The American cabbie is certainly embattled, attacked on all sides, be it Uber or mindless bureaucracy bogging us down with ceaseless requests for both more money and endless documentation. If anyone in the Seattle taxi industry can believe it, the Seattle School District is now requesting an additional one million dollars in insurance coverage to continue what we have been doing for years: transporting District children from home to school and back again. Given no warning, we jointly as an industry feel both blindsided and betrayed, given our years of safe and impeccable service to not only the Seattle School District, but all the local school districts in the greater Seattle area. How much this will cost, at this point, no one knows.
But, as the deadline nears in a month or two, we in the industry will witness more of the anguish I saw Saturday, when many worried drivers came up to me and asked what are we going to do? In short, I don't have a quick answer, in part due to I am moving all my belongings, mostly books and records, to a 120 year old adobe house in San Lorenzo, New Mexico. In other words, I am on the road driving this big, 26 foot long U-haul truck/van, the biggest anything I have driven since my Metro bus driving days back in 1983-84. Suffice to say, I am busy, and will not be back into the cab until the afternoon of October 19th. Maybe then, I will have a spare moment to understand the how and why of all this. When I know, I will tell everyone else.
A Question of Racial Profiling
A comment received implied I was back on the Southern plantation, pre-Civil War, and once again, just like in the 1850s, not understanding the racial implications of my words written last week. But I challenge anyone who doesn't think that all behavior has its origins in reactive (and responsive) psychological imprinting both good and bad, to think again. All the demographics listed in the quiz all have readily identifiable features.
And with that, I must quit and get some sleep. Again and always, your comments are most welcome and appreciated.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Demographic Quiz: Guess Who Did It & Why & Seattle Uber Driver Convicted Of 2017 And 2018 Rapes
Doesn't everyone love a quiz, question or questions challenging the mind? Well, whether you do or not, you are about to encounter one, tasking you to choose a specific demographic group. And I assure you, as I have often observed, these folks are reliably consistent, requesting special and favored treatment in the most mundane of situations and scenarios. To be sure, I could describe other equally troublesome demographic groups but what caught my attention this time was something totally new to me, two passengers assuming novel and outrageous privilege, uncivil behavior breaching usual societal conventions. Beyond that, I am sure they are wonderful people.
A Taxi Demographic Quiz: Who Could These Culprits Be?
"Belled" to the Ballard Safeway, I was instantaneously there, being just around the corner. First checking out the south door, there they were, running up to the taxi from the north door. "Can you wait while we buy flowers?" was the request, obviously forgetting to buy them their "first time around" in the store.
Reluctantly, I said yes, having arrived quickly, thinking "why not!" but soon discovered I was mistaken, when, once the groceries were in the cab, minus any up-front payment or request to turn on the meter, they both walked off toward the store's entrance. "Stop!" I shouted, "You can't leave your groceries unattended." And after getting the attention of the male half of the couple, he initially acknowledged my request, then suddenly exited the cab, once again walking away.
With that, I leaped out saying "You can't do this!" and quickly set their groceries out onto the parking lot. "Next time," I said, "call when you're really ready!" and drove away, instantly getting someone else, a nice passenger heading home from Ballard Swedish, a quick twenty-dollar bill getting us to her Magnolia door.
Okay, who were these people? Your choices:
A) Saudi Arabian couple, the wife minus the veil
B) A nice Upper-Middle Class Caucasian couple, snobbish to the core
C) African-American kids---late teens to late 20s, feeling everyone owes them a living
D) Those now well known techies---self-absorbed Millenniums
If you are a cabbie, or have ever driven cab sometime, this should be easy. I will say I have observed same demographic types at the Tai Tung Chinese Restaurant counter, bedeviling owner Harry by attempting to alter everything presented on the menu. Harry, firmly yet friendly as he can possibly manage, tells them no, we don't do that.
While all the other three groups have their known irritants, the answer is C, these kids, in their early twenties, were not thinking for a moment that you don't do what they did, walking away from the cab, leaving me "high & dry," completely at their "beck & call," me the cabbie suddenly demoted to lowly servant.
But I do think there exists a plausible history explaining their behavior, that being the internalized oppression of over four hundred years of slavery and blatant racial discrimination and disparity. If anyone doesn't think this sorry legacy affects the brain, you are totally naive. But still, it doesn't mean you should take it out on me, or Harry, or anyone else, as I personally having no interest subjugating anyone for any reason whatsoever.
To me, true equality is being treated like everyone else, no up or down, or being treated the clown. I too bristle when someone stares at me, thinking I am different or less than them. With that being true, it still doesn't mean I should extract some kind of revenge, somehow militating foolish insult. Much better, like the old comic strip from the 50s & 60s, to "grin & bear it" and move on with life, hoping and expecting the best regardless of all stupidity lurking 'round that next corner.
Seattle Uber Driver Rapist Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison
Two years ago, Uber driver Israel Ramos Islas raped a very drunk female passenger. And last December, posing as an Uber driver, picked up another very intoxicated young woman and raped her. He is suspect in two other incidents. Need I tell anyone that this monster was licensed by the City of Seattle and King County without a thorough background check? And after raping the first woman, how and why did Uber continue to allow him to operate as their independent contractor. Is anyone paying attention? You don't require a quiz to know the answer posed by this question.
A Taxi Demographic Quiz: Who Could These Culprits Be?
"Belled" to the Ballard Safeway, I was instantaneously there, being just around the corner. First checking out the south door, there they were, running up to the taxi from the north door. "Can you wait while we buy flowers?" was the request, obviously forgetting to buy them their "first time around" in the store.
Reluctantly, I said yes, having arrived quickly, thinking "why not!" but soon discovered I was mistaken, when, once the groceries were in the cab, minus any up-front payment or request to turn on the meter, they both walked off toward the store's entrance. "Stop!" I shouted, "You can't leave your groceries unattended." And after getting the attention of the male half of the couple, he initially acknowledged my request, then suddenly exited the cab, once again walking away.
With that, I leaped out saying "You can't do this!" and quickly set their groceries out onto the parking lot. "Next time," I said, "call when you're really ready!" and drove away, instantly getting someone else, a nice passenger heading home from Ballard Swedish, a quick twenty-dollar bill getting us to her Magnolia door.
Okay, who were these people? Your choices:
A) Saudi Arabian couple, the wife minus the veil
B) A nice Upper-Middle Class Caucasian couple, snobbish to the core
C) African-American kids---late teens to late 20s, feeling everyone owes them a living
D) Those now well known techies---self-absorbed Millenniums
If you are a cabbie, or have ever driven cab sometime, this should be easy. I will say I have observed same demographic types at the Tai Tung Chinese Restaurant counter, bedeviling owner Harry by attempting to alter everything presented on the menu. Harry, firmly yet friendly as he can possibly manage, tells them no, we don't do that.
While all the other three groups have their known irritants, the answer is C, these kids, in their early twenties, were not thinking for a moment that you don't do what they did, walking away from the cab, leaving me "high & dry," completely at their "beck & call," me the cabbie suddenly demoted to lowly servant.
But I do think there exists a plausible history explaining their behavior, that being the internalized oppression of over four hundred years of slavery and blatant racial discrimination and disparity. If anyone doesn't think this sorry legacy affects the brain, you are totally naive. But still, it doesn't mean you should take it out on me, or Harry, or anyone else, as I personally having no interest subjugating anyone for any reason whatsoever.
To me, true equality is being treated like everyone else, no up or down, or being treated the clown. I too bristle when someone stares at me, thinking I am different or less than them. With that being true, it still doesn't mean I should extract some kind of revenge, somehow militating foolish insult. Much better, like the old comic strip from the 50s & 60s, to "grin & bear it" and move on with life, hoping and expecting the best regardless of all stupidity lurking 'round that next corner.
Seattle Uber Driver Rapist Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison
Two years ago, Uber driver Israel Ramos Islas raped a very drunk female passenger. And last December, posing as an Uber driver, picked up another very intoxicated young woman and raped her. He is suspect in two other incidents. Need I tell anyone that this monster was licensed by the City of Seattle and King County without a thorough background check? And after raping the first woman, how and why did Uber continue to allow him to operate as their independent contractor. Is anyone paying attention? You don't require a quiz to know the answer posed by this question.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Another "What It Means To Be A Taxi Driver:" This Only Happens Beneath The Top-Light
What would you do if a half-naked, very frantic man approaches your cab seeking help, someone everyone is avoiding "like the plague?" Maybe like me, you make a quick assessment, judging that, instead of the guy just being "ordinarily crazy," something serious and dramatic occurred, assistance and intervention logical and necessary. Pleading "Help me! Help me!" even got this jaded cabbie's attention. Saying he needed to get home to Everett and having the fare, I said "get in" and off we started north.
This is his story: Having left the Mariners' baseball game, heading toward his car, suddenly two hours later his life a total mystery, awakening prone on the ground in a tunnel behind the train station minus half his clothing, keys and telephone gone but somehow retaining his wallet and cash, clueless as to what had happened. Once again standing, he rushed panicked out of the tunnel, seeking help from an unresponsive public. Coming upon me, I guess he got lucky, me of course having seen almost everything possible already in the insane asylum cab, so the young Vietnamese man originally from New Orleans was not a complete surprise, someone instead to properly assess and make accurate judgment upon.
Having proceeded only four blocks northbound on 4th Avenue, we called his "worried-out-of-her-mind" girlfriend, agreeing to meet her back at the train station as she made her way down from Lynnwood, the aggrieved gentleman in question just happy to be warm and dry in the cab, but first, grabbing my flashlight, we reentered the tunnel looking for his belongings. All this took about 45 minutes, the girlfriend pulling up behind me, my passenger hugging me goodbye, saying "keep the $60.00" he had given me for the ride up north, and reaching my window, the appreciative girlfriend handing me an additional five dollars. How this all occurred will remain unresolved but hey, it has been at least recorded here, unimportant yet important history in this United States of Uncertain and Sometimes Mysterious America.
Yes, the dumbbells always ask me
Yes, they do, asking "why aren't I driving Uber?"
and finally I have come up with the correct answer, because usually I don't respond at all to such inanity.
I now say, "Imagine asking a soldier in the American Army why he/she isn't a mercenary instead?" One problem I have is that many have no idea what I am referencing, cultural illiteracy my worst enemy.
Do I give up? Yes, I do.
How long will it take before PSD (Seattle Yellow Cab)
realizes that the Manila-based dispatch callcenter is a very bad idea? How many "lost calls" will it take? "Taxi gods!" help us all, is all I can say. "This is crazy, man, just crazy!" or something like that. Shall we all laugh or cry or just simply die! Haha boohoohoo!
This is his story: Having left the Mariners' baseball game, heading toward his car, suddenly two hours later his life a total mystery, awakening prone on the ground in a tunnel behind the train station minus half his clothing, keys and telephone gone but somehow retaining his wallet and cash, clueless as to what had happened. Once again standing, he rushed panicked out of the tunnel, seeking help from an unresponsive public. Coming upon me, I guess he got lucky, me of course having seen almost everything possible already in the insane asylum cab, so the young Vietnamese man originally from New Orleans was not a complete surprise, someone instead to properly assess and make accurate judgment upon.
Having proceeded only four blocks northbound on 4th Avenue, we called his "worried-out-of-her-mind" girlfriend, agreeing to meet her back at the train station as she made her way down from Lynnwood, the aggrieved gentleman in question just happy to be warm and dry in the cab, but first, grabbing my flashlight, we reentered the tunnel looking for his belongings. All this took about 45 minutes, the girlfriend pulling up behind me, my passenger hugging me goodbye, saying "keep the $60.00" he had given me for the ride up north, and reaching my window, the appreciative girlfriend handing me an additional five dollars. How this all occurred will remain unresolved but hey, it has been at least recorded here, unimportant yet important history in this United States of Uncertain and Sometimes Mysterious America.
Yes, the dumbbells always ask me
Yes, they do, asking "why aren't I driving Uber?"
and finally I have come up with the correct answer, because usually I don't respond at all to such inanity.
I now say, "Imagine asking a soldier in the American Army why he/she isn't a mercenary instead?" One problem I have is that many have no idea what I am referencing, cultural illiteracy my worst enemy.
Do I give up? Yes, I do.
How long will it take before PSD (Seattle Yellow Cab)
realizes that the Manila-based dispatch callcenter is a very bad idea? How many "lost calls" will it take? "Taxi gods!" help us all, is all I can say. "This is crazy, man, just crazy!" or something like that. Shall we all laugh or cry or just simply die! Haha boohoohoo!
Sunday, September 15, 2019
More Upon Paul Roberts' Taxi Article But First, Why Taxi Is Sometimes Okay
Yes, first is right, trying to write this in 55 minutes. Yeah that's right, taxi at this juncture, less than less but still, picking up my first student run of the new school year Tuesday morning, making cab okay when the Somali mother showed such grave concern for her disabled son, with me transporting the child to a special education school in Renton. I called her back, telling her we had arrived safely. Mostly, taxi is nothing times nothing but that morning meant something important and good and meaningful.
That took five minutes. Now to that Seattle Times article. The reason Roberts wrote it is because the City of Seattle is considering ways to somehow mitigate, assuage the harm done by them to the local taxi industry. Roberts was somehow attempting to explain the trials and tribulations faced by us but didn't help much by referring that we have made it a habit of refusing to provide "short destination" rides, along with the insult saying how we "scam " drunks, libelous comments to be sure.
I asked him to retract his comments but I knew he (the Seattle Times) wouldn't do it. Why would they want to right an egregious wrong while simultaneously placating us? No reason whatsoever is the sorry answer. Roberts did say that Uber is in trouble, which it is. And now with the State of California saying Uber and Lyft drivers are employees, stay tuned with that new development. Now if only my fellow cabbies can awaken to their new found opportunity, taking up the new ground once lost to Uber but of course I have grave doubts, especially after, once again, thousands of potential rides post-Husky were left wanting.
That took me eleven minutes, and yes, it is true, yesterday Seattle's taxi industry once again ignored the UW Husky football game, the match versus the University of Hawaii a blowout, the score 38 to 0 just before halftime, with only one cab to serve the hordes dashing out of the stadium, me. In just over two hours I made $100.00 spread over five rides. Only at game's end did I see another cab. That was it. Making it worse was how my request to publicize the game over our dispatch was ignored, instead repetitious messages telling us what we already know, and should know, etc. Is anyone truly serious about anything in our shared Taxi-land? Doesn't seem like it. The Huskies trounced the Rainbows 52-20.
That took me nine minutes. Isn't brevity wonderful! the total piece taking, including editing, 36 minutes to complete. "She-who can't-be-named" will be pleased!
That took five minutes. Now to that Seattle Times article. The reason Roberts wrote it is because the City of Seattle is considering ways to somehow mitigate, assuage the harm done by them to the local taxi industry. Roberts was somehow attempting to explain the trials and tribulations faced by us but didn't help much by referring that we have made it a habit of refusing to provide "short destination" rides, along with the insult saying how we "scam " drunks, libelous comments to be sure.
I asked him to retract his comments but I knew he (the Seattle Times) wouldn't do it. Why would they want to right an egregious wrong while simultaneously placating us? No reason whatsoever is the sorry answer. Roberts did say that Uber is in trouble, which it is. And now with the State of California saying Uber and Lyft drivers are employees, stay tuned with that new development. Now if only my fellow cabbies can awaken to their new found opportunity, taking up the new ground once lost to Uber but of course I have grave doubts, especially after, once again, thousands of potential rides post-Husky were left wanting.
That took me eleven minutes, and yes, it is true, yesterday Seattle's taxi industry once again ignored the UW Husky football game, the match versus the University of Hawaii a blowout, the score 38 to 0 just before halftime, with only one cab to serve the hordes dashing out of the stadium, me. In just over two hours I made $100.00 spread over five rides. Only at game's end did I see another cab. That was it. Making it worse was how my request to publicize the game over our dispatch was ignored, instead repetitious messages telling us what we already know, and should know, etc. Is anyone truly serious about anything in our shared Taxi-land? Doesn't seem like it. The Huskies trounced the Rainbows 52-20.
That took me nine minutes. Isn't brevity wonderful! the total piece taking, including editing, 36 minutes to complete. "She-who can't-be-named" will be pleased!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Raining Like Heck! Thousands Of Fan Leaving the Stadium And Where Were All The Yellow Cabs? No Where To Be Seen
This week's posting concerns local Seattle, how its operators function, along with media and public precepts of our industry, specifically Paul Roberts' front page featured article in the September 2nd, 2019 edition of the Seattle Times. I do have some commentary upon an outsider's analysis of this complex subject, complex at least to longtime researchers like myself, this deranged occupation known as driving a cab.
But first, related to the Roberts' article, concerning how much money cabbies are earning, I have to relate Saturday's experience at the University of Washington's Husky Football stadium, and why, when thousands fled into the rainy, thunderous night following an official weather-related game delay, why was I the only cab available to serve the sodden, rain drenched fans?
How is it possible, someone could ask, that Yellow's Cab entire fleet remained uninformed concerning 70,000 fans gathered for a late starting (7:30 PM) Saturday night college football game? The answer from an interested observer, me, is simple. The vast majority of the approximate 2000 plus Seattle-area cabbies plying local streets began their taxi occupation ill-prepared for the task, an unfortunate genesis begetting now poorly formed business skills and concepts resulting in Saturday night's cabbie debacle: thousands of potential passengers wailing for the cabs failing to appear. Five times I dipped into that agitated mass of drenched humanity, my last three fares taking me in order to: DT Bellevue, Clyde Hill and Kirkland, the Bellevue fare resulting in a $29.00 tip. After the game resumed 2 1/2 hours later, I decided it was time for a well deserved dinner break, basically retiring for the evening.
Talking to cabbies later that night, and the next day, at the train station, to a person no one had been aware a local college football game was scheduled and played I asked, "do you read the newspaper? do you listen to the radio?" And the answer is clearly no, they don't, not taking the effort for a few minutes beneficial research. One might ask, just what do these fellows do to understand what is occurring locally around the city and county, to source financially beneficial information upon a given day or week? The unfortunate answer is, essentially, nothing whatsoever which of course results in no money earned whatsoever, the relation causal and fixed to not knowing what you certainly need to know. Complaining that "I am not making any money!" is no help, only sorry lamentations tossed into the misbegotten night.
All this ties into the Seattle Time's featured article by business reporter Paul Roberts, "Seattle Taxis are hanging on as Uber & Lyft lose billions." While mostly sympathetic, it contained the expected "guesswork" from someone looking from the outside in, attempting, in a page long article, to explain an over one hundred year old industry. Roberts' first presents as exhibit # 1, Tegegne Mersha, owner of Orange Cab 825, a nine year taxi veteran Mersha rightfully points out his Post-Uber financial demise, saying his once easy income declining to a now hard $100.00 a day.
How and why Mersha was chosen to be featured is a mystery, personally knowing many Seattle-area cabbies better able of explaining the Seattle taxi experience. As I already related about the crazy weather Husky stadium Saturday night---lightening strikes filling the electrified air---there is much to know about "taxi in total," making it clear Mersha, amongst many others, are still learning how to successfully drive a cab.
And I can say, me too, having previously said each day something new, different and awful occurs in the cab, hopefully translating to my fatigued brain additional and helpful insights. I can only pray to the taxi gods for Mersha and his immigrant brethren, hoping that Uber will indeed fail, and once more opening the door to fewer hours and easy money, heaven on taxi earth indeed made manifest over munificent streets.
I end with having said almost nothing close to what I intended to concerning the Roberts' article but I have a ready excuse: I only have one body. If granted another, I will be more productive. Ain't that a scary thought, two Joe Blondo's running amok. Yikes! And the concept of 2 bodies is borrowed from Yogi Ananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi." If his Master could do it, don't know what is stopping me from splitting in two.
Required Reading
New book, just out, "Super Pumped----The Battle for Uber" by Mike Issac
Norton, 408 pages $27.95
I bought a copy. You should too!
Postscript 09/10/2019
For those interested in knowing more about Paul Roberts article, tune in next week for a more complete examination of his attempt at explaining taxi to the curious, inquiring public. Tired yesterday, I remain the same, tired, just like my exhausted prose.
But first, related to the Roberts' article, concerning how much money cabbies are earning, I have to relate Saturday's experience at the University of Washington's Husky Football stadium, and why, when thousands fled into the rainy, thunderous night following an official weather-related game delay, why was I the only cab available to serve the sodden, rain drenched fans?
How is it possible, someone could ask, that Yellow's Cab entire fleet remained uninformed concerning 70,000 fans gathered for a late starting (7:30 PM) Saturday night college football game? The answer from an interested observer, me, is simple. The vast majority of the approximate 2000 plus Seattle-area cabbies plying local streets began their taxi occupation ill-prepared for the task, an unfortunate genesis begetting now poorly formed business skills and concepts resulting in Saturday night's cabbie debacle: thousands of potential passengers wailing for the cabs failing to appear. Five times I dipped into that agitated mass of drenched humanity, my last three fares taking me in order to: DT Bellevue, Clyde Hill and Kirkland, the Bellevue fare resulting in a $29.00 tip. After the game resumed 2 1/2 hours later, I decided it was time for a well deserved dinner break, basically retiring for the evening.
Talking to cabbies later that night, and the next day, at the train station, to a person no one had been aware a local college football game was scheduled and played I asked, "do you read the newspaper? do you listen to the radio?" And the answer is clearly no, they don't, not taking the effort for a few minutes beneficial research. One might ask, just what do these fellows do to understand what is occurring locally around the city and county, to source financially beneficial information upon a given day or week? The unfortunate answer is, essentially, nothing whatsoever which of course results in no money earned whatsoever, the relation causal and fixed to not knowing what you certainly need to know. Complaining that "I am not making any money!" is no help, only sorry lamentations tossed into the misbegotten night.
All this ties into the Seattle Time's featured article by business reporter Paul Roberts, "Seattle Taxis are hanging on as Uber & Lyft lose billions." While mostly sympathetic, it contained the expected "guesswork" from someone looking from the outside in, attempting, in a page long article, to explain an over one hundred year old industry. Roberts' first presents as exhibit # 1, Tegegne Mersha, owner of Orange Cab 825, a nine year taxi veteran Mersha rightfully points out his Post-Uber financial demise, saying his once easy income declining to a now hard $100.00 a day.
How and why Mersha was chosen to be featured is a mystery, personally knowing many Seattle-area cabbies better able of explaining the Seattle taxi experience. As I already related about the crazy weather Husky stadium Saturday night---lightening strikes filling the electrified air---there is much to know about "taxi in total," making it clear Mersha, amongst many others, are still learning how to successfully drive a cab.
And I can say, me too, having previously said each day something new, different and awful occurs in the cab, hopefully translating to my fatigued brain additional and helpful insights. I can only pray to the taxi gods for Mersha and his immigrant brethren, hoping that Uber will indeed fail, and once more opening the door to fewer hours and easy money, heaven on taxi earth indeed made manifest over munificent streets.
I end with having said almost nothing close to what I intended to concerning the Roberts' article but I have a ready excuse: I only have one body. If granted another, I will be more productive. Ain't that a scary thought, two Joe Blondo's running amok. Yikes! And the concept of 2 bodies is borrowed from Yogi Ananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi." If his Master could do it, don't know what is stopping me from splitting in two.
Required Reading
New book, just out, "Super Pumped----The Battle for Uber" by Mike Issac
Norton, 408 pages $27.95
I bought a copy. You should too!
Postscript 09/10/2019
For those interested in knowing more about Paul Roberts article, tune in next week for a more complete examination of his attempt at explaining taxi to the curious, inquiring public. Tired yesterday, I remain the same, tired, just like my exhausted prose.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Two Older African-American Women From Memphis Ask About Uber
Passengers are always asking about Uber, and this time, these two inquiring tourists from Tennessee received a very unexpected response. Though before I tell you my reply, I think everyone should know that the positive embrace Uber received from local governments was not accidental, something often cited as nothing less than a prescient embrace of a new technological age sweeping the nation but I know it as something much more, something insidious and malignant. While few will admit, or comprehend, it is related to the year 1619 and beginnings of slavery in North America and the kinds of institutionalized discrimination and hatred we still grapple with today in 2019 in these United States.
What Uber's founders, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had in common, was being both Caucasian and socioeconomically Upper-Middle Class, traits easily recognizable to elected bureaucrats in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere in modern America, this essential point forming the crux of my response to the shocked residents visiting from Memphis: that the Uber founders were white, making them easily embraceable by the majority white mayors and City and County Council members, applying a kind of trust never before seen by the nation's taxi industry. I told them that I knew they knew all about it, themselves treated as second-class citizens in this fine country we share, something they certainly couldn't deny.
And being white is why Uber continues to have investor support while losing over 10 billion dollars alone since 2016. Can you imagine this kind of financial trust in a company run by African-Americans (blacks)? How much money has Uber loss since its 2009 inception? Something between 30-40 billion. It is breathtaking, the kinds of losses investors have absorbed but still holding onto the fanciful, financial mirage that is Uber, and to a lesser degree, Lyft.
And what color is America's taxicab industry? Black and brown, along with a smattering of feral Caucasians like myself who just aren't quite white enough, me with my Eastern European and Sicilian heritage. Why did the City of Seattle and King County continue to insist on fingerprinting us annually year after nonsensical year? Well, you know the answer. It is obvious. I just told you.
What Uber's founders, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had in common, was being both Caucasian and socioeconomically Upper-Middle Class, traits easily recognizable to elected bureaucrats in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere in modern America, this essential point forming the crux of my response to the shocked residents visiting from Memphis: that the Uber founders were white, making them easily embraceable by the majority white mayors and City and County Council members, applying a kind of trust never before seen by the nation's taxi industry. I told them that I knew they knew all about it, themselves treated as second-class citizens in this fine country we share, something they certainly couldn't deny.
And being white is why Uber continues to have investor support while losing over 10 billion dollars alone since 2016. Can you imagine this kind of financial trust in a company run by African-Americans (blacks)? How much money has Uber loss since its 2009 inception? Something between 30-40 billion. It is breathtaking, the kinds of losses investors have absorbed but still holding onto the fanciful, financial mirage that is Uber, and to a lesser degree, Lyft.
And what color is America's taxicab industry? Black and brown, along with a smattering of feral Caucasians like myself who just aren't quite white enough, me with my Eastern European and Sicilian heritage. Why did the City of Seattle and King County continue to insist on fingerprinting us annually year after nonsensical year? Well, you know the answer. It is obvious. I just told you.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Puget Sound Dispatch's MTI System Transition: Jury Deliberations Continue
PSD's new dispatch system has been with us for two weeks, time enough I think for a quick assessment on how it has been going. But first, I would certainly be amiss in not mentioning the fervid months of preparation put in by Amin, Zem, Tom and others in getting the system up and running. While criticism comes easy, everyone must realize no transition is completely smooth, and compared to the "George System" changeover, all recent difficulties should be considered minor. Above all, PSD remained functional with most "bells" served in timely fashion. But some questions do require answers, especially as to why our Las Vegas call center was replaced by one in the Philippines, something done minus first consulting us, we the single owners paying PSD's bills.
One quick, and obvious answer is past history, Yellow Cab's bad habit of making major decisions without any or all serious consultation with those directly affected. That must change, and while it appears there now exists more of a predisposition for openness and negotiation, the Manila (if that is where it is) call center has collectively shocked the entire Yellow single owner community, this after we were told "everything would now be local" but how a separation of 6,651 miles or 10,107 kilometers between Washington State and the Philippines is "local" distorts all acceptable definitions of "just down the hallway." Maybe they neglected to consult a map, google mapping instead the now popular alternative.
Our biggest ongoing issues have been in order of:
1) an unexpected Android update shutting down most every one's computers (tablets). Amin has spent many hours assisting the distressed drivers.
2) our credit card processing shut down for a few hours, and making it worse, at least for me, no one informing us when it was up and running again. Manila didn't know, I can tell you that, and making it more confounding by simply not understanding what I was saying. Perhaps PSD should offer all of us a "crash course" mastering the Filipino language. It might prove to be helpful. A cabbie told me yesterday that "more communication" is required. Now that is what I call an understatement upon the subject. Ha Ha Ha!
3) the mystery that is Zone 160, never knowing upon accepting a Magnolia bell if it actually is in the 160 or not until the address is revealed. Very irritating, especially when at the moment your are offered only two solutions, to do a "no show" or request to "cover your call" when it is miles away but only to find you have now been penalized 15 minutes for something not caused by you. I have requested PSD to explain to us why they think they have legal authority to penalize for a service we are paying for? I look forward to the explanation.
Yes, a few problems here and there but truly "small taxi potatoes" overall. The new system installation was very efficient, along with all the classes and individual tutorials provided. I like the new MTI system, I really do but would someone please promote and advertise our new dispatching app? Customers truly like it. Can we please tell the world that we are ready to punch Uber & Lyft in the nose? Thank you!
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One quick, and obvious answer is past history, Yellow Cab's bad habit of making major decisions without any or all serious consultation with those directly affected. That must change, and while it appears there now exists more of a predisposition for openness and negotiation, the Manila (if that is where it is) call center has collectively shocked the entire Yellow single owner community, this after we were told "everything would now be local" but how a separation of 6,651 miles or 10,107 kilometers between Washington State and the Philippines is "local" distorts all acceptable definitions of "just down the hallway." Maybe they neglected to consult a map, google mapping instead the now popular alternative.
Our biggest ongoing issues have been in order of:
1) an unexpected Android update shutting down most every one's computers (tablets). Amin has spent many hours assisting the distressed drivers.
2) our credit card processing shut down for a few hours, and making it worse, at least for me, no one informing us when it was up and running again. Manila didn't know, I can tell you that, and making it more confounding by simply not understanding what I was saying. Perhaps PSD should offer all of us a "crash course" mastering the Filipino language. It might prove to be helpful. A cabbie told me yesterday that "more communication" is required. Now that is what I call an understatement upon the subject. Ha Ha Ha!
3) the mystery that is Zone 160, never knowing upon accepting a Magnolia bell if it actually is in the 160 or not until the address is revealed. Very irritating, especially when at the moment your are offered only two solutions, to do a "no show" or request to "cover your call" when it is miles away but only to find you have now been penalized 15 minutes for something not caused by you. I have requested PSD to explain to us why they think they have legal authority to penalize for a service we are paying for? I look forward to the explanation.
Yes, a few problems here and there but truly "small taxi potatoes" overall. The new system installation was very efficient, along with all the classes and individual tutorials provided. I like the new MTI system, I really do but would someone please promote and advertise our new dispatching app? Customers truly like it. Can we please tell the world that we are ready to punch Uber & Lyft in the nose? Thank you!
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