Times They Ain't A' Changing, At Least Not Yet
I never want to say never but for the taxi moment, clearly upon my return last Thursday, nothing, as near and far as I can see, has changed in the world that is Seattle and Seattle taxi. The roads remain clogged. The majority of the Seattle's drivers remain clueless, acting like it is their first moment behind the wheel. And some passengers that can be categorized as from lower socioeconomic/cultural classes continue to display poor communication skills.
It is also true that too many passengers are still waiting up to two hours for their cabs to arrive, Yellow's Philippine-based dispatch callcenter's continued poor monitoring of waiting fares creating long waits and no-shows. And all this happened over a four day span.
Business however remains good, and one might comment, too good for the number of working cabs out there. In short, I can now report on Election Day, November 8th, 2022, that the chaos that is driving cab in Seattle remains constant. Don't we all love consistency? Shall we laugh or cry or commit suicide and die? No, don't do that. Instead smile and the world will smile with you; yes smile like a hungry crocodile disguising any murderous guile, knowing that life is hard and a daily trial, taxi eventually making it through the difficult mile. One can hope on a nearly full moon night!
Uber Keeps Bleeding Money
Uber's Third quarterly revenue increased while at the same time reporting a net loss of 1.3 billion dollars. In the second quarter Uber loss 2 billion dollars. Will they ever make a profit?
Uber and Taxi Suddenly Kissing Cousins?
In a conversation with PSD's (Seattle Yellow Cab) General Manager, he told me, having just come back from a national taxicab convention in Las Vegas (Sin City), Nevada, that a major topic of discussion was building a kind of business cooperation with Uber, aligning themselves with the very company that nearly destroyed the American taxicab industry. Sounds like a big mistake to me. And it makes me think of a comparison with current rhetoric spouted by Republican GOP politicians concerning abortion, stating that if a woman is raped and impregnated, she must give birth to the child regardless of any and all consequences.
In that sense, one might say that Uber raped the the world's taxi industry, and now some in the industry want to hold hands with the rapist, giving birth to a new collaboration. Obscene is my response. Instead, arrest Uber for the criminal company it is and kick their ass straight into an awaiting prison cell. What are people thinking!
The Seattle Times Sunday Pacific NW magazine, November , 6th, 2022 edition
In the final two pages of the magazine this past Sunday, in the "Now & Then" weekly feature, is a picture of a Seattle cab driver from 1921 standing in front of his cab, a 1917 Studebaker. It is a great photograph and I encourage everyone to search it out. The guy is well dressed in clothes of the era, his head topped by a wonderful black fedora. He is wearing a buttoned down white shirt. The car is an open-air sedan. Must have been fun riding in it on a rainy Seattle day! But I don't like the cabbie's expression. I wouldn't want to get into his cab!
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