MV Contract with King County Metro: Confusion or Dishonesty
Before I go any further explaining problems King County and others are having with the transportation provider known as MV, here is a statement taken from their website, calling it their "MV Vision,"
"We will deliver the best customer experience with industry leading safety, reliability, and innovation."
If this statement was completely true, there would be no problems but sometimes, words are merely that, words minus real action and intent. MV has been found deficient recently in two areas: timely payment to KC Metro approved transportation vendors, and not paying drivers for total miles driven. I have been told that King County officials were not happy upon finding these allegations to be totally true, demanding explanation. MV, as the report goes, was contrite. One vendor is requesting that MV utilize Google Map Miles when making milage estimations and determinations.
Toward the end of my Seattle Yellow Cab driving, I had stopped serving the MV account, finding them arrogant and unresponsive. That might be because MV is the largest privately-owned passenger transportation contracting firm in the entire USA. They annually transport 110 million passengers in 30 states and Canada. In 2022, they reported 1.3 billion dollars in annual revenue. Has all this success inflated the corporate heads, like Seattle's local Boeing Aircraft Company? I believe it has but given that MV is much smaller, and King County is the USA's largest county, they might be more accountable in the future. A major reason all this became an issue was MV's unforgivable behavior, inexplicably not paying a small transportation provider for three connective months. It was irresponsible. MV must do better.
Uber and Lyft Drivers: Write down this information
A few days ago, I talked on the telephone to Gloria from the TNC Driver Union. Yes, she said, there has been an uptick in bogus complaints directed toward black African drivers. The Union is trying to stop this behavior. They are there to help you but many of the drivers have no clue how to contact them. Here is what you need. Write it down.
There is a TNC Driver Resolution Center. Go to the L&I webpage: Resource Center and Deactivations (wa.org)
support@driversunionwa.org Call: 206-812-0829. Website: www.driversunionwa.org
Uber and Lyft are now both overly reactive when addressing what might be considered "offensive sexual" complaints, including asking a passenger out for a date. Protect yourself. I recommend that you have an audio recorder on when transporting any solo female passengers. Put a sticker on the window stating that "all fares are recorded." You must protect yourself. As a cabbie I was accused of everything beneath the toplight short of murder. Nasty passengers make stories up to attack you. It is an never ending reality associated with transporting strangers. Not only can it happen, it will happen.
Another Positive Taxi Tale from the NY Times Metropolitan Diary, April 7th, 2024 Edition
"The Pearl Fishers"
Dear Diary,
I am 84 and been fortunate to spend decades devouring Manhattan's cultural scene. I have slowed down a bit now because of my age and balance issues, and I keep my social and cultural events confined to daylight hours.
Not long ago, though, I was invited to an evening gathering that I just couldn't resist. The later hour meant taking a cab home, something I mostly avoid.
As the cab pulled up, I noticed the driver was very scruffy, and my anxiety increased. But I needed to get home, so I pushed my trepidation aside and got in.
Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by the sound of my favorite opera duet.
"Oh," I said with great astonishment, "The Pearl Fishers."
"You know your opera," the driver replied. He began to sing along with the recording beautifully and continued until we got to my home.
When we arrived at my building, he waited until I was safely inside the front door. It was the best cab ride I had ever had in more than 50 years of living in Manhattan.
Jan Keith
_____________________
Nice story. And one something very unusual about Jan's letter is that she is a very good writer. Construction and vocabulary are excellent. It is too bad that she never got the chance to ride in American composer Phillip Glass's cab when he was working the New York taxi streets back in the 1970s. But her opera singing cabbie was a good substitute. God knows he could have been a professional down-on-his-luck singer. As I have always said about the American taxi industry, it is our version of the French Foreign Legion. We have gotten everybody---human driftwood cast upon the taxi shores.
Aussie Cabbies Beat Bad Uber
It appears that the might of 8000 cabbies scared the hell out of Uber, opting to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of those aggrieved drivers. The settlement, which I believe is in Australian, not American dollars, is for $270.8 million dollars. In USA dollars, that's $176 million dollars. Unfortunately, lawyers will be getting up to $35 million dollars for their law fees. Investigation found that Uber had repeated in Australia what what they have done across the globe---illegally evading enforcement when invading a targeted market. The settlement meant that Uber avoided having all their secrets exposed to the general public. For Uber, it is merely the cost of doing business. For all the cabbies who lost their livelihoods, it means redemption.
What the Hell is the US Army Doing?
A recent email from my Tacoma Tribune contact, the reporter Craig Sailor who was assigned to the case involving the murder of a Olympia/Lacey cabbie by a AWOL soldier, said that the suspect Lee remains uncharged. It has been nearly 3 months. Why, why, why is this happening? The US Army remains close mouthed about it, not telling Craig Sailor or anyone else what is going on. Whatever you do, don't enlist in the US Army. You will be in trouble in ways you never imagined, including getting killed in action. Unless of course you are somehow promoted instantly to the rank of at least an one-star general. Then you might have a good time, sitting on your military throne and stepping on the many poor souls beneath you.
Honking Big Fines in the Big Apple
I have been well aware that the City of Seattle can ticket you for honking your car horn but didn't know that NYC has had anti-honking laws on the books since the 1930s. Violate the "NY City Noice Code" and you can be fined from $800.00-$2,500 dollars. Now that isn't the kind of ticket anyone wants issued to them. Crazy. But hopefully, during performances of Gershwin's "An American in Paris," they don't ticket musicians honking their ersatz Parian Taxi horns. In the original premier performance in1928 staged in NYC, they used real horns from Paris taxis, probably taken from a 1928 Peugeot Landaulet, then the most commonplace cab in Paris. Beep Beep!
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