This Is My 801st Posting
Last week was my 800th post, certainly a personal milestone, and perhaps a milestone in the history of cab driving, a subject not merely ignored but something not even considered, delegated to the cultural sewer, flushed directly down organized society's toilet. Having begun over twelve years ago in 2011, my intention was to give voice not only to the overall experience that is taxi driving but also to a credible history, one that, too obviously to me, going unnoticed and unrecognized.
Scrolling through all these weekly columns, I believe you will find what was once an invisible history now revealed, made available to anyone who might be interested, "RealSeattleTaxi" a minute examination of what it means to drive "beneath the toplight," highlighting both its terrors and glories. Welcome, I say, to a world within a world I have intimately known since my innocent and very unintentional introduction to cab way back in September 1987. Who wanted to be a cab driver? Not me.
Good or bad, up or down, taxi is an unique environment, truly a microscopic examination of a universal human behavior, cab driving then more than just mere transportation, in real terms a kind of mobile laboratory exploring all aspects of our shared existence. Given that reality, much of what can be found in these many lines scribbled over the years both appalling and exhilarating, and ultimately, as I have found taxi to be, exhausting, not consoling nor restful.
But I do assure you, everything published over these past years is the truth, and if the truth, as is said, setting you free, these assorted posts present you the reader an escape from the bondage of the ordinary to the freedom and bedlam that is, and always will be, taxi, life at its worst, and best. Having written it myself, never a truer statement ever made, taxi down and dirty and certainly, rarely pretty.
Lyft Said It Was An Unintentional Mistake---RCW 49.46.300
The WA State Department of Labor and Industry found that Lyft underpaid 15,271 drivers by a quarter (1/4) of one cent for each minute and mile of their trips. A Lyft self-audit determined that $193,000 (actual $192,991.30) was the amount owed and repaid to the drivers. What does that amount to for each driver? A more or less $12.00. Let everyone head off to Starbuck's and get one of those overpriced coffees. Hurrah!
Yes, Madness Upon State of Washington Streets and Roads
Mayhem and chaos remain the prevailing theme these days upon Seattle and Washington streets. Sunday night, a driver proceeding the wrong way down Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle refused to stop and turn around, continuing forward despite common sense. This kind of idiocy illustrates why 745 people died in 2022 in car accidents in our Evergreen State. A few days ago, six passengers were killed in Tacoma in a 2-car accident. Those killed were 6 of 7 passengers riding in 2021 Kia Forte designed for only five passengers, yet another example of stupid irresponsible behavior, all the fatalities dumbbell kids.
Everyday I am witness to potentially fatal actions on local roadways. When will it ever end? According to some, when all of us are being driven around in robotic cars but if you believe that then back in 1968 you would have bought a used car from Richard Nixon, definitely not a good idea, not a trustworthy purchase. But unbelievably 31,004,304 voted for the lemon that was Mister Nixon. We can thank Nixon for the subcompact Henry Kissinger driving the USA to the car wreck that was the conclusion of the Vietnam War.
Can't Make it to the Mountains, Beavers and Owls are Waiting for you in Seattle
As I have encouraged everyone to get out into the wilderness, Seattle itself has a bit of the wild to entertain you, last week coming across two beavers chewing branches in Carkeek Park ( located off of 117th & NW 3rd), and three big Great Horned Owls roosting in Llandover Woods, 143rd and NW 3rd. Get out and hug a tree, you'll be healthier for it. Park that cab, quit squawking, start walking!
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