No One at the City of Seattle, King County and the Port of Seattle Seems to Care
It is past stupid, past commonsense, it all becoming completely farcical, this lack of cabs in Seattle and King County. After arriving back from my car trip I was instantly inundated with more fares than I or Yellow Cab could deal with. My first day back, on a Wednesday, along with a varied assortment of fares, I had two Sea-Tac runs along with an account fare to Olympia, Washington. It was crazy busy.
Friday night I went to Parkland, Washington, home of Pacific Lutheran University SE of Tacoma. Passengers were waiting one hour, two hours and more all over the city and county. I keep writing to the regulators at Seattle and King County, pleading for intervention but nothing, I get nothing in response from those in theory providing oversight for our local taxi industry.
And with the onset of the baseball and Alaska cruise ship seasons, along with the return of the Victoria Clipper, the demand for cabs will be hitting the taxi roof. Three out of the five days I worked, I stayed out deep into the night. I could have stayed out until the morning light and made even more than I did, but I'm getting too old for this nonsense, I really am. I can't save the Seattle taxi world all by myself. Two days off and I remain exhausted. You call this fun? Well, fun it isn't, no, not at all.
And making it far worse is that the regulators are allowing cabs to drive minus association affiliation. Yes, you read me correctly, drivers are not paying association fees but are still permitted to to take passengers even though there exists no official accountability if something truly bad occurs like a serious accident or a driver assaults a customer. The City and County and Port are letting any driver who wants to to become a kind of taxi free agent, unaffiliated and unconstrained and free to operate in any manner they wish to or not.
What we are seeing locally is a season of anarchy where almost literally anything is okay while the Neros at the City and County and Port watch it all burn, the flames reaching higher and higher, smoke engulfing the taxi sky. It isn't poetic; instead they are overseeing an avoidable tragedy of their own construction. Will this column get their attention? I can guarantee right now that it won't. Why care or do anything when they themselves will not be held responsible for the situation, instead collecting their paychecks on the way to a pension-funded life in retirement. This is not cynicism. This is the operational reality. And it won't be changing anytime soon.
Gasoline Prices I Encountered During my 10-day Drive
With everyone screaming about the cost of gasoline, I found a vast range of prices throughout Washington, Oregon and northern California. Gassing up twice in Washington, I paid $4.03.9 leaving and $4.08.9 coming back.
In Oregon the prices ranged from $4.15.9 to 4.75.9 depending from where I was, central Oregon along I-5 the cheapest. I filled up twice at $4.29.9 per gallon.
California was higher, finding myself paying $5.69.9 per gallon but I did find a station on the east side of Redding on StateHighway 299 that was $5.00.9. Not cheap but certainly better than any other station I saw along 299. My 2012 Chevy Sonic is now getting about 40 miles per gallon, down from the amazing 50 MPG I got for years but "Taco" is getting a little tired so no complaints one way or the other.
Yellow/MV Truce
Just as I thought, Puget Sound Dispatch and MV are working through their differences, and it looks like Yellow will remain the prime Metro Access provider. PSD agreed to keep servicing April while negotiations continue. The sticking point, MV fines, will be capped to a certain point and nothing beyond. Sounds like compromise in action, which is a good route to take for everyone. MV does offer some very good fares, so all this is very positive for both the cabbies and MV passengers. May peace progress though the year, commonsense wining the taxi day.
Gofundme Site For Stacy Anderson
Stacy Anderson, a long time cabbie, cab owner and Seattle Yellow Cab dispatcher is now in hospice from a rapidly spreading cancer. I am requesting donations to give Stacy the proper sendoff into the eternal that he deserves. I have always personally thought of Stacy as "King of the Cabs" due to his comprehensive knowledge of Seattle and Portland streets. There is no one else like Stacy, his font of knowledge disappearing with him. Chris Van Dyk and I both agree that a toplight shaped headstone would be a great memorial for Stacy, taxi royalty if there was one, warranting a twenty-one taxi horn salute.
Stacy's story is typical of taxi and its disputed legacy. You can be one of the America's greatest cab driver yet remain utterly unknown, Stacy's skillset worthy of a New York Times obituary but he isn't gonna get one. That is why it is important to donate for Stacy's funeral and whatever else we can afford. In Stacy's passing we can celebrate a cabbie's life well lived, a final salute, as I said, a last honking of taxi horns. Beep! Beep! move it, will ya, Stacy is coming up Heaven's way!
https://www.gofundme.com/a-cancer-stricken-stacy-anderson-needs-your-help
As long as City & County officials keep perpetually holding medallion licenses on the shelf for drivers who have long quit and likely to never come back, this situation doesn't change at all. Whether it be trucking, Uber, completely different businesses of different industries, or going to learn a new trade or skill at a college, these old full-timers are gone & likely never to be seen again. And forget about the old daytime and night-shift driver schedule. Each license lucky to have even 1 driver actively working on it.
ReplyDeleteYou may only be assuming there is a severe shortage while working in the evenings, when all have gone home already. And for good reason, as all the street traffic on most nights has completely dried up. No one under 30 or 40, when seeing a cab parked even right next to them, chooses that over fumbling and playing with their phone so they can stand out in the cold for another 15 minutes waiting for their Uber or Lyft.
Sadly, this is a gigantic problem even a competent, hard-working group of City & County taxi officials cannot solve. And PSD doesn't help when they are still keeping 2 hour old calls up on their dispatch board, and even offering them as new calls to drivers. Who would want to stay out all night chasing ghosts like that?!
And how is there a shortage of drivers when there are 270 cabs constantly sitting and waiting on rides at Seatac, all while watching wave after wave of braindead passengers shuttle into Uber's and Lyft's luke cattle for even higher ratee?!
ReplyDeleteThat sucks
ReplyDelete