an equation forcing anyone following the speed limit to fear for their lives, the speeding drivers unthinkingly pushing, pushing the cars in front of them forward, disregarding consequence and safety.  60 MPH it seems then never good enough, driver after driver jockeying for space and advantage, a vehicular steeplechase down the I-5 roadway, the drivers racing to who knows where but clearly none of them caring as long as they are the first to arrive, never for once considering the inherent risk they have been taking to achieve little to nothing consequential.     

Why State of Washington leadership condones this is something you might ask them because it makes little sense allowing this kind of recklessness to continue flourishing, a new kind of cultural madness infecting the general population.  Turn on the traffic reports and listen to the constant reporting of car accidents blocking the roadways, causing injury and delays.  Upon any day, any hour I find myself passing "bumper to bumper" accidents pulled over to the roadside, tailgating and failing to maintain correct following distances a constant and ever reoccurring reality, drivers forever disregarding commonsense and basic "rules of the road."

For an easy experiment proving my point, drive to a position on I-5 to where you find yourself centered between two groups of drivers, all the while maintaining a steady 60 MPH.  Watch in your rearview mirror the rapidly approaching cars bearing down upon you, quickly engulfing you in a wave of cars exceeding 70-80 MPH zipping by, leaving you far behind.  Like the ocean's tidal current, you will find this repeated mile after mile, metallic waves rolling past in a sea of gasoline-propelled fury.  

Will they ever slow down, you ask?  And the answer clearly is no, nothing impeding this runaway mob taking over the roadway.  Watch as they fly past the parked WA State Patrol cars waiting for bigger targets, 70 MPH not warranting much notice.  If the police won't intercede, who will, stopping a rioting clear to see?   

I don't know the answer, only knowing it would be better if everyone slowed down and maintained safe following distances and practices. Are these drivers stupid?  Yes they are.  Are these drivers insane?  Yes they are.  Do they care about you and me?  No, not at all.  Will they kill you and me and themselves minus hesitation?  Yes, of course, they will.

And meeting them at Heaven's Gate, ask them why they killed you.  You might find their reply interesting.

A Superintendent's Illness

Some of you might have noticed Jerry's recent absence from the office, and wondered, like I did, where he had gone.  The sad explanation is that he had a stroke and was hospitalized for nearly a week.  Thankfully the attack was relatively mild but symptoms unfortunately remain, his brain still recovering from the neurological trauma.  I know all this because he was my passenger this afternoon, by chance picking him up after a doctor's appointment.  Say a prayer for our longtime Yellow Cab superintendent and taxi buddy, returning the good support Jerry has gracefully extended to us over the decades. Best wishes, Jerry, and get well soon!  

RIP Melody

Just found out that my friend and fellow writer Melody A. died after her long extended illness.  Melody wrote the jacket comments on my last book.  Goodbye Melody, it was good to know you!

 

  

"You Are So Smart! Why Are You Driving A Cab?" & He Said The FBI Was Paying His Fare & A Quick Report Concerning The War In Tigray, Ethiopia & Seattle & King & County's TRIP Initiative & Taxi Social Anthropology: Entering Bill's World & Brit Uber Drivers Win In UK Supreme Court

A Too Typical Sentiment Espoused By The Uninformed 

She was a true "country bumpkin," as the saying goes, "just off the turnip truck," her remark meant as a compliment but of course her unintended insult reflecting an attitude held by many---taxi a menial  occupation anyone can do, and if intelligent or capable, why demean yourself when you could be doing anything else but this worst possible?  Yes stupid and unsophisticated but why would I expect anyone to understand the obvious when interpreting the simplest equation is, for most homo sapiens, a  mountain too high to summit when enjoying the scenery the usual and best expected outcome.  

Do I expect comprehension?  No.  And the reason is ingrained bias learnt when the individual wasn't looking, instead walking into a darkened room and staying there until the inevitable funeral.  

Hey, you say, it really can't be that dismal but of course it is, providing us the world we all know too well, an existence composed of dead-ends, deadbeats and the hollowed-out thinking of modern zombies never considering what could be, should be, and is.  

Did I find her a fool?  No, only deficient and misguided, confused from her earliest beginnings to "I don't know what I am saying but forgive me anyway, meaning no harm, despite the damage I am really quite friendly." In that I take solace, forgiving the dog's fangs or the cat's claws understanding one's nature is natural when a bump upon the head your first nursery lesson.  

And why be angry with God's misbegotten?  A good question I am sure better answered by someone else at a different moment upon another day better than this, a day less deflated, less broken.

Why the FBI?

God I was tired, explaining why I didn't stop immediately when the guy told me he was going to the FBI Building, especially at midnight.  Once I got on the freeway I asked, "How are you paying for the cab?" and he said, "the Federal Bureau of Investigation is paying."  Oh god! again, how could I have been this stupid, telling him it was all a fantasy and how I resented him including me in it, that he was wasting my time and  quickly exited the freeway, all the while he insisting I would get paid.  Goodbye, goodbye! my parting comment to someone I should have left at the curbside waiting for J. Edgar Hoover.  

Massacre in Tigray 

Since the vast majority of Seattle cabbies are either from Ethiopia or other Horn of Africa countries, I feel a short report on the civil conflict in the Tigray region would be of interest, both to those from Ethiopia and to others interested in current world events and wars.  In late November, in the Holy City of Axum (Aksum), forces from neighboring Eritrea and rival ethnic Amhara militias murdered over 800 Axum residents in and near the Church of Saint Mary of Zion.  Axum is the reputed birthplace of the Old Testament Bible's Queen of Sheba. It is reported the streets were covered with blood from the many victims.  Most were buried in mass graves.

Earlier in November, there was a massacre in the city of Mai-Kadra, this one conducted by Tigray forces. More about all this at a later date.

It's a TRIP but where is the City and County taking us?

The City of Seattle and King County have been making announcements about their new plans about for-hire renewals and, I think, new regulatory patterns for Seattle's taxi industry.  What will really end up occurring I don't know but as I've have been telling them, they need to gain control of how local taxi associations function in order to protect taxi customers from the sometimes awful service they receive.  Everyday I find customers who have been waiting far too long in the cold and rain for the late arriving cab.  Especially on Saturday and Sunday nights I find myself getting "no-show" after "no-show" because the customer found another way to their destination.  Who wants to wait 50-60 minutes or more for their cab?  No one is the obvious answer.

Bill from the VA Hospital

The first "belled-in" Yellow Cab driver failed to get out of his cab and enter the lobby where Bill was waiting.  A second call got me there and I DID get out and search for Bill.  Finding him waiting in a wheelchair, no shoes, only wearing socks, I got him into the cab.  Bill was an older African-American man going back to his White Center apartment.  He didn't have his wallet and he didn't have his keys but we got into his building anyway and his unlocked 3rd floor apartment. 

Entering his overheated home, strewn with clothes and unwashed dishes, we made it to his bedroom and the hidden wallet, Bill giving me a twenty for my effort, me a quick witness to poverty and despair.  Where else would I get this kind of privilege, provided glimpses into the more intimate area of people's lives, allowed to take mental notes and photos?  

Thank you taxi, I think!

British Uber Not Happy

Uber has lost a big lawsuit in the English Courts, their highest court affirming that since Uber controls driver movements, the Uber operators must be treated in the same manner as regular employees.  It's a big deal and more on this next week when I am less tired.  Screw Uber!

 

  

Waiting Out The Snow & Uber Hires A Harsh Critic & Dispatching Part two

Snow Weakened by Rain 

Road conditions made the decision for me, late Saturday afternoon no fun at all, secondary roads and parking lots hellishly slippery.  With a Sunday forecast calling for rain, I stayed inside, hoping for nature's assistance in getting restarted and answering all the inevitable waiting bells.  But stepping out Sunday morning telling me me I was a day away from any kind of sane and safe roadways, radio reports of area accidents and traffic tie-ups not at all reassuring that the weather nightmare would soon be ended, Monday morning seemingly the better choice.  At one point, up to 170 Metro (Seattle & King County) buses were stuck in the snow, the storm moving faster than the road crews.

And during late Sunday night, rain did arrive, along with higher temperatures, loosening the storm's frigid grip upon the city, and most important to me, providing the hope I could release my cab from its snowy carapace, allowing an escape to a more drier roadway.  Monday morning, finding YC 1092 hemmed in by a snowplow created icy barricade,  I thought it would be a difficult struggle freeing the cab but I was wrong, the Crown Vic's powerful V-8 engine conquering nature's snowy impasse, up and through we went to firmer blacktop taking me to Rainer Avenue South.  I was free! free again to to slip and slide, a snowy defiance lasting a couple more days, keeping me aware trouble was a only quick moment away, telling me to stay alert to all possibilities. 

Uber Hires its Enemy

In a recent Bloomberg News article reported by Brody Ford, Uber hired Alex Rosenblat, author of the 2018 book, "Uberland, How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work" to facilitate driver relations.  Admittedly I haven't read the tome but viewing her picture tells me they probably hired the correct person to "window dress" their underlying criminal agenda.  Hey Uber! I'm a well known ride-share critic, at least here in Seattle, hire me and see what happens?  Ha Ha Ha!  Do I have a bad attitude?  You bet I do, knowing full well the kind of predators occupying the Uber zoo!  Will they bite?  Hell yes, they will kill you minus hesitation. 

More Computer Dispatching

I feel it necessary and helpful to describe more fully the positives offered by dispatching taxis through the magic that is, because, if done properly, it truly speeds up the cab to passenger process.  When it doesn't, the onus falls upon human, not technological, failure.  Here are some examples of what our current MTI computer system does well:

---Instantly putting the call into the taxi biosphere, allowing for fast acceptance and pick-up.

---Offering the call to the closest cab though Mr/Ms/Miss MTI not always understanding there is a lake or a salty bay in the way.  I wonder if its possible to program more geographical information into the computer's brain, eliminating this kind of error.  

---Making all account info automatic, eliminating paper vouchers, registering payment into individual driver accounts.

---Permanent tracking record of driver routing, especially important when the driver is in danger.  It also can reveal driver misbehavior, which is, depending upon the viewpoint, both good and bad. 

---Telling the passenger the name and cab number of the cabbie servicing their call.

---The app showing location of the belled-in cab, providing a realtime view of the arriving cab.

---Allowing for "forward plotting" into another zone.  This is a great feature, in voice terms it would be called "throwing your peg" into another part of the city.  The peg was part of a voice dispatcher's peg board, the instrument used to keep track of all the cabs operating at that moment.  If the cabbie was on break, your peg would be "twisted."

Now that's pretty much how it works, the one thing missing from the old voice days is the dispatcher's discretion in rewarding cabbies for good work done, like serving that long waiting grocery run or delivering a rush package.  Voice had lots of good and take, and the smart, hard working cabbie made lots of money, the dispatching anointing the driver's fevered brow.

Bad Cabbies playing in the Snow

I've gotten reports from passengers of cabbies over charging customers during the snow days.  Not nice to do that, no, not at all.

 

    

  

Snow! & The Positive And Negatives Of A Computer-Based Dispatching System

Six Inches Plus Snow in Seattle 

My cab YC 1092 lies buried in deep snow, a result of a furious, quick moving snowstorm coming in Friday night and early Saturday morning, inundating the city with 6-12 inches depending upon your location.  In Chinatown, my personal car had a measurable 10 inches accumulated upon the rooftop. Driving out to the parked cab, I decided it far wiser to do anything but drive a cab, the roads remaining hazardous, and what I saw exhibited by fellow Seattle drivers, scaring me to "No, I won't do this."  Tomorrow might be better so I'll try again, passengers needing cabs regardless of weather and road conditions.  I did see a small snowman.  Hey Frosty, where ya going with that shovel in your hand?

A Story History of Local Taxi Dispatching 

Given my over three-decade involvement in the taxi industry, it has provided me a literal "birds-eye-view" of how taxis are dispatched to their customers.  At least in relation to this subject, I have the idiomatic "eyes of a hawk" and the "wisdom of an owl," having taken thousands upon thousands of dispatched fares.  It is has been a long study, and since my very income depends upon my overall knowledge, I've paid great attention to this ongoing tutorial in receiving and accepting fares, what's good, what's bad and what is merely indifferent.  My motive for this brief overview is my most recent professional interaction with a foreign callcenter working with a type of client totally new to them: a large urban American taxicab fleet in a completely unfamiliar city.  But before examining that situation and taxi computer dispatching in general, I think an introduction of the now past world of voice-based dispatch would be especially helpful to those new to this perhaps arcane subject. The industrial world comprising taxi may seem simple to some though clearly to those long associated it isn't, instead a complexity confounding to many, a conundrum never solved but in moments, enjoyed.

If voice dispatching was a symphony, its composition certainly more Igor Stravinsky than Wolfgang Mozart, more atonal than melodic though the harmony achieved between dispatcher and cabbie sometimes beautiful, a tone poem combining addressing and purpose.  And the veteran dispatcher, always a retired cabbie, was truly a fierce yet kind conductor, wielding a supreme power over your personal destiny.  One sour note, and the dispatcher knew, amending error with a flick of his verbal baton.  Like a real symphony, every player knew their role, and at its best, indeed it was harmonious---dispatcher, cabbie, passenger reaching an apogee of efficient agreement.  It was beautiful, it was profitable when everyone, regardless of pitch, sang a taxi song in choral unison. 

Why then did it disappear, only to replaced by the siren song of technological innovation, singing to the greed synonymous with the taxi industry, saying "no salaries, little overhead, no heath insurance;" only blinking lights lighting up the interior of the cab.  Yes, there was the allure of a new kind of efficiency, and certainly with PSD/Yellow's new MTI system, you remove some trouble, the paperless account system wonderful, eliminating the paper vouchers, and as in the old voice days, not having to write down a series of numbers and names and addresses yelled at you while you're flying down the freeway at 70 MPH.

The very best element of voice was the keeping track of the bells (calls), assuring the customer was served in a timely manner.  The worse of computer dispatching, especially when utilizing a taxi inexperienced callcenter based thousands of miles away, is that calls get lost, which means too often a very tardy response time, along with the foul temptation chosen by too many cabbies of ignoring the waiting passenger altogether, resulting in unnecessary pain and suffering.   

Admittedly, these kinds of issues not the fault of the computer dispatch system itself, only of approach and managing style, the human element slowing down the machine but if the computer could respond to verbal messaging, the customer telling the computer "I need a cab at 11111 8the Avenue Northwest in 30 minutes," and instantly saved and relayed correctly, I think we would see a many times improvement in service, eliminating many mistakes. The taxi-app now in usage in many ways achieves this end, which I suppose could or will lead to the kind of system I'm suggesting.

I say all this because its obvious there is no going back to voice dispatching, the computer our new workable model taking us into the future.  If we can now only eliminate human error, both callcenter operator and cabbie, our taxi world will indeed run smoothy propelled by our electronic friend.  If only us humans would get out of the way, our world will be a New Heaven and the Computer our Benevolent Master.  Hail the New Authority! Hail the Taxi Caesar! all roads leading to our New Rome!

 

Witnessing Mark's Nightmare & Frantically Waving At My Cab & Is Seattle's Cruise Ship Season On Hold For 2021? & I Just Can't Take Their $1.75 & Vaccinating NYC Cabbies At Yankee Stadium & The City Of Seattle Sez "We Can Drive 'Til We Drop Or Die!" & Thank You, Tbilisi!

 Witness to Horror

As will always be true, taxi driving is an instant insertion into another person's life, may it be five minutes or an hour, you are within inches of a living and breathing human being and their lifelong history good and bad.  In Mark's case, an impacted individual greeting me with two shopping carts filled with mouldering books and papers, bad has clearly been his prevalent theme for far too long, nothing short of a Roman Catholic saintly miracle changing a downward trajectory leading deeper to an already personal hell.  That it was raining only adding to a misery I'd rather not see but there I was, now a rented partner to Mark's living and awake nightmare, over and over Mark repeating "I was drafted to Vietnam," and I believe that must be true, his time in the military assisting his now obvious lunacy.  

Taking him to a sorry Highway 99 motel in Edmonds, I assisted unloading the broken boxes and deteriorating whatnot from the my overstuffed cab up one flight of stairs to his overpriced room. Up and down, up and down, sorry to see and glad to leave a deranged reality I could do nothing to change nor alter, witnessing a tragedy wrote large upon Mark's face.

Waiting in the Rain and Cold for 40 minutes

I wasn't even working but on my way to to check out some free used tires, the eighty-plus year old woman waved at my cab, clearly a elderly damsel in distress.  "No, I'm not your cab," I said, "but I'll take you. Hop in."  Yes, she was waiting for a Seattle Yellow Cab that never came, with no guarantee that it would. A couple days ago a passenger told me he called for a Yellow Cab from the 7-11 at 73rd and Aurora North at 6:00 PM Friday.  An hour later he gave up, after repeatedly being told by dispatch they were "searching" for a cab to pick him up. Searching?    

Very early Monday morning Dispatch twice gave me misaddressed calls.  601 1st Ave actually was 601 1st Ave North, a good mile away.  And 1411 15th Ave turned out to be 1411 15th Ave South.  I left a not completely nice message for the PSD GM, asking what was he going to do about all this, while also saying I knew nothing was the answer.  What am I supposed to do instead, congratulate everyone for a bad job done?  I was also given a fare in the 150 minus an address, the job info only containing the name of a building. 

Intervention, be it from Heaven or the City and County, needs to occur.  Why must our customers continue suffering from both dysfunctional drivers and management?  Good question, ain't it?  

Bad Canada!

The Canadian government just announced, due to the coronavirus pandemic, that it would not allow Alaska-bound cruise ships to pass through Canadian waters, essentially sinking the 2021 cruise season.  Is this logical?  If the ships are not stopping at Canadian ports-of-call, how are the cruise lines endangering Canada?  Another good question, ain't it?

MV/First Transit Fee

In addition to the fare, the MV/1st Transit/Access Van client must also provide the cabbie $1.75.  That this request is an unnecessary hardship for the impoverished ridership is not lost upon me, prompting me to refuse this meager sum from those living on very limited incomes.  I encourage all of my taxi brethren to do the same, refusing the money.  You don't need it and neither do I.  Be moral, be good like I know you should!

Famous in a Ballpark

Yankee Stadium is well known for hosting famous rock & roll bands.  Now it is equally famous for hosting COVID-19 vaccinations for Bronx-area cabbies. Rock on!

What is the City and County thinking?

PSD were shutting down the WAT (wheelchair drivers) after the legal limit of 10 working hours but no, after complaining to the powers that be, they made PSD reverse its mandate.  Doesn't the City & County now realize that if a WAT driver is involved in a serious accident after exceeding the legal hourly limit,  they could be named as a responsible party in any ensuing lawsuit?  Amazing!

Tbilisi, Capital of Georgia

Yes, I have readership in that western intersection of Europe and Asia, Tbilisi.  Thank you very much!