Do Not, I repeat, Do Not Spend Ten Thousand Dollars for a City of Seattle Taxi Medallion!
I found out today that the owner of multiple Seattle taxi medallions sold a medallion for $10,000. As most know, these days, Seattle taxi medallions are essentially worthless. I sold my City 1092 medallion for $1000.00, basically giving it away to someone who really needed it. Why then was some willing to pay so much for the medallion, committing themselves to $500.00 monthly payments for the next 20 months? Because the desperate soul found himself banned from both Uber and Lyft. More on that later but it exemplifies the unholy power Uber and Lyft hold over their so-called independent operators. They have the ability to destroy lives. And do they care about consequences affecting a dismissed driver and their family? No, they don't, and don't believe it when they say they do, "crocodile tears" streaming from their TNC eyes.
The problem with anyone newly committing themselves to driving taxi in Seattle today is that the local industry is moribund, unviable, a sinkhole collapsing upon itself. The big money making opportunities are gone expect when working events like big-name concerts and Seahawk NFL football games. All the big money-making accounts are either dead or so diminished that it makes little sense to work them. The easy days of averaging $30-40.00 per day are long gone, leaving today's Seattle taxi operator with what?--- unending big expenses the sad answer.
What are taxi expenses compared to Uber and Lyft? Taxi insurance is going to cost you $5000.00 per year compared to $1400.00 to $2000.00 annually for Uber and Lyft That makes insurance your only real TNC upfront cost other than your monthly telephone bill. While yes, TNC dispatch takes out about 40% out of each fare, it is nothing compared to the $195.00 Seattle Yellow (Puget Sound Dispatch) asks for each week. From my experience, Uber is so busy, allowing you to make $300-500.00 daily translating into you not caring how much money is extracted from each fare. Who cares? In Seattle, the "fat and sassy" TNC driver has no need to care.
As I have written before, the average Seattle cabbie must make $18,000 before they make a penny for themselves, taking 3-4 months to earn it. All those hours, all that real sweat and blood expired on the taxi road. As for the guy paying $500.00 monthly installments for this new medallion, add $6,000 to that $18,000 for the first year, adding up to $24,000. The second year, it will be $22,000 before he has earned a dime. Painful. Awful.
Also not to be forgotten is the $1000. plus to paint the car yellow, that's if he has one to paint. Otherwise, he is looking at buying a car for between $12,000-20,000. Then of course there is the yearly maintenance like tires and monthly oil changes. All this for the privilege of working yourself to death. Anyone thinking this is funny is morbid. This is nothing but death while breathing. There is no other good way to describe it. You are a dead man driving in your own motorized yellow coffin. Your ignorance is your eulogy.
What I am saying is that the exploitation of the Seattle cab driver must end, including the complicity of the drivers themselves. Over the decades that I have been a part of this industry, company owners have often been too ruthless in their treatment of the drivers, viewing them as so many easily replaceable parts. This appears to be driven home once again by Puget Sound Dispatch's attitude stating that making money is our only goal, operator well-being simply not a priority.
All of this is given a "blind eye" by a very theoretical Seattle and King County taxi regulatory leadership. How can anyone condone the expenses associated with cab ownership? I've stated this before that all this is immoral. Sitting twelve hours piloting a cab through Seattle's traffic is no fun. Try it for one shift and you will agree. This is not a good way to earn a living. Again, death is upon your lips, death your mascot, death your unwanted friend.
Is There Anyone I Can Talk To?
A friend's recent ordeal of being suspended from Uber says everything bad about their communication and methodology. The messaging told him he didn't have his required TNC for-hire permit. The problem was, he had done everything he was supposed to, and for some unknown reason, Uber hadn't forwarded his information to King County. He was blamed, made responsible for something not his responsibility. He was also temporarily knocked off the Lyft platform because they hadn't received his DDC defensive driving test results, not realizing they were not automatically sent to both companies. Not very computer savvy, he had difficulty reaching Uber's callcenter, and when he did, he was told that his van was no longer eligible, that he needed a EV to continue driving Uber. Of course this wasn't true. What kind of real regulatory oversight is provided by the City of Seattle and King County. None whatsoever is the real answer. Get banned by Uber because a passenger said you winked at her? Just the way it is, buddy, you're burnt toast.
But Joe, We Already Have that Step-By-Step Website
I wrote to my favorite King County (truly a nice guy) regulator telling him that a very detailed TNC "how to apply" website is necessary. A major reason why my friend encountered so many bureaucratic obstacles is because he didn't know how to start, and when he did, he took some wrong turns. I checked out their website and was not impressed, KC making assumptions the applicants knew what they were doing. Anyone long associated with the cab industry knows that's a false postulation. Instead, thinking that the individual knows little to nothing is a more correct stance.
Beginning with the title, it should be some like "SO YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING AN UBER OR LYFT DRIVER?" Ask any any Uber driver what the acronym TNC stands for, and I bet the vast majority won't know. "Spoon feeding" the applicant the necessary information is the only way to avoid confusion.
Not only does the County need to be clear how the TNC/ride-share for-hire process works, the County needs to follow the process from beginning to end, concluding with the operator being issued their for-hire along with a car decal. In my roughly one-year-long association with Uber, nothing is what I received.
The more specifics the better. Write the website in a way acknowledging that the applicant has been in the USA for abut twenty minutes. Communicate in the simplest terms. Then, and only then, will the applicant understand. And even then, he or she might require assistance.
Ending on a Softer Note
In the February 25th New York Times "Metropolitan Diary," a reader says he grabbed a cab from East Harlem to the Upper West Side, during which the cabbie said this was his last fare. The passenger thought he meant it was his final ride of the day but "No, you don't understand. You are not my last fare for the day. You are my last fare forever." Turns out the cabbie had been driving for 45 years in New York City and this indeed was his last fare. Hopefully the passenger gave him a good tip, like say a million dollars. That would be about right, after all those painful years. But this is really like cab driving as it truly is. The guy could have been the best cabbie New York City had ever known but his exit causing no fanfare or celebration. Nothing was noted, nothing was said except this chance encounter very accidentally pointed out. Just like taxi as I know and hate it. Good luck, sucker!
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