City Of Seattle Bus Lane Cameras---Officially Sanctioned Entrapment? & New York City Cabbies Paid $10.00 A Pop To Jump JFK International Fare Lines

Watch Out for Those Bus Lane Cameras!

On January 17th, I am scheduled in Seattle Municipal Court for not one, not two, not three but four camera generated bus lane violations, having all of a sudden become a serial lawbreaker.  How could that be, someone ever vigilant concerning school-zone and red light intersection cameras, somehow deciding it is now okay to blatantly violate rules governing bus lane restrictions enforced by the City of Seattle?   

If it were only that simple, having suddenly lost my mind, and in a holiday mood, gifting the City $75.00 times four.  Though the truth is more prosaic, the signage in all four cases not obvious, with one sign shrouded in darkness.  The question then is, is this all intentional on the City of Seattle's part, proactively making it difficult to see and understand what is posted; in other words, is Seattle engaged in a kind of entrapment?   

Of course on January 17th, the good City of Seattle lawyers will say otherwise but I will ask them why do the Red-light cameras feature bright colors when, in comparison, these new bus lane and lane blocking cameras signs are painted in mundane, nondescript black and white, mimicking ordinary non-punitive street signs.  And some of the bus lane warning signs face in only one direction, meaning you can change lanes and unknowingly, be in violation.   Again, is all this deliberate or instead another bad example of uncaring, sloppy bureaucracy?   I will be asking for reason and commonsense.  Will I receive it?   I will let you know how this fighting City Hall goes, this tilting at windmills. 

I have even thought of recruiting that stalwart, beaming light of taxicab justice, the illustrious taxi lawyer, Doug Silva but since there are no moving violations involved, he might not be interested in what is in reality complete nonsense.  Of the many folks I have met during my taxi years, Doug will always be a big favorite, indeed a friend to the "downtrodden and beaten into the ground" cabbie.  While missing my interactions with Doug, I don't miss getting the once commonplace moving violation ticket, those red flashing lights shining in your rearview mirror.  No fun at all.  

Taxi Dispatch Line Is Latest Target for Hackers, U.S. Says

This is the title of a NY Times Thursday, December 22, 2022 article reported by Benjamin Weiser and Nate Schweber concerning shenanigans occurring on the taxi line at New York's John F. Kennedy airport. The article's first two paragraphs pretty much sums up what happened:

"Russian hackers have carried out cyberattacks on hospitals, oil and gas companies, a presidential election and a massive fuel pipeline.  But cyberwarfare reached a new battlefield on Tuesday when the authorities said that two Queens men working with Russians had been able to hack the electronic taxi dispatch system at Kennedy International Airport."

"The goal?"  To allow taxi drivers in a holding lot waiting to pick up their next fare to jump the line---for a $10.00 fee."

I find the story amusing because usually hackers are going after bigger fish than desperate cabbies trying to nab a $52.00 flat rate fare heading back down to Manhattan.  The two bad guys orchestrating this scheme have been indicted, a Mister Daniel  Abayev and his friend, Peter Leyman.  It seems this hack has been occurring since sometime 2019.  You think someone might have noticed, or objected that some cabbies were getting to the head of the line before everyone else.  There is no mention of any of the thieving cabbies being punished.  Obviously the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should give those drivers a lifetime ban.  Doing that would send a strong message.   Would the usual stubborn cabbie take heed and start behaving?  Probably not.    

Good Chow Now Available for the Hungry Seattle Cabbie---Drive-in/Dine-in/Call for pickup

Two Seattle outlets of "Aliberto's Jr Real Fresh Mexican Food" have recently opened.  Big burritos for $7.79 including tax.  Delicious and filling.  Plus many other items on the menu.  Open early and late.  go online and check out their menu. 

2425 4th Ave South---206-588-0101      

14300 Aurora Ave North---206-466-5626

The food is really good.  And most importantly, digestible, meaning they are using good ingredients.  This is high quality fast food.  McDonald's etc makes me sick but not Aliberto's.   Don't be a clown.  Chow down! 

Thank You, Puget Sound Dispatch, for the Holiday Feast

This past Wednesday, Yellow Cab (PSD) put on an incredible spread of Ethiopian cooking for all of us drivers.   The food was amazing, reminding I need to start going out to more Ethiopian restaurants.  I love the injera bread, sopping up all those delicious spicy concoctions.  Happy Holidays, everyone.

Another Example of Why Driving Taxi Makes Little Sense

Unusually cold icy wintery weather kept me off the roads until rain washed all the trouble away late Friday night into Saturday morning.  What I am now facing is having to make  a full week's money in three days.  And what became obvious is that this December 24th Christmas Eve day was an up and down day.  As I have noted previously, each week I have a $195.00 dispatch fee "nut" to crack.  Given I ended the day with two airports runs, I covered the dispatch fee but did I truly make any profit despite working over 12 hours?  Hardly and that is the problem currently driving a cab in Seattle.  Too many hours are expended merely covering your overhead, and to my mind, that ain't cool and not something I want to continue.  Screw this pouring all my labor down the taxi drain.  What a bloody waste!

PS on Comment 12/27/22:

Thanks for the funny comment, pointing out I misspelled bread, instead making it a beard, something less than eatable.  

Local Lyft Driver Gets 27 Days Of Sick Leave Times $300.00. What Do Seattle Cabbies Get? A Kick In The Buttock!

 Do the Math: That's $8,100 Dollars!

Due to the Seattle City Council's generous negotiated benefits for Seattle Lyft and Uber drivers, a former cabbie I know had accrued 27 sick leave days, and taking them all at once, received a very nice paid vacation.   All I can say is good for him, getting the kind of benefits one might expect from normal employment.  We of course who drive and own taxis in Seattle and King County do not enjoy such perks, instead receiving as I am wont to say, a firm kick in the buttock.  With high dispatch fees and annual insurance averaging $5000.00 dollars, we pay all this money for what reason, I ask, for what good reason?  And on top of that is the 3% service processing fee Puget Sound Dispatch (Seattle Yellow Cab) takes from each credit card transaction, with 5% processing accounts.   

Calling it a "Fool's Paradise" is being kind.  Instead it is "Hades Beneath the Toplight" and there is no escaping that hellish reality.  While the new upcoming City of Seattle/King County policy changes that appear to be coming in early 2023  might help a bit, they will not alleviate the cost and benefit disparities between taxi and TNC (Uber & Lyft).  Clearly we are Yellow dinosaurs heading for extinction, and any and all roaring at the sky will not prevent our demise, the TNC asteroid striking the taxi planet, destroying all known life. 

On Sunday night a friend tried to get a Yellow Cab, and after twice being told that his cab was on its way, having waited 30 minutes in the cold and rain, requested an Uber instead.  His driver arrived within five minutes.  All I have just described is today's taxi reality in Seattle, Washington, United States of America.  It is not funny.  I am not laughing.  I am totally stupid remaining in such a dysfunctional work environment.  I will not stay here.  I will be leaving.

A Birthday Greeting From Someone Who Knows All About Taxi & She Is Flying Home To Die

The Lucky? Birthday Boy

Next Sunday, December 18th, is my 69th birthday, and scary to think I was 34 when first stepping in a cab back in September 1987.  I think the only thing that's kept me alive this long is that for the majority of all these years I have worked part-time, beginning with weekends only during those early years.  I mention all this due to "she-who-can't-be-named" annual homemade birthday card, something I truly look forward to, this year telling her she missed her calling, Hallmark Cards a suitable home for her skills in addressing crazy taxi one more time.   She rode along with me way back in 1989.  She knows taxi almost as well as I do, and hates it even more.  A faithful companion she is, and certainly wiser than I, who can only be termed a very dumb guy.  The birthday text in all of its glory:

                                                                        69

                                                              Isn't that just fine

                                                              While the jury's out

                                                              he doesn't pout

                                                              but does he fume

                                                              and fly about on his taxi

                                                                       Broom

                                                              Lucky he's a cat

                                                              and a lucky cat at that

                                                              or else we'd be telling

                                                              TALL tales of that 

                                                              taxi-poet Brat

                                                              It's time to let up

                                                             on that metal pedal

                                                             You have earned 

                                                                   a lifetime medal

__________________________________________________

The "jury's out" comment refers to my newest book and the hopes we have for its success.  And yes, if taxi medals were issued, I kinda deserve one, at least a cabbie version of the Purple Heart.  Greytop Taxi almost killed me back in November 1995.  My bent nose will never be the same.

Incurable Cancer

Last night late I picked up a woman heading back to Alaska to die, somehow her experimental lung cancer treatment cancelled, and refusing chemo therapy, has decided to give up and die back home with her children surrounding her.   A retired medical professional, she was very matter-of-fact concerning her situation.  Having been failed by her doctors here in Seattle, and the lung cancer "kicking her ass," she has had enough of months of nonsense, preparing herself for the inevitable.  She coughed repeatedly in the back of the cab. 

Finding her with more luggage than my cab could really hold, I nonetheless packed it "to the gills" and off we went to Sea-Tac.  Once there I interceded with various Alaska Airline employees, assuring she got the kind of customer care needed to make her journey a successful one.  For the uninitiated, this is what driving cab is all about, responding properly to the situation handed you.  Life is at times no joke, having to do what is necessary minus argument.  We hugged as I left the terminal, life and death the full circle we all know.  Best of everything!

                                                                

Notice Of King County Fee Changes---County Licensing Fees & A Passenger Scares Me & Delivering A Cake For Hershel Walker

Part 2 of the New King County Notices

I will make this fast, just listing the proposed fee changes instead of providing the complete King County text.  Some of these fee changes have already been implemented.   

King County Licensing Fees

Annual medallion fee reduced from $200.00 to $100.00.  Change of vehicle medallion owner fees(1/2 year) from $200.00 to $100.  

Reducing association and company annual fees to: 

1-16 cars---$65.00       16-25 cars---$125.00        26 or more cars---$250.00

Reduce for-hire driver's annual license fee to $24.00.

City of Seattle Licensing Fees

Reduce annual medallion fee to $300.00.    Late fee to $30.00

Change of vehicle medallion owner, full year fee reduced to $450.00 total

Reduce taxicab association fee from $1000.00 to $100.00 and reduce for-hire license fee from $50.00 to $25.00

Fee Changes WAT Vans (Wheelchair Accessible Services (WAS) Surcharge

Reduce WAS surcharges from $125.00 to $29.00 per years for Duel plated vehicles

Reduce WAS for County Only taxi medallions and for all for-hire vehicles from $85.00 to $17.00 per year

Temporary Suspension of Vehicle Age Limits

Not enforced through June 30th, 2024

Public Rule-Taximeters:

Guidance for test and approving taximeters, including smart meters, and authorizes taxis to vary fares from those established in SMC 6.310.530 and KCC 6.64.760 when using the application dispatch system (ADS) function of a smart taximeter system. 

Public Rule-Application Dispatch Systems

Updated requirements for using an application dispatch system (ADS) and recognition of the ADS function within a smart meter system.

Public Rule-Temporary Changes to Insurance Requirements

Temporary changes to insurance requirements with the goal of increasing cost-effective insurance options for taxicab and flat-rate/for-hire vehicle owners.  

Ask questions and provide feedback at FAST@kingcounty.gov 

______________________________________________________

Last three Public Rule changes are very important.  Big changes!

She Scared Me

Yes a passenger scared me, not because she was dangerous or a threat but while seemingly normal she was instead very mentally ill, mild yet silently very vocal.  And this made me scared for her, understanding a hard journey lay ahead, and all I could do was drop her off at her hotel.  So very much like taxi as I know it.

Cake for the Democrats

A frequent customer of mine decided, since she was not feeling well, to have me deliver her big, fancy cake to the Democrat Party get-together going on in Ballard.  Having paid me upfront, I approached the packed house, knocking on the door and said "Herschel Walker can't make it tonight, sending this cake instead." closing the door as the room burst into laughter.   Who says we cabbies don't have a sense of humor!?   As you might now know, Walker also failed to make it to the Senate, two strikes against the running back.   Now he can move back to Texas.  

Per King County, Policy Changes For Seattle/King County Taxis And Flat-Rate For-Hire Vehicles

Proposed Changes for Seattle/King County Taxicab & For-Hire Industries

Beginning in January 2023, two new governing ordinances will be presented to both the Seattle City Council and the King County Council.  Instead of summarizing policy changes, I will provide most of the text of page two of King County's "Regulations and Notices Overview."   This is important information and I encourage everyone reading this to tell your friends and colleagues to read what I am presenting.  My goal here is to educate and inform.  Too often I hear the complaint that nobody tells us what is going on, taking on a kind of victimization.  If you tell your buddies to read this, then they cannot express any surprise.  While many don't seem to realize it, this blog is for you my fellow transportation professional.  Stay informed, stay empowered.  

I have made ten copies of the complete overview/update.  Ten lucky drivers will get one.  If you do, make copies and share.

From the Direct Text:

Earlier in 2022, the (WA) state legislature passed a bill adopting new state-wide transportation network company (TNC) regulations.  The bill permits the City and County to continue regulating TNCs but limits the ability of either government to update those regulations to address changes in the TNC (Uber/Lyft) industry, unless such changes align with state-wide TNC regulations.

As a result, the City and County now plan to each transmit two ordinances to the City Council and County Council no later than early 2023.   The first ordinance will amend existing City and County law to effectively remove taxicab and for-hire owners, drivers, and companies from the code. leaving in place the existing regulations on TNC's.  The second ordinance will establish a new chapter, in City and County codes respectively, focused on the taxicab and for-hire vehicle industries by doing the following to ease and streamline regulations:

1. Allow all medallions (City, County, and Dual) to operate throughout the region

2.  Transition all for-hire vehicles to taxicabs

3.  Adjust insurance requirements and adapt to a changing market and policy models

4.  Eliminate outdated operating requirements and align City and County requirements

5.  Establish a regional for-hire driver's license for taxicab and for-hire vehicle drivers, with an option to obtain an enhanced regional for-hire driver's license with the addition of a fingerprint-based Federal background check

6.  Require adoption of smart taximeters including integration with public facing regional trip planning tools, integrated payment processing, and authorizing greater use of dynamic fare setting

7.  Simplify enforcement and penalties and create a more coordinated appeals process

8.  Establish a uniform vehicle age limit of 15 years, lower the minimum for driver age from 21 to 20, and adjust maximum allowable driver operating hours

9.  Authorize the County to set a minimum fare for short trips, such as those from Sea-Tac Airport

10.  Establish certain vehicle owner and driver protections, including provisions for advanced notice of contract changes and the opportunity to provide input on agency policies that affect drivers

11.  Plan for the use of all electric vehicles (EVs) when technology and infrastructure make EVs viable for for-hire passenger transportation

_____________________________________________________

Next week I will include the section including fee changes.  To send any comments about all this, use this email address: FAST@kingcounty.gov 

I encourage everyone to read through these eleven proposals carefully.  Read for hidden meaning.  These eleven items suggest a world of change is coming.  Much of all this is very taxicab friendly.  One change not listed here is the temporary suspension of taxi, for-hire vehicle and TNC vehicle age limit through June 30th, 2024.   That's very good news if you are still driving a Crown Victoria.

Big Bob Lives!

Recently I got a pleasant surprise when Bob (the famous Big Bob) said hello after dropping off at King Street Station in his E-Cab.  My friendship with Mister Big Bob dates from my earliest days as a cabbie, that is September 1987.   He said "You are still doing this?" and also made mention that back then many of our fellow cabbies thought I was a spy working for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency).  I was still working my psych case management gig and seemed an unlikely cab driver.  Bob and I laughed but knowing Bob, he still might have doubts concerning all that, that I could really be a spy!   I assure you I'm not, only another deranged cabbie like the rest of us.  Ain't that reassuring?

An Unavoidable Conclusion: It No Longer Makes Financial Sense To Operate A Taxi In Seattle---Uber Winning The Transportation Conversation!

I may be slow on the uptake, walking (or driving) in a self-induced haze but reality is what it is, and all of us driving taxi in Seattle are operating at a deficit, paying much more while getting far less versus Uber and Lyft, whose corresponding financial expenditures are negligible in comparison while their rates are higher.  Simple math tells the story, all adding up to what the hell am I doing driving a cab, paying a bunch a money for the privilege of wearing myself out to the bone?   Given my current insurance rates of $500.00 per month plus my weekly $195.00 dispatch fee, it all rounds out to the reality that I don't make a dime for myself until surpassing $1300.00 dollars.  Breaking that down to $30.00 per hour translates into about 43 hours of my time, which again roughly translates into nearly four 12-hour long days working "for the man" and not myself.  

Conversely, Uber and Lyft drivers pay almost nothing other than their personal car insurance costs, everything inclusively covered while carrying passengers minus their gasoline and car maintenance.  Yes, Uber and Lyft takes a portion of each ride but your personal outlay before that point is basically nothing, and nothing, my friends, is a good price versus whatever price the cabbie is paying.  And my initial outlay is less than what other cabbies pay.  A taxi buddy was paying $1,100 per month for insurance, meaning he had to earn $1900.00 dollars before seeing any money for himself, all this sobering when again positoned against Uber and Lyft expenditures. 

The question again then must be asked, what are we doing?   Are we fools?  The answer is fairly obvious. And another obvious reality is that the local taxi industry here in Seattle and King County was betrayed in 2014 by Seattle's then mayor working in conjunction with the Seattle City Council, and they in turn with the King County Executive and his King County Council.  The results, the verdict was victory for TNC and defeat for the cabs.

Uber and Lyft won then back in 2014 and continues to keep winning while we driving taxi have been shafted up the yin-yang.   As I said, reality is what it is and to refute reality is more than foolish, it's stupid.  Welcome to TAXI REALITY, Thanksgiving Day, 2022.  What are we?  We are a bunch of TAXI TURKEYS!  Gobble, gobble!  

Will President Biden grant us a Holiday pardon?  No, off with our heads!  We are dead! 

Add Gasoline And Mix And Instantaneously You Are An Uber Or Lyft Operator

Add Fuel and Mix

And do you then self-immolate, a fiery exclamation point to bureaucratic folly, your instant transportation career now engulfed in flames?   Perhaps unfortunately not, because due to policies kissing Uber's backside, governments have stripped away any pretense of real regulation and oversight over who can, or cannot drive strangers on and over American roadways for monetary compensation    

I found this to be true after checking out Uber and Lyft's very simple online signup/application websites.  There is really nothing to it, you just put in your information and poof! almost instantaneously you can now ply the streets of Seattle or any other American regardless of real qualifications.  There appears to be only one standard: you are breathing and have a pulse.  That's it.  

And all you need for your background check is a social security number, whether it's yours or not, because there is absolutely no verification process saying you are who who say you are.  Fingerprinting, which would prove you are the real John Joseph Smith or Judy Agnes Johnson is no longer used.  Manufacture any and all documents and Uber and Lyft will never know the difference.  Worse, the municipal governments overseeing all this have decided to let the TNC companies to have nearly complete control over the process.  Unlike cabbies, you don't even need a physical for-hire license in your wallet, instead a TNC for-hire permit sticker is issued for your car.  

Thinking about it, with a fictional mind at work, one could imagine how a serial murderer or diabolical  poisoner (concentrating upon takeout food deliveries) could run amok, doing all kinds of nasty things, then suddenly disappearing minus anyone knowing the culprit's true identity.  Fiction unfortunately sometimes mimics real life and the many real safeguards and and preventative measures that could stop a deranged killer have vanished into governmental created thin air.  Better watch that next pizza delivery!

As I have reported in a recent post, in California, Uber is being allowed to deal with reported sexual assaults and rapes in-house, without first reporting the alleged crime to the local police.  Of course this isn't reasonable nor wise but this certainly haven't stopped governments from handing the enforcement keys over to Uber and Lyft, whose track record concerning corporate responsibility the past ten years has been abysmal, very less than stellar.  

This brings me back to the beginning.  Want to drive for Uber and Lyft?   Do it because there's nothing stopping you, and you can drive an old car too, 2008 and newer is just fine here in Seattle, your taxi  officially cannot be over ten-years old.   If you instead wanted to own a cab, good luck finding an available medallion, and worse, straddling yourself with a much higher financial overhead and tougher regulatory scrutiny.  

And adding further insult to taxis, your rates driving Uber and Lyft are now higher than a cab, making it much more profitable to drive for a TNC service.  Don't be a fool like me and drive a taxi.  Be a smart asshole and drive Uber!   Don't be dumb!  Be an Uber Bum! 

David Friend is Out of the Puget Sound Dispatch Door

Yes, it's true, that rascal David Friend, the lawyer who won a big part of a controlling interest in Seattle Yellow Cab years ago in an injury lawsuit, has sold his shares to his buddy Lema.  Since I have nothing good to say I won't say anything bad, if you can understand my words.  Good luck and other parting epitaphs left unsaid.  

A kind of tribute Poem to Sean Singer, that poetry writing former NYC cabbie

It can be fun writing in a style or form not your own, and liking what Sean Singer did in his poetry volume, "Today in the Taxi," I decided to amuse myself by writing a poem in slight imitation of what he accomplished.  Many eons ago, in San Francisco, I jokingly wrote a poem in the manner of Charles Bukowski, that infamous poetry writing degenerate, shocking my wife with a Bukowski-style "betting at the racetrack and bangin' a whore in a sordid hotel" poetic tale.  Then I was being silly and today only a trifle more serious.  Bukowski was a bit of a walking, talking, writing, drinking parody, something Sean Singer is not.  He's the real deal---cabbie, writer, poet.  And that's good enough for me.

In Friendly Imitation of Sean Singer

Today in my taxi I picked up Madness on its way to Thirteenth and Bedlam to meet a Mister Beelzebub and his nephew Wormwood,

who were all visiting Anne Sexton's ghost residing in a narrow hallway forever repeating,

"We stand in broken lines and wait while they unlock the door and count us at the frozen gates of dinner."

and later I sat parked in a yellow queue at a Big Corporate Hotel waiting for Sanity but of course Madness knowing much better than I,

directing me instead down the dreary drugged phenothiazine infused Monks Orchard Road to Beckenham, Medical Lake, Lakewood and other maladjusted scenic destinations. 

__________________________________________________

See, wasn't that fun! Ha Ha Ha!  The quote is from the American writer Anne Sexton, taken from her most amazing poetic description of living on a psychiatric ward, "You, Doctor Martin."  Having worked on psych wards and in a psychiatric hospital, her words ring true.  Phenothiazine is a family of drugs used to treat schizophrenia.  Back in my youthful days in San Francisco 1979-82, I read that poem to patients in various psych wards.  Beelzebub of course is the evil devil and Wormwood is taken from the C. S Lewis novel, "The Screwtape Letters" in which Uncle Screwtape is giving devilish advise to his young nephew Wormwood.  Beckenham is where Bedlam Hospital is located.  Medical Lake, Washington is home to Eastern State Hospital.  Lakewood, Washington is where Western State Hospital is located, where very recently a patient killed his roommate.  Monks Orchard Road will take you to Bedlam.