Met a dude from Portland last weekend. He said he is working 2-4 night a week and clearing $1200.00/12 hr shifts. I was thinking about returning to cabbin in 'da big "O"...anybody want me besides Safeway? Screwyathen.

I am proud to say that I was right about the last post. You all know that I LOVE tooting my own horn. But...

I am sad to say that I have way too much to do and not enough time to keep up on the Omaha taxi business, form an opinion, and publish to the blog anymore. I have other blogs, and to publish opinions based on heresay, reading betweenthe lines in the Omaha Weird Heralds newspaper, and being "out of the loop" is not conductive to good amatuer journalism. That is what blogging is all about, right?

However, (and you knew this was coming) I do have a couple of observations based on personal and private accounts of taxi situations.

Safeway has the new Owner-Operator system in place and for the people I have talked to that are involved, its working well. Needs a little tweaking but it's a wonderful arangement. If they had the flexibility to be able to dispatch to the O/Operators, at a resonable cost, Safeway could become a force they once were. Omaha is changing fast, gas prices will be staying around todays range or going up and the drivers will have to adjust. Flexibility in leasing arangement for Happy/Cornhusker/Yellow/Checker could improve their drivers moral. It's tough enough out there, besides the safety issue of having to drive so many hours, to have to worry about the "too many cabs for the size of this city" issue. However, it would cost more money for administration and record keeping, but in the long run, they would have a better buisness model and happier drivers.

Of course, since I have the administrator password, I will keep a wary eye on things and post if needed, ever if it's not wanted. The first ammendment is very, very, cool...run with it someone!

Drive safe, be careful, and dammit, have some FUN out there too.
Peace and Properity to all
*Rosie

How ARE the taxi company's working these days? Are they leasing companies...or are they "real" cab companies? The PSC (I know..the Nebraska Public Service Commision should be out of the loop and juristiction bound over to the individual cites, counties, or whatever...but that is yet another bitch session) is actually listening to "The People" (taxi drivers and a few polititions) that are the foundation of taxi protocol in Omaha at least. How do I know this, and KNOW this to be true you ask? I have friends in high (and low..of course) places...and there is a BIG change coming that will change the face of the taxi business in the future...You'all may not see it but it is definitely on the horizon. Those of you that folllow this know what is going on already...and it is not all "cab rumors" Keep the peace brothers and sisters...you know who you are.

Wow, Blogger has become a "real" blog site. When Colleen and I first started this venture a few years (wow...almost4) it was a pain in the rump to get "posts" to "STAY"...(I believe that C. posted a few times her frustrations about that snafu). Colleen is out of the cabs and the company she works for has a "Real Gem" for her to be dispatching...she actually cares and (Surprise!) WAS A REAL CABBIE FOR MANY, MANY, YEARS (sorry Coleen, everyone thought you were only 23 years old) Well, my main reason to post is that I have a great love for the taxi industry (especially in Omaha/Council Bluffs/Lincoln metroplex but across our great nation as well) and I find the current conditions around here appaling.

NOW, I have opened up this "Blog" to EVERYONE across the world to write and keep us posted on rate hikes (yuk, but I believe necassary), SAFETY, humorous antedotes, and just about anything else they need to get off their chest. (Or to educate the Omaha Taxi industry HOW to manage and increase their businesses (and of course, the cabbies) without hiking rates or surcharging for fuel (RIGHT! how many drivers do this...c'mon REALLY?... We are all not all, "Stuck on Stoopid" people). I have a lot of time on my hands now, so I believe that you will see me here quite often as I am semi-retired and do NOT have ANYTHING to do with ANY taxi company in Omaha/CB/Lincoln. (Contrary to several rumors (aren't cabbie rumors fun?) My question to the drivers, dispatchers, owners, and of course, our STATE (not city) governing body, "The Public Service Commision" (What the heck is the PSC doing in City Transportation when they know little, if nothing about the cabbie business...rate setting beauracrats is my perception of the PSC concerning our industry (Comment: To be fair to that Government organization, they have an awful lot on their plates, and have a huge job across this large state to worry or care about cabs) WOW, can I ramble or what? No wonder my fares wanted out of my taxi so quickly. Question: (in case you lost track as I almost did:) Promotion of our city and the education of new and existing cabbies can only help increase fares, increase profits for the companies, and help our growing metro area florish. The "good" cabbies know how to do it, you COMMUNICATE to your customers and educate them about Omaha/CB. (The Ambassador Concept ....are you listening, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and other promoting bodies?) The resturauants and nite spots of course, but also the quaint nighborhoods, the future developments that are pending, the midwestern freindliness (which they SHOULD pick up on as you are "Promoting" the city) and finially, the Fortune 500 companies that "live" here and "why" they do. And the companies that are planning on relocating here. Talk to 20 drivers about those concepts and questions and you will find that the majority are clueless. WHY?

Well thanks for the Kudos a few posts back Colleen...but you had me thinking "What makes a good taxi driver? ...and especially what the company wants out of a cab driver....we all know what...but..I believe the city needs cab drivers that are as competant as Colleen, Gary, Bob H, Duffy, and the other of dozens of cab drivers that know how to BE cab drivers not just pay their lease on time and drive....we are the ambassadors to the visitors to our fine city (are you listening Anne Boyle....when you are on the city council in a few months I am going to start lobbying to make the taxi companies start caring about this city...and dont give me the standard BS line how you have safety meeting (joke) and do all these things for the customers. You wont even stand behind your own drivers sometrimes...politics...for sure...politiks....DA!

Well this is "Rosie " and his first grandson...ain't he cute 

Talked to Jennie today and asked if they could get me into a Happy Cab...I do not want to drive for Cornhusker...wish me luck all. I think with 4 years experience, I have a good shot. If not, a dispatchers position would suit me nicely. Even part time.
Peace and Love
Rosie

Dan...I sent this to you too...I called but you were on a business meeting.

Hello...
After seeing the last post I sort of figured I should write at least something for the blog. It's just been so uneventful in Omaha lately. School has finally started, and besides being a huge relief to parents it also means that some cab drivers will be busy running the kids back and forth to school. This of course means that the rest of us will be able to get back to the business of driving a cab to make some money. After a l-o-o-o-ng, boring, and financially horrible summer all I can say is it's about time. I've posted this sentiment before, but trying to make money in the summer by driving a cab in Omaha is nearly impossible. For several different reasons, there's just not enough business to go around. There are too many cabs in Omaha as it is, and when business gets tight it gets ugly out here. Of course more and more I'm hearing in the cab how a customer had a problem with a driver and so they're using a cab less than before. I can understand that. Customers want to be treated right and drivers do, too. When business gets bad and a driver has run too many short orders in a day, they get grumpy, or maybe they attempt to run the fare up. Not that any of our guys are guilty of this, it must be the other company. But at any rate, I've heard it happens. Actually I think one of the biggest problems is getting a driver with enough experience so a customer can feel confident that they will be getting a ride, not being taken for one. The last thing we need is losing anymore business for any reason. Omaha has a large number of shuttle services, most of which (unless they're free) are a huge rip-off to the customer. If more customers knew the value of a cab compared to a shuttle they wouldn't mess with them. Another problem we're having is not enough business accounts. What with every joe out there starting a delivery service we can't compete. It's not economical to run one delivery at a time. Delivery services load up and make stops as needed. That's something most cabs can't and won't do. Just the other day I had a bread delivery, tho. If nothing else it was a good smelling delivery...mmmm...Rotella's....yummy. But I don't think we can count on bread deliveries to increase our business. The future of cabs is not all that rosey in Omaha. I don't know what the next step is, but I know there will be a next step. Meanwhile we'll just keep cabbin'.

nobody writes anymore??

It's been awhile since I've had time to write, but at the moment I have an imposed bit of time off. I managed to contract some kind of stomach bug. One of the problems of our job is probably more deadly than some of the other more obvious hazards. We're in close proximity every day to sick people and gods only know how many germs. A couple of years ago I was not a bit pleased to find out that my fare in the cab had tuberculosis. He was obviously a very sick man and he was not under a doctor's care anymore. He told me he was probably dying, that he had been in a hospital in Illinois for 5 weeks and should still be there. He had walked away, caught a bus and then hitchhiked here to see his sister. I asked him if he should at least be wearing a face mask and he said he didn't give a damn what happened to anyone else anymore. At the time I didn't know anything about the disease. I do now. As soon as I could I looked it up on the internet and I also talked to a retired doctor that was a regular customer of mine. Dr. Moore has since passed away, but he had been an internist for years starting with his training in the Army in WWII. He told me that you could be exposed to active TB and not have symptoms for as long as nine months. You could also have the disease in a latent form. That didn't exactly ease my mind. So for the next nine months I paid attention to every cough, every headache, the slightest sign of a fever. He told me to look out for backache, but of course I have a permanently screwed up back so that wasn't going to be obvious. I didn't catch it, but it brought home the severity of the germs rolling around in the cab. My best defense is to drive with my window open. It's not perfect, but I don't get sick often so it must have some merit. I figure most days if I can stomach the smell of the people in the cab I must have a strong enough immune system to fight off the little bugs too. But this stomach bug bit me anyway.
I'll have to be done being sick today, whether I like it or not. The College World Series is in town, and as every good Omaha cab driver knows, if you miss this party you might as well turn in your keys. Some of our favorite teams have returned this year. My personal favorite is LSU. Louisiana fans have always been the nicest, the funniest, the best tipping fares a driver could hope for. I've had several of the players in my cab in years past and they are fine young gentlemen, hats off to their ball program. May they last long in the series. Some of the other favorites are here as well. We have Cal State-Fullerton, also very nice people and courteous players. We have Texas, always a big fan favorite here, and Miami another big favorite. Arizona, another local favorite has returned this year. We don't have Rice, the champs from last year, and Stanford isn't here either. I'll miss them. I've never had a rude Stanford or Rice fan in the cab. Last year I had several Rice players in the cab on several occasions, they're really good kids. Rounding out the team list for 2004 is South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas. I don't have any personal experiences with these teams or their fans, but in general the CWS attendees are such fun that I'm really looking forward to it again this year. It's nice to be busy and to be making money, but it's the people attending the CWS that really make it special. I grew up in the neighborhood just south of the stadium and I can remember not always being so pleased that the Series was in town. Now it's a much larger event, but they have also solved some of the problems such as re-routing the traffic in the area. Of course now I live a few miles away, and last I looked nobody is going to park on my lawn, so it's easy for me to be happy about it.
The other day I was sitting at the cab stand by the new Hilton at the Qwest Center. The big blue letters proclaiming QWEST CENTER O AHA. Obviously the "M" was not glowing. It reminded me of Omaha's new logo/tagline "O!". So of course in my mind I inserted the exclamation point, changing the Qwest Center sign to QWEST CENTER O!AHA. Now that reminded me of a book. Has anyone else ever read "The Story Of O"? More things that make you go hmmm...I'm not entirely sure that the city of Omaha planned on being mentally associated with "The Story Of O", but I'm fairly confident I'm not the only one out here that makes that connection. Of course, the Dr. John's billboard that stood at 132 and F probably brought that home, too. The sign is gone and that's too bad. I can just imagine how some Omahans fumed as they saw the scantily dressed model proclaiming to the world about the "Big O". Hehe. I like Dr. John and I like his store. It's that kind of real life stuff that keeps the straights from taking over Omaha completely. If some people here had their way we could just rename the place "Stepford". I enjoy Omaha's seedy past. Remember, for all the rewriting of history that keeps getting put out there, Omaha was a town started on gambling, prostitution and debauchery. Anyone that says otherwise is lying. We had a fine reputation as a haven for all things sinful back in the mid-late 1800's, even as recently as the 1970's. Since that time the do-gooders of the city have tried to make us into a little, what? a hub for mundane suburbia? That seems to be what the city fathers want us to be. Next month we have the 150th birthday party for the city. I think we should appreciate our REAL heritage. We could call it ...The REAL Story Of O!

Hello. I hope the meter course went well for everyone. I would like to respond to Gary's blog about the dispatcher doing call outs. We looked over our records and the message that was sent out read that he wouldn't do call outs at BARS unless the customer specified they needed a CWT. This is common practice. We generally do not do call outs at houses or places of business unless the customer requests. We feel that the drivers should be customer service friendly and this is just one small way to show that you gals/guys care. The only exceptions I can think of is the Old Market Bars - everyone knows you guys/gals can't get in there most of the time in the summer when they block off the roads. The other is way north like the "3-5-7", or "Click, we all know these are bad neighborhoods and don't expect you to leave your cabs unmanned there. If you find problems with dispatch please let Chip or myself know so we can rectify the situation. Thank You ... ::One more month before College World Series $$$::

And I'm back again. I've spent the morning so far rummaging around cab sites instead of doing my planting and pruning, but this is the last post for the morning. I found this story, and by my calculations, I believe our "study-rate" to be about $12.25, plus the gas surcharge, which puts us in the near bottom-middle. Of course that estimate changes if you take out the wait time, and since they are talking about bigger cities, most of which have live meters and we don't, so that estimate comes down to something like...well, that brings it down to $8.25, plus the surcharge...really not good. Granted, like I said, the study included bigger cities with significantly more cabs on the street. But then, too, ridership is much higher in those cities where people are use to riding, where other public transportation is reliable. The reason I'm thinking that they are using live meters for this study is because they say "estimating the U.S. average fare to be five miles with five minutes waiting time", now why would there be five minutes waiting time? Most trips involve no waiting time, but they are estimating that their "average" trip does. So I believe they used live meters, which charge for standing in traffic and such. Here's the study...
http://chicagodispatcher.com
As stated in the rest of the article, once again we have a correlation between driver experience and company costs. It makes sense to keep experienced drivers.
Here's another quote from the Taxi List,
"As others have suggested, if fares were increased once or twice a year in
line with inflation and other factors the public would barely know. But, to
wait 8 years and then slam on 26% and release more cabs at the same time is
obviously absurd." ~ Peer Lindholdt. Well-said.

Just a quick note. I ran across this on another taxi driver site, and I use to work with this guy. He would play that trumpet in downtown Denver at all hours, I mean ALL hours, too. I would go down to the 16th Street Mall at around 3 or 4 am just to hear him play. I would meet up with a former dentist, and another guy that use to teach at a seminary, and of course my two best driving buddies, both of which were Iranian. So many truly diverse people choose to drive a cab. Check it out. http://www.denverdispatch.com/pages/447683/index.htm

Friday night a message came across from Dispatch that said if the caller did not specifically request a "call when there" no call-outs would be done. This is very troubling to me, especially based on incidents described in previous posts.....

From the standpoint of safety (yes, folks, he's on his soap box again...) the cab companies do not want their equipment sitting un-attended (even for just a minute or two) in some areas of town in the middle of the night. And although drivers are "independent contractors" and therefore not of major concern to the cab companies, a reasonably good case could be made involving at least partial liability if a driver is robbed, raped, beaten or killed while out of the cab because dispatch refused to do callouts.

What makes pizza delivery guys so vulnerable to robbery is that they get out of their vehicle at a known address, kinda what the cab companies want us, the independent contractors, to do. Since a phone number is required before a cab will be sent it is so easy to limit this window of vulnerability by calling them and having them come out to the cab.

The amount of time involved by dispatch in this task is negligible when compared to the returns from a safety standpoint. And callouts are of value to the driver not only in bad areas of town but also when the cab would have to be left in the middle of the street while a driver fights his or her way to the bouncer to bartender at a crowded bar or restaurant. Parking is not always readily available, and so many problems can be resolved through the simple expediency of the dispatcher or operator making a telephone call.

Hi everyone, and hey Rosie, I had to change the archive settings. I had to, because, well...it finally happened. Tonight while I was working I picked up some folks to take them to the Qwest Center for the Eagles show (I have trouble figuring out how these guys still sell tickets???!!! They've been around the block and then some. I think I've seen them, or some version of them 6 or 8 times, usually for near-to-free, back when they were good, and tonight, 25-30 years later, they wanted REAL money!). But anyway, I digress. So I picked up these people to take them to the show, and on the way there I was talking to them (cuz that's what I do here...) and the guy asks me my name. Then he says "I know you! I've been reading your stuff today!" Yep, our blog has been discovered. He did a search on the 'net, wanted the phone number for a taxi, and found us here at the blog. Our secrets are out in the general public...frightening...Anyway, they were really nice people...the guy that had read the blog was explaining his beaver problem, (quit giggling back there, I can hear you...the ANIMAL, you know, a rodent...) and how he had hired a trapper to get the beavers. All I could do to keep a straight face during that ride. Taken out of context the story was hilarious. I don't generally repeat the stories I hear in the cab, bad form, ya know, but sometimes, usually when I'm trying really hard to NOT listen or butt in, these people crack me up. Besides the things they actually TELL us, things they probably shouldn't but feel compelled to, some of the things they say to each other are enough to get me going. And the beaver story was right up there. Anyway, he has a professional trapper on the job, and it will all be better soon....heeheehee...
So Tom, why I changed the archive setting...turns out we had lotsa days we didn't write...who knew??? So going through the archives on a daily basis was a bit, um, boring. "No Page to Display"...over and over...I set it on weekly and that might be more than enough.
Cab business continues on. I heard about a driver at Safeway that got cut 3 weeks ago. Guy held a knife up to his throat and slashed him a few times. He's okay, he's a tough old bird. There does seem to be an increase in violence against drivers lately. Nearly every week or two there's something else. This is a bad thing. We're out here doing our job, trying not to piss off too many people, and some idiot wants to take advantage. So very not cool. Drivers that follow basic safety rules have a much better chance out here, but that's not all that's needed. Dispatch has to watch our backs, too. A good dispatcher can't forsee all the trouble, but they can make some decisions that protect the driver. When I was the overnight dispatcher at Safeway I had a driver get robbed. I know I wrote about it on here somewhere. I guess I should consider myself lucky that that was the only violent robbery I had on the air. As a driver I've looked down a gun three times, felt a knife blade against my skin a few times and been threatened with beer bottles, fists, and even talk of rape, but those things never came to pass and I didn't get robbed. Luck and brass got me through. And some damn good dispatchers. (I could only hope that our dispatchers were up to the task if anything like that should happen.) When I needed help, I got it, no questions, no "standby". They saved my life at least twice that I can absolutely count. The other times I had trouble there were other circumstances and I could ease my way out of the problem. But at least twice, if I hadn't had a top-notch dispatcher being aware, I don't know that I would be here. (Interestingly, those two dispatchers were named Howard and Alice, both names of two dispatchers I worked with when I first started driving here in Omaha after so many years. Kizmet.)Back then I was a night driver in Denver, my daughters were very young, 2&1/2, and 3&1/2 y/o at the time. It mattered that Mommy came home. Shortly after I started driving a cab my ex lost his job (this was the bad economy of the early-mid 80's) and for a time I was the sole supporter of our family. I drove a cab at first to fight boredom (and did it ever!), then I drove a cab to make the kind of money we needed to stay afloat. For a woman to make that kind of money doing anything was very tough, but driving the cab did it. So I drove nights. I learned a lot, too much for any 24 y/o married young woman at the time. Too much for most 50 y/o men...but I learned. And took it all in, all the good and the bad. There was lots of good, too many really fuuny stories...(I should have written that book), but also some damn depressing and dangerous things, too. Domestic violence calls always stick out. Nothing like sneaking a woman and her kids out of a house while her drunken husband snores, or worse, the times they were awake and tried to stop us. Or the hooker that's just been raped and beaten, but won't go to the cops. The drugs...so many drug calls in those days (cocaine was still the drug of choice). The regular customer that routinely armed me with a Glock 9 mm while I sat in the cab to wait for him for sometimes hours at a time and always in the worst parts of town. Nothing ever happened, but I never fell asleep, either. And that boy was BIG money. The things we do, the things we've done...yep, drivers have stories.
We know what safety has to be, but getting everyone on the same page is the most important part of keeping a driver safe and alive. Procedure, procedure, procedure! No skipping a beat, know procedure, stick to it, do it everytime. With more incidents lately, I don't want to drive nights. I will sometimes, because the money is there. I have to trust my instincts and hope my dispatcher has my back, too.
I've rambled enough, but I did want to mention one thing, speaking of procedure. Last week I was on the radio waiting to clear my school load when I heard a driver griping about not wanting to do a wait and return order because he had a persoanl to pick up in a little bit. After giving the dispatcher lots of grief, the driver was becoming angry when Dan got on the air and told him to go get the order. The driver had accepted the order, now it was his job to go get it. The driver continued to argue, but Dan was firm. And Dan was right. The only way this business works is sticking to certain policies (procedure!) and following through with them each time. Leeway can be granted in certain areas, (drivers are people, too!) but not areas that directly affect customer service, among other things. If the driver was trying to squeeze in one last order before his personal he had to know the possibility for something like that to happen. With my school loads I know I have to quit taking orders at certain times. That's the trade off for contract work. Guaranteed income = time constraints.
Anyway, it is bedtime, long day tomorrow, planting, pruning and other yard work. I'll try to stay out of the damn cab. We'll see.

Hello everyone- another beautiful day in the Big "O". It is so cold today- hard to believe I got sunburnt two days ago, and the temps were in the 90's. Anyhow- I wanted to thank everyone for the hardwork for the Berkshire Hathaway Event. It went very smooth and I didn't see any problems arise on our end. I did witness one on the Berkshire end on Friday night at Borshiems- but that was a gentleman who had obviously had to much to drink and decided to use his wife as a punching bag. So thanks again and hopefully we will have more cashflow like that with the new convention center here. Have a great week!

Tom, I learned a lot reading from the links provided on the site you listed. Since I haven't worked a lot this week I spent some time reading. Educational stuff they have on that site. Worth thinking about.
Anyway, my blog today is going to be about the Berkshires, Hathaways that is, wealthy folks. And cab stuff in general, too. I still have just one word for those people...cheap. They are the cheapest people I have ever had in the cab. Not that I ordinarily expect a tip just for showing up and doing my job, but these guys as a generalization, are by far, the worst tippers you can get into a cab. If the meter reads $4.95 ("I get a senior discount honey, are you going the shortest way?") these guys will wait for their nickel in change. I had a guy ask for his quarter back after a $15.75 fare, no waiting time charged while he and his friends spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where they were going. . And I didn't charge him the gas surcharge. That's the stuff they're made of. But, once again as before, business was good over the Berkshire-Hathaway weekend. I always miss it when it goes.
I did have one highlight in the weekend. I picked a lady up at Nebraska Furniture Mart with her teenage son. They were here for the meeting, obviously very wealthy, but also very normal, too. She wanted to stop at the Doubletree downtown for her luggage and then off to the airport. In the course of doing that she was asking me this and that about Omaha. Turns out she and her son had been here for four days, ridden in several cabs, and noone had told her about Omaha. She had lots of questions, had been asking others the same things she asked me, and yet none of the drivers had talked to her like an intelligent human being. I just don't get that. These people are our guests. Cheap though they may be, they are still visitors to our home. It's just common decency to be nice to them. She really liked Omaha, liked it more as we were talking. As Tom said earlier today, we ARE the ambassadors to the city (in Denver, that was part of our training, and also part of our job title, the mayor's office said so) and we need to know enough about Omaha, and be confident enough to talk to people about what we know. Anyway, after finding out our population, our economy, our lifestyle, this lady was even more impressed with Omaha. She owns houses in Chicago, Miami, and a flat in New York. She's looking to buy a place somewhere like Omaha so she, her kids and grandkids have a place "away from it all" where they can be normal and relax. She thinks midwesterners (that would be US) have the best values...hmmmm.....She showed her appreciation by giving me $40 for a $20.55 cab fare. It pays to be gracious. Now, the flip side of that is that her nearly $20 tip was about equal to all my combined tips for Berkshire. Oh well. They're still good money. This lady told me about two interesting things that have happened to her in cabs. One of them was that a couple of years ago she left $30,000 worth of jewelry in a cab, and never got it back. I know some people would say "Well, of course not", but I disagree. If it were me, yes she would have gotten it back. It's not mine, so plain and simple I would have returned it, ---I can't afford the karma. The other thing was that the same very month that happened her husband also left $30,000 in cash and jewelry in a cab. He never got it back, either. Really sad. I like to think that wouldn't happen here. The only comparison I have is when a guy that lived at the Park Avenue Towers named Bill Domino, left about $600 in blank money orders in my cab. Granted, it wasn't $30,000, but given that this guy lived on about $750 a month, this $600 was pretty important. Of course I returned it. And Bill gave me $2. There ya go. I've heard that he's dead now. Glad I did the right thing.
I haven't worked a lot this week. Luckily, last weekend was very profitable so I could afford a little time off. Also since I put in so many hours over the weekend I really needed to slack off a bit. I've been having a lot of pain lately...old back injury, ancient history, but when it fires up, and I get one more grocery order...like the lady the other day with, not one, not two...but count them 12, yes, 12 cases of beer. And of course all the regular gorceries, too. And of course she lives on the second floor of an apartment building, and of course she's extremely disabled. Ah, the life of a cabbie. Now, who the hell needs 12 cases of beer???
That's all for now, kids. Be good and I'll be back.
Colleen

http://hometown.aol.com/jonihansen/myhomepage/business


This is a GREAT read for all cab drivers, dispatchers, cab company owners, independent operators, and customers in general.

Also...

Sorry to be so long without input here on 'da blog...there are reasons...just not very good ones.

Welcome to Heather

You guys are GREAT...keep on bloggin...ask your self, what do others think about our business...then write some shit right here..

Also...some NEWS! (from the above website)

Alameda Times-Star
(Alameda, California)
May 4, 2004

Cabbies permitted to unionize
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Oakland's 200 cab drivers will be allowed to
unionize after the National Labor Relations Board on Monday
affirmed an earlier decision classifying the cabbies as
employees, not independent contractors, of the five big Oakland
firms.

The drivers' petition charged that a closely aligned network of
cab companies systematically takes advantage of drivers who
lease taxis. Drivers for Friendly Cab, Yellow Cab of the East
Bay, California Cab, Greyline Cab and Metro Cab are covered
by the decision.

"This is great news for all cabbies," said Makhan Dabb, a taxi
driver and representative. "I'm really happy."

Some drivers were overcome by emotion when told of the
board's decision, said Don Jelinek, their attorney.

"It was nothing short of screaming and crying when we got it in
the mail," Jelinek said. "It has been a very emotional day."

Eighteen months ago, the five cab companies appealed a
decision by the Oakland office of the National Labor Relations
Board to allow the drivers to unionize. The Washington, D.C.,
branch of the board unanimously rejected the appeal.

Representatives of the cab companies were not available for
comment Monday afternoon.

Drivers have already voted in an election that will decide
whether they will form a union. Jelinek said he expects the vote
to be overwhelmingly in favor of starting a union.

"Then they will begin negotiations for a proper contract," Jelinek
said.

In a separate action, the drivers are suing for back pay in
Alameda County Superior Court. The NLRB decision gives their
arguments in that case a boost, Jelinek said.

That claim alleges the drivers -- mostly immigrants from
Afghanistan, Nigeria and East India -- are made to sign blank
contracts that allow operators to arbitrarily change lease rates
and other terms.

"Many of these drivers send money back home," Jelinek said.
"This decision will have a massive impact."

In addition, drivers are forced to pay for "imaginary classes" and
foot the bill for repairs, even if the damage is covered by the
companies' insurance. The taxis are often in serious need of
maintenance, and drivers are punished for speaking out, Dabb
said.

"If something happens to me, what will happen to my family?"
Dabb said. "The cars should be safe, and we should be charged
a fair rate for the cabs."

E-mail Heather MacDonald at
hmacdonald@angnewspapers.com

So Heather has joined the crowd. Hello Heather! I hope you aren't afraid to jump in with any opinions and advice. We know we aren't! We're cabbies, and yes, we've had enough time sitting in a cab to solve most of the world's problems, just ask us! Anyway, welcome! And remember, we write here what we want to write, no holds barred...and you are encouraged to do the same.

Another one of my pet peeves was touched on in the Yahoo group today and I had to add to the discussion. This is what I posted...

"Here in Omaha the two cab companies both say you can't turn on the
timer while doing a trip. They both say a trip should be paid on
distance alone. I first drove in Denver where we always had the timer
on...unless we chose not to. I believe, from talking to others here
that the only reason they don't run time on a trip is because they
didn't understand the electronic meters v. the old mechanical ones,
back when they first switched out. The old meters ALWAYS had the
timer on, unless you turned it off. Anyway, this not running time is
really bugging me. It's just not right. If a customer wants to take a
route that I, as a driver, know will involve more traffic and
sitting, is it fair that they don't get charged? Or because they need
a cab when the weather is awful and we'll be barely moving at times,
is it fair that I'm working for near-free? I've spent a half hour
trying to get a customer a mile to their destination for $3.75. Does
everyone else run time? We are supposed to run the timer for waiting
only. (And even then, lots of cabbies here let the customer have 5
minutes or more for free, just because...of course I don't...I don't
believe in it.)"

When I first started driving here I thought they were kidding when they told me not to run the timer. I've ridden in cabs in many major cities, and I can tell you we're the only city I've EVER come across that turns off the timer. Does anyone have any idea how much money we're losing???!!! It's nuts! And as mentioned in the post at the group, most cities charge for things like bad weather, peak times, rush hour calls, etc. I'm not saying we should do that, but the idea that somehow my time is not valuable is appalling to me. Why would we not get paid for time involved in a trip? If the weather is bad, and a trip takes longer, the customer should pay for that. Why? Because they were the ones that wanted to go somewhere, knowing the weather was bad. I didn't choose for them to need a cab, it's just my job. If they were driving their own car they would burn more gas (as I do) costing them more in that way. If they had to pay a friend for the ride, don't you think dragging their friend out in bad weather would force them to pay more for the ride? It all costs more, no matter how you would choose to do it, and there's some damn good reasons for that. Just to list a few...time involved (no matter how short or long a trip), wear and tear (on nerves and vehicle), demand (everyone knows we're busier when the weather is bad, so taking those small orders really DOESN'T pay), waiting for just in-and-out of the vehicle time (sometimes this is the longest part of the trip), and also the extra cleaning needed to keep up the interior of the cab (meaning extra time, extra supplies = extra money taken right out of my pocket, for doing my job). I do believe the ONLY reason we don't charge time is because there was a lack of understanding the electronic meters compared to the old mechanical type back in the day. ALL mechanical meters had time automatically turned ON. And there was never a good reason for turning it off. I have asked the PSC about this, and at the time I was told that they have NO requirement for time v. distance. It's a company policy that cuts right to the pocketbooks of all Omaha cab drivers.
As drivers I know we like being busier, and there's not always a profit involved. Sometimes I've come home from a day knowing I didn't make as much money as I could have, but also knowing that I did good work that day. I took my time with a senior citizen, I encouraged someone to make a change they've been wanting, I helped an otherwise helpless individual, or I just acted friendly to a person with no friends. But really, we HAVE to be compensated for certain aspects of our job. Especially these days with fuel sky high and going higher, with so many shuttle and van services that work can be slim, and also with the fact we haven't had a rate increase in...I believe it's six years now. Anyone else know of anything that hasn't gone up in six years? I can't think of anything. Our work needs to be valued as the important job it is, just like all work. Without competent drivers, lots of people would themselves, be out of a job. And that kind of dependability has a price tag.

The danger of the industry

The last report on workplace violence and homicide places TAXI DRIVERS in the unenviable spot of #1 most dangerous occupation in North America at the present time, and this danger is rising. There are 20 homicides where taxi drivers are victims to every 100,000 drivers. Convenience store clerks are #2. In contrast, the police ratio is only 7 homicides to each 100,000 officers. This alone should tell you something.

The reasons for this is simple:
~you work alone
~you work all types of long, 8-12 hour shifts
~you work in isolated areas
~you always have ready cash
~you are always dealing with strangers
~very often, you have a language barrier, which is difficult to deal with
~your own peers often cheat the public, causing disrespect and contempt

We (Taxi Management & Staff) want you guys/gals to be safe and educated out there. We'll be looking into useful tips for you to utilize in the field that will hopefully be of help and interest to all of you. Feedback from you and what you feel would be useful would be great.

I read Colleen's suggestion of the driver meeting and that may be a possibility I will check on it.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to say I am sorry you feel that you didn't gain anything from the safety meeting. We have been looking into "taxi driver" safety and will be getting back to you shortly. Thank you for your opinion, and I will be reading and writing back regularly. heather

Since Gary and Tom have put in their two cents I might as well add my thoughts on our safety meeting as well. This was the first safety meeting I have attended here in Omaha, and like Gary said it was pretty obvious that the "safety" we were talking about was the safety of our cabs, our customers, and liability of the cab company. Driver safety was barely touched upon, and was also treated as if it's every driver for themselves, the company doesn't have a role in it. I understand the need for the information that was discussed at the meeting, the company needs to let drivers know about their issues with us as drivers and issues that pertain to the laws governing cabs. That just makes sense. But what needs to happen now is a meeting to discuss the drivers' issues with the company, with the state, and with our customers. This town has gone far too long with the drivers not having a voice, and it really needs to be corrected. I can't believe that in the job that has been deemed, as Tom said, the most dangerous job there is (depending on the poll and the year) that we have let any and all cab corporations decide the best policies, when the people making those decision have almost without exception, never driven a cab. Most have never even ridden in a cab. The idea that as drivers, we somehow don't know what we're talking about when we are the front line in the money-making process is ludicrous. I would think it would be in the companies' best interest to listen to drivers' concerns. Granted, there would be a lot of b.s. to get to anything a manager could actually use to help the drivers, many drivers just like the sound of their own voice and want to whine about any and all affronts, real or imagined. But there are drivers that know what they're talking about and see the bigger picture. And having that kind of input in any organization has been proven to create a better product. As a former dispatcher and as a driver, and also as a cab customer, I can tell you that quite often there is confusion, distrust and miscommunication. Add management, phone operators and third party clients to the mix and it's a wonder anything gets done properly at all.
All in all, I would say the safety meeting was just about what I expected, but not what I had hoped it would be.

Safety....

Who does it concern, what it is and isn't, when is it the most important, where would you find out about safety related issues, why it IS so important in, statistically, "the most dangerous job in the free (and not so free) world, and of course, HOW can we as "Independent Contractors"use wisdom, technology, communication, and experience to be as safe as we can be every single day.

I was a victim of an armed robbery and I have been reflecting on the incident for the last few weeks.

I would like to hear your views on Taxi Safety before I write the tale of a typical taxi robbery that occurred a few weeks ago. This was not a news worthy robbery but it did involve someone very dear to me. ME!

In other news- www.omahagasprices.com
is self explanatory.

Another "Safety Meeting" comes and goes. A little more than an hour of listening to what they (the management of Happy Cab) want us to hear while being told that our (the drivers') concerns about saftey are not part of the agenda.

Also the facility in which it was held, while much nicer than sitting around the garage, was a long way to walk from the parking lot for those of us who are even remotely mobility impaired.

This hilights one difference between management and drivers (independent contractors). Safety to management involves only keeping the equipment in good shape. Safety to an independent contractor means taking all steps to protect us from being robbed, killed, or car-jacked.

One item suggested is to remain in radio contact with the dispatcher if we feel a situation may happen. This will help only if the dispatcher cares enough and is smart enough to handle the problem, and assumes that you can get thru to the dispatcher on the radio, which is not always true.

The simple truth is that I, as an independent contractor, must have the ability to say who gets into my cab and who doesn't, and to put anyone I deem dangerous out of my cab at any time. In the inteerest of safety, management at Happy Cab should not only support me in this, but encourage me to do so.

I would like to thank and welcome our new member "Gary". He is a cabdriver for Happy, Yellow, Checker, Cornhusker, and Metro Express (damn, can anyone think of an acronym for this company?...HYCCME just doesn't make it) with a great mind, a good heart, and a fairly good disposition.

Be sure to read his post below. Common HorseShit sense if I do say so myself.

The Public Service Commisions hearing on the Safeway Cab proposal for a Rate increase was cancelled. Probably due to a foot of snow an wind chill of -30 degrees. ...anyone got that beat??

BTW:...Join the Taxi Drivers of America Yahoo Group below





Click to subscribe to taxidriversofamerica



...OR

To quell any rumors about a hearing on a rate increase, I have posted the following from the Nebraska PSC (Public Service Commision). Does anyone besides myself want to attend? 402.813.5826 We should carpool!

NEBRASKA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
Schedule of Proceedings Before the Commission
January 27, 2004, to February 2, 2004
Tuesday, January 27, 2004:
TR-132 Commission Hearing Room, Lincoln.
1:00 Safeway Cabs, Omaha, seeking authority to adjust its rates and
charges.
1:30 Commission Hearing Room, Lincoln.
Paging Services Workshop

Taxicab 'Lease' Racket
How The Taxicab Industry Was Junked
Mr. Burton Wolfe

HOW THE TAXICAB INDUSTRY WAS JUNKED

The Independent Contractor Racket (Taxi Drivers)

Significant Taxi Related Documents

All of the links above and below were taken from the excellent website Taxi-l.org by Mr. Burton Wolfe

Taxicabs on the InterNet

Of all the comments about the "taxi industry" (from cab drivers) this one has to be right up there with the best

Washington Free Press
Seattle, Washington, USA
December 1999
Letter to the Editor


Making Cabbies Truly Independent
Dear Editor,
This is a note to Mr. Burton Wolfe. In response to your August 1999 article “The Independent Contractor Racket” (WFP issue 40), let me say that I agree with your assessment, but not your remedy.

There is no question that most taxi drivers are employees who have been swindled out of their rights as employees. I would like someone to explain how a person can be an independent contractor when they have no right or authority to negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract they are being asked to agree to. This is the result of the NLRB, the IRS, and other agencies completely falling down on the job. In all of these cases, so-called independent contractor drivers are refused licenses of their own by the regulating authorities. Licenses to operate taxis are issued to companies, or a limited number of individuals, setting up a situation requiring that the rest of the taxi drivers must be employed by license holders.

This scheme was crafted in the 1920's and 1930's when communism and fascism were viewed as the saviors of mankind, and forceful government involvement was seen as the only remedy for the failure of capitalism. So, government regulation of taxi markets was designed to run small or independent operators out of business, and concentrate the market into the hands of a few large operators, who then could be more easily controlled by government. This scheme also forced independent operators to either become employees of larger concerns, or leave the industry completely.

Taxi Regulation is Outdated

Fascism failed. So did communism. But their ghosts live on in the modern American taxi regulatory racket. And a racket it truly is. Think about it. What other industry is regulated this way? What other industry requires employees to pay for the privilege of working, without any voice whatsoever in the operation or conduct of the business, with nothing more than a take it (in the shorts) or leave it relationship, with obviously fraudulent contracts?

Would lawyers tolerate being treated this way? Forced to pay for the privilege of working with no power whatsoever to negotiate the terms of their contracts? The thought of thousands of lawyers rioting in the streets almost brings tears to my eyes. But you know that they would never allow such a scheme to be perpetrated on themselves. So why is this considered by management and government to be the best way to control taxi drivers? ~o reasons: Greed and bigotry, the same two vices propelling slavery on the North American continent for four hundred years.

The fact that greed motivates the taxi regulatory racket cannot be disputed. By greed I mean not just the normal desire to make a good living in your chosen profession. What I mean is the evil intent to take away from other people what is rightfully theirs, even if the consequences are negative for both parties. The primary motivation of the taxi industry and regulators is to cheat the system, not just to make money. Cheating is at the heart of the regulatory nightmare that afflicts the industry today. The drivers cheat on their trip sheets. The companies cheat the drivers out of their rights, and thereby their property. Both of them cheat the tax collector.

System Designed for Swindling

Bigotry is a little harder to pin down. But look at what the taxi industry has become. As late as the 1970's, most taxi drivers were indigenous to their market, and largely middle class. Today, large numbers of taxi drivers are either black, Hispanic, or alien, almost all are either poor, lower class or lower middle class. In the case of American taxi drivers, they tend to be poor, poorly educated, and generally not well suited to deal with the complexities of the relationship they find themselves in with the taxi companies. They, like the alien drivers, have no real understanding of the meaning of employment versus independent contractor status, or how any of this is decided, and whether their employment designation is in their best interest. In short, they don't have a clue. All they want is a job. What they get is a swindle.

My experience in the industry is that the management of the taxi companies have gone out of their way to force educated drivers out of the industry completely, in favor of gullible poor and foreign labor. The reason the blacks and Hispanics show up more frequently now than they did twenty years ago is that there is still a large enough percentage of those populations available to occupy the, less than desirable jobs. Plus, taxi driving is a no-skill, entry-level job as far as rookie drivers are concerned. Veteran drivers know how much skill is involved. But most companies just want warm bodies who pay up on time.

One more point on bigotry. The bigotry I mention is not necessarily racial bigotry. It is the way that affluent people traditionally despise those less successful or well off than themselves. This contempt for the poor is as old as history. The traditional method of dealing with the poor has been to blame them for their plight. This gives the non-poor a convenient way of excusing themselves from any complicity in the situation. While poor people are not poor because rich people are rich, as communism presumes, in the case of taxi drivers, poor cab drivers are poor because rich managers, legislators and regulators have made them that way. People who manipulate and abuse their victims often despise them as well. It is a sort of sadism. Cruelty, really.

This is also an element of laziness in all of this. In the case of greed, they think to themselves, “Why should I work for mine when I can just steal yours?” Bigotry excuses the bigots from the hard work of thinking and caring.

Let Contractors Be Independent

The remedies to this situation actually start by getting government out of the industry, not more involved. There is still a need for a legitimate independent contractor designation. But ultimately, the market will decide the future of employment in America, not the NLRB. If people accept the swindles companies like Xerox perpetrate, then that's their choice. Companies that abuse the independent contractor status do so primarily to evade laws and regulations that effectively mandate expenses, and restrictions on their activities. They have found it to be cheaper to twist the law out of all recognition than to challenge the law directly. Their actions are understandable, not ethical.

The other remedy is to give taxi drivers the choice of signing up with a company or going independent. Most drivers will stay with their companies because of dispatch services. If the abuses grow too severe, or lease fees go too high, then significant numbers of drivers can leave the plantation and strike out on their own. This will help keep the industry honest. As it is, the drivers' only option is to give up their livelihoods. This is not a reasonable alternative, and demonstrates the viciousness of the entire system. It is similar to saying that every slave who didn't want to be a slave any more could always kill himself. Therefore, one would conclude (wrongly) that any slave who was not dead was happy to be a slave.

Independent drivers and operators will not destroy the industry. Some industrious outsiders will eventually offer serious competition to the existing companies. And that would eat into profits. That's exactly why they all want to be so heavily regulated. They prefer to trade liberty for profit.

Guy L. Evans
Aurora, Colorado

Guy Evans was a taxi driver in Denver from 1979 to 1998 and has been fighting the independent contractor battle since 1984.



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My background is in business, specifically the computer end of business, so my opinions may not have a lot of bearing on the cab industry. However, I was invited to contribute, and I never pass up a chance to voice an opinion.

A metropolitan area the size of Omaha should support 300 cabs. Everyone I talk to has an opinion as to why we can’t keep 50 busy on most days, but I think to answer that question you need to look at who is riding cabs.

This breaks down into 4 groups of people:

1). Folks who have lost their driving privileges or never had them. With this group they are forced to take cabs and nothing you can do, positive or negative, is likely to cause more than a temporary shift from one cab company to the other.

2). Folks who ride cabs because agencies pay for their ride (i.e. Share advantage, Magellan, school loads, etc.) These will continue to ride cabs, unless the agencies find a more cost efficient method of handling the transportation. It is vital that all drivers travel only reasonable distances and use only reasonable waiting time on these charges. A temporary gain of a few bucks may end up equating to a huge loss of business to a van service, and we don’t want that.

3). Folks who ride home after drinking too much. If these sit around too long after the order they may decide they have sobered up and drive home. This isn’t good for us, and it isn’t good for them.

4). Folks who ride cabs for special events. This would include the safe ride home program, New years eve, St. Patrick’s day, office holiday parties, and events at the Qwest center. Of the 4 groups, this is the only one in which we may be able to encourage people to become more active riders.

If every fare in the 4th group could be picked up 15 minutes after the order was called in, was provided a ride without taking the scenic route and running up the fare, in a reasonably clean cab driven by a friendly, courteous driver, some of these people would move from the 4th group to the 3rd, and become regular customers.

So, why can’t we do this?

Very seldom do we not have enough cabs on the road to handle the orders. Frequently, there are cabs logged into zones with no orders while orders wait in other zones. While we are all independent contractors and can choose which zones we wish to work, perhaps a way could be devised to keep track of the times a driver takes an order out of the zone he is in, with perhaps a small incentive to encourage this practice. This will reward the drivers willing to move orders without penalizing those who don’t want to leave their zone.

More frequently, however, at peak times, drivers and customers on the phone hear the dreaded words, “The computer is down”. This infuriates the drivers, and quite frankly our customers really don’t care. All they want is their cab in a timely fashion.

Until the computer can handle the problem, a procedure needs to be in place so that voice dispatching starts IMMEDIATELY when a computer problem is encountered. Since most of our dispatchers are not real good at voice dispatching, they need to be trained how to do it. Drivers also need to be trained to keep radio traffic to a minimum when voice dispatching.

If anything can be done to fix the computer problem, do it. If nothing can be done to fix the problem, replace the computers. No matter what the cost. The alternative is allowing the general public to continue to think that cabs are not dependable in the city.

If the general public realizes that cabs are dependable, even at peak times, more and more people will start to take cabs and everyone will make more money.

Gary

Tom, I was reading through your post about the rates, and I think something like that would be good here in Omaha, too. We need to increase the flag drop rate due to the fact that we have just too many small orders. It's just not cost effective to run six or eight miles for a $2.50 order, and with the type of dispatching we use a driver has no hope of getting the next order that will be coming out of the same area to help pay the cost. If our dispatchers looked out for us and gave us the next order that would be one thing, but with the automated system you can't count on it. I keep hearing rumors about a rate increase, but I have no idea if there's any truth to it. Of course, like has been said before, if the rate increase does happen, you can bet our lease rates will go up. It always seems to be that the guys with the deep pockets keep those pockets lined pretty well. And when summer rolls around and there's damn little work, will our lease go down? Fat chance. It just doesn't work that way. As much as I like this job, like every long time cabbie, I hate it too.

Taxicab rates and fares, San Francisco October 2002
Three proposals, discussion and suggestions

San Francisco's taxicab rate of fare is under review at the Board of Supervisors. The current rate became effective in Fall 2000.

The current rate is:

$2.50 for the first 1/5 mile or 60 seconds of waiting time, and

$0.40 for each additional 1/5 mile ($2.00 per mile)or 60 seconds of waiting time ($24.00 per hour).

Some trips over 15 miles may be charged at 150% of the amount showing on the meter. The 50% off-meter charge may cause an abrupt steep increase in the fare between 15 miles and 15.01 miles.

Due to a mathematical quirk in the rate ordinance of 2002, the current initial distance is 1/5 mile, not 1/6 mile as indicated on the rate cards. It means that customers get a little extra distance for the current $2.50 initial charge. In practice, one trip in six is currently undercharged by $0.40.

December 2002 update: the rates adopted in November are the same as the SFTA proposal below, except that the flagfall is $2.85, not $2.75.



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The SFTA proposal:
A 12% increase

The San Francisco Taxicab Association has proposed an increase in the current rate of fare.

The new rate would be:

$2.75 for the first 1/5 mile or 60 seconds of waiting time, and

$0.45 for each additional 1/5 mile ($2.25 per mile) or 60 seconds of waiting time($27.00 per hour).

The following charts illustrate the effect of the SFTA proposed rate change. The first and second charts show the effect on fares over short and long distances. The third chart shows the percentage change between the current and proposed fares.

Observe that the lines in the two fare charts grow steadily further apart. The longer the trip, the larger the amount of the fare increase.

A ride to the airport that now costs $31.30 would go up $3.85 to $35.15, a 12.3% increase.

A 3 mile trip that now costs $9.30 would go up $1.10 to $10.40, an 11.8% increase.



Discussion of the SFTA proposal

The new rate would be, roughly, an across the board 12% increase. Long trip customers would see the largest fare increases.

If there is no decline in business following the rate increase, a driver who currently brings in $170 in fares (not including tips) would get $190, and a driver who currently brings in $200 in fares would get $224. Allowing for additional tips, drivers might see an extra $25-30 per shift. However, this is very unlikely because there is almost certain to be a decline in business following a 12% fare increase.

If New York City's closely studied 1996 fare increase is a reliable indicator, a 12% increase in fares should result in a 9.6% increase in revenue per mile. In that case, a driver currently bringing in $170 in fares would get $186, and a driver bringing in $200 in fares would get $219. Drivers might see an additional $20-25 per shift.

More likely, in my opinion, increased revenues would be less than expected, maybe just 6%. In that case drivers might see a revenue increase of just $12-15 per shift.

The reasons for predicting lower than expected revnues include BART, which begins service to the airport in a few months. A 12% fare increase on trips to and from the airport will give customers even more reason to choose BART. Between a $35 fare, an airport fee and a tip, customers will be paying $40 or more for an airport ride.

More generally, the Bay Area economy is experiencing its steepest downturn in many years. A large rate increase in the face of a severe recession may backfire, even if previous rate increases have always been advantageous.

The SFTA proposal envisions sufficient new fare revenue to more than make up for a proposed increase of $8 in the lease fees charged to drivers, which are currently pegged by regulation to $83.50 per shift. If new revenues are well below what might be expected in better times, then drivers may realize very little from the proposed increase.

An undesireable side effect of the SFTA proposed rate formula is that nickels begin appearing on the meter. Currently, all fares have a cents amount that is either 10, 30, 50, 70 or 90 cents. With five-cents in the picture, there will be 20 different cents amounts that may appear as part of the fare. The meter will show amounts such as $9.95. Why give customers such a blatant invitation to tip the driver a nickel?




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An alternate proposal:
A fifty-cent increase

If the current rate is increased to $3.00 for the initial charge, but everything else stays the same, the effect is a fifty-cent increase on all fares regardless of long or short distance.

The new rate of fare would be:

$3.00 for the first 1/5 mile or 60 seconds of waiting time, and

$0.40 for each additional 1/5 mile ($2.00 per mile) or 60 seconds of waiting time ($24.00 per hour).

The amount of expected new revenue would be linked to the number of trips, not the mileage as in the SFTA proposal. A driver who works the airport exclusively might see as little as $3 extra per shift because he has few trips. A driver with many short trips in the city might get an additional $10-15.

Since the increased price is small on any one trip, just fifty cents higher, customers may not perceive it as a significant increase. In that case, there is reason for optimism that most of the fare increase may actually materialize as additional revenues.



A fifty-cent increase to the initial charge may be better than a 12% fare increase. It will be seen as a small increase and will be less likely to drive customers to competing transport services. A fifty-cent increase will reward radio players for concentrating on short trips in the City. It will not increase mileage and waiting time charges, nor will it cause nickel amounts to appear on the meter.




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A third proposal:
Increase the flag by 90 cents and double the distance

A better way to accomplish a fifty-cent increase is to increase the initial distance to 2/5 of a mile, and increase the initial charge to $3.40.

The new rate would be:

$3.40 for the first 2/5 mile or 120 seconds of wait time, and

$0.40 for each additional 1/5 mile ($2.00 per mile) or 60 seconds of waiting time ($24.00 per hour).

The charts reveal that there is almost no difference bewteen this proposal and the previous one. Its advantage is that a customer may perceive additional value in the increased initial mileage. Our current initial distance is too short at 1/5 mile because very few trips are that short. It's better to merge the first "tick" into the initial charge and point to the increased initial distance as a selling point.



A less immediately obvious benefit of using this approach is that it gets SF on track for a more sophisticated fare structure utilizing multiple intervals of time and distance. There is a tendency to shy away from the slightly more complex arithmetic involved, but it has been put to good use in other places, notably London. SF should abandon the very restricted rate formulas of the past, which have used just a single intervals of distance such as the current 1/5 mile.

After increasing the initial distance to 2/5 mile, our next step ought to be adding a third interval, 1/10 mile that would apply after 15 miles. It would substitute a London-style "clock and a half" rate for our current "meter and a half" surcharge. The long distance surcharge would appear on the meter instead of off-meter as happens now. It would increase the number of long trips by removing the current large sticker shock that happens at 15.01 miles.




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This was SF fare talks of last year...Comments??? e-mail me at trose@cox.net

WHEW! I made it!
One big whew! now that the holidays are over. I have to say that I am always glad to see the holiday season end. Not that I'm such a Grinch, it's just the extra work involved, both at home and at work. Driving a cab during this time of year can be very profitable. It can also be a big fat headache.
During the last month we've been spending a good part of our time hauling around revelers and drunks. There is a difference. Revelers tip better.
Now that the holidays are over, and I have had a few months at my new cabdriving job, I think I can sit back and give a better opinion on working for this company. On the one hand, certain pros are a given. With this company there is more independence, more flexibility, more payoff for doing a good job. On the other hand, there's the stress of paying a lease, the fear of not knowing where or if you will make any money, and the biggest problem, the computer system used to dispatch cabs.
Any of our drivers here in Omaha know what a headache the computer can be. It works quite good most of the time. It's the REST of the time when you have to scratch your head and say "hmmm?".
On New Years Eve..THE big night of the year, of course the system failed. For about 5 1/2 hours we were SOL. Ok, not entirely. The guy that handles the system, I think his title is manager of something or another (operations, perhaps?), took over and did a fine job dispatching. The real problem was the lack of skill on the part of the real dispatchers that evening, and the lack of radio etiquette by the drivers.
As a dispatcher I can tell you that the drivers behavior that night would have prompted me to get them to shape up quickly or I would have thrown them off the air. Noone likes having problems with the system, but it happens, and when it happens, that's when good training comes in. Something the biggest share of these drivers are void of.
As I was listening to the chaos on the air that night, and attempting to be heard myself, I noticed one very important detail. The drivers that work here that came over from the other cab company like I did, a company entirely voice dispatched, these drivers performed nicely. No screaming, no fits of rage, no rudeness. The other drivers, the bulk of the company, acted like a bunch of spoiled children.."Me, me, me"...all clammering for attention. And in several instances they had nothing to report, nothing to contribute, just eating up air time on a very busy radio with problems and situations that they should have been able to handle on their own. Whiners.
One note should be made here, that even though the voice dispatching came together after the boss took over, the fact is it never should have come to that. The computer should not have fouled up on such a busy night, and when it did, the dispatchers that were working should have known what to do and how to handle the drivers. On both those points the company failed miserably. I have dispatched through some very busy times, and although I was working with a lot less cabs, busy is relative and mayhem was not allowed. When chaos threatens, that's when you line up your ducks sytematically and thoroughly to get the job done.
The one word that shines through from that night is "standby". How many times did we have to hear that word? When the lame dispatchers were doing whatever it is they were doing (it wasn't dispatching, that's for sure) they said it over and over and over. Would it have been so hard to listen to what the driver had to say, even if you couldn't do anything about it at that time? When you dispatch, everything that the driver is confronting is on your shoulders. Most drivers are considerate enough to deal with a lot of their own problems, some are not. Either way, it all goes to dispatch. And that's where organization and leadership come into play. If these drivers are not radio trained, train them right then and there. Get their attention and keep it. Let them know someone is in charge and that someone is you. Think of them as a bunch of errant children in need of guidance. While that sounds severe, it isn't too far off the mark. When all hell breaks loose of any kind anywhere, people look to leaders. That's the dispatchers job. Be the leader, be the boss. Take control. And yes, drivers respect that.
We have a computer system that needs work. I don't know if it's outdated software, hardware or what, but something needs to be done. Period. I'm tired of hearing the drivers bitch, tired of hearing the customers bitch. Fix it. It's a machine...fix it! If we don't have the right people to fix it, find them, replace the system, whatever it takes. Money..lots of it, is riding on this system and the excuses are running thin and sounding lame. FIX IT.
Enough of my rant (and I've been relatively mild in my opinion here, I believe), if you really want to know how I feel about some of the problems I'm facing here, just wait till my next post. Business has been so awful lately that I have to go out and drive in the evenings, against all that is right and proper, just to make sure I make some amount of money to pay my bills. When a full time day driver can't get enough work to earn a living, someone should be looking at the cab industry here.
Houston, (Omaha) we have a problem.

--- In taxidriversofamerica@yahoogroups.com, "edwarddenaut"
wrote:

Why do they kill cab drivers?

In the August 2001 trial of a man accused of murdering a
taxicab driver, Assistant County Prosecutor George Rukovena told a
Cleveland jury:

"He killed David Link because he wanted to brag about it."

How often does this happen, that the motive in a taxi
homicide is not really robbery, but rather to act out a tough-guy role? The driver
is just as dead whether it is robbery or something else, so does the motive
even matter?

I think that motive does matter. It makes a difference if the
person is after your money, or if he is working on his self-esteem.

Based on a close reading of hundreds of news articles, I
believe that easily half of all taxicab driver homicides are motivated by
something other than robbery. Compelling evidence is seen in the fact that
most cab homicides are "senseless murders" and on the unpleasant fact that
grossly excessive violence is a characteristic feature of taxi homicides.

Senseless murders have a pattern to them. According to UCLA
sociologist Jack Katz, many violent criminals are acting out a
role.

They don't really care about the victim or the money, and they are only
dimly aware (if at all) of the predictable scripts that they are
following.

The sociologist argues that robbing the victim is almost an
afterthought, helping the criminal make sense out of his own actions in
committing the murder.

In my opinion, cab drivers are absolutely barking up the
wrong tree to approach driver safety as an exercise in robbery prevention. It
is about preventing people from using our taxicabs as a theater or stage for
acting out specific patterns of behavior.

One pattern in behavior associated with senseless murder has
to do with defilement of the victim. I'll skip the detailed argument
here, noting that scores of examples are readily at hand, and ask instead: how
many times does an assailant have to shoot a man in the head if his
purpose is simply to get the driver's money?

A second pattern associated with senseless murder has to do
with chaos. The assailant is unconsciously driven to create a chaotic situation.

If it is true that many violent criminals are acting out a
definable role, then it should be possible to recognize when the script
begins to unfold in a taxicab. We should be able to get an early warning when
extremely dangerous patterns of behavior begin.

I do not claim to have the answers, but here are some of the
questions.

How, for instance, should a cab driver regard a difficult
customer who spits or who deliberately dumps a beverage in the cab? Are
those acts of defilement? What is the appropriate response, and is the response
different if you know that acts of defilement are associated with
acts of senseless murder?

How important is it for a driver to maintain order in the
cab?

Where is the boundary between a boisterous or unruly situation and a
chaotic situation? Is there a line between customer service and driver
safety, and does "chaos" define that line?

Maybe the solutions that work to prevent robberies are also
the same solutions that work to prevent senseless murders. But maybe not,
especially the standard advice to be a compliant victim in an assault. If the
antagonist seems more intent on playing a role than getting the money, a
driver might be better off fighting back or trying to get away even if
attempting to do so is a high risk move.

My strategy is to laugh and smile a lot with my customers,
and to share many good words, and also to keep a bullet-resistant partition
between us whenever possible. The shield is a minor inconvenience
most of the time, but when the one-in-a-thousand, or the one-in-ten-
thousand, starts spitting or trashing the place or causing me to think the
word "chaos," I will have some time and space to consider what's next in
this script!

-
Charles
Rathbone



(Charles Rathbone currently drives a cab in San Francisco. His
interest in taxicab driver safety dates from 1992 when he attended the
funeral of a coworker, the second driver slain in less than a year. Since then
he has played a lead role in organizing a campaign that led to ten public
hearings and passage of the 1994 taxi safety law in San Francisco, performed
an analysis of the information available on hundreds of fatal assaults,
testified as an expert witness in the trial of a taxicab driver accused of
murder, and prepared articles on safety issues which have been
printed in many taxi publications. )



Pattern in taxi homicides

The typical fatal scenario is a night time shooting from inside
the cab.

Most of the deaths are due to head or neck injuries, and most of the
assailants are in their teens. The following are the main findings
from my report "606 Taxicab Driver Homicides, United States and Canada,
1980- 1994"



94% of the attacks occur when the driver is inside the cab.

85% of the fatal injuries are gunshot wounds.

82% of the assaults occur at night.

74% of the deaths are due to head and neck injuries.

64% of the deaths are from gunshots to the head.

66% of the assailants are under age twenty.

47% of the assailants act alone.

25% of the assailants are outside the cab.



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 03:00:35 -0000
From: bassmaster_65321
Subject: Ottawa Taxi Dispatchers go out on strike

Bringin' in the New Year on the picket line - Ottawa taxi
dispatchers on strike
[January 1, 2004] OTTAWA - Moments before the clock struck twelve,
taxi dispatchers, members of CUPE 4266, filed out of work and
gathered at the picket line. Last minute talks broke off between the
union and Coventry Connections' ZipTrack as the central demands for
a wage increase and a benefit plan were not met by the company. The
47 taxi dispatchers take calls for BlueLine, Capital, Veterans and
DJ Taxi in Ottawa.

"Before negotiations these were low-waged workers with no benefits.
After negotiations, they remain low-waged workers with no benefits.
This is why we are on strike," said Andy Mele, CUPE National
Representative and chief negotiator. "ZipTrack has given us no
choice but to fight for what is fair." Mele characterized the
negotiations as "slow and like pulling teeth."

"It's a slap in the face," said Donna Reaney, a dispatcher and Chief
Steward, CUPE 4266. Reaney has been with the company for over 15
years. "We've waited a long time for a fair wage and benefit plan
and can't wait any longer. It's time ZipTrack learned to respect the
work that we do." The dispatchers take between 500 and 1000 calls a
night.

Over 100 people brought in the New Year on the picket line outside
ZipTrack offices at 455 Coventry Road. BlueLine and Capital Taxi
cabs lined both sides of the street in support of the dispatchers
and were greeted with load cheers as they pulled in. Families
brought their children and together they braved the cold in support
of this fight for a fair contract.

The taxi dispatchers make on average $9 an hour and have no benefit
plan. A leaflet distributed on the picket line urges supporters not
to call a cab, but to flag them down or use alternate means of
transportation for the duration of the strike.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) represents over half a
million workers.




________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________




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EYE-OPENING FOR SURE

Maybe NOW is the time to call for an "Omaha Taxi Drivers Association"or OTDA and citizens of Omaha should call for an "Omaha TaxiCab Commission"before something happens and the public asks...WHY DIDN'T WE DO SOMETHING YESTERDAY?.

Whatcha Think?
Email Us

Very interesting report from Dallas. All should read.
http://www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/eng/council_briefings/briefings/20031015_dallas_taxicab_review.pdf

Watch out Omaha....Omaha Taxi View (the magazine) could become THE taxi newspaper for Omaha,,,whatcha think Colleen? Could we pull this off? Not enough cabs you say? Right...and with me promoting less cabs with higher leases...ha!

--------------------
Fare coverage
--------------------

Newspaper caters to local taxi drivers

By James M. Flammang
Special to the Tribune

November 2, 2003

Sitting behind the wheel of a cab for long stretches at the O'Hare International Airport staging area gave George Lutfallah time to think. He'd driven a cab before, while in college. After receiving an MBA and doing a stint at an accounting/consulting firm, he wanted to strike out on his own.

While struggling to get a company off the ground, he needed to make a living. So, he returned to taxi driving.

"It was Friday night" at O'Hare, Lutfallah recalls, and he was thinking, "What am I doing here?" Soon, his thoughts began to focus on his cabbie colleagues. "There were a lot of issues that drivers were talking about," Lutfallah said. "There were a lot of rumors going around.

"At the same time, I saw that people were handing out fliers," urging drivers to visit a certain restaurant or have their oil changed at a specific garage. With so many potential advertisers, the idea for a drivers publication began to germinate.

And there was the possible circulation with about 6,750 cabs and 17,000 active drivers in Chicago, plus thousands more in the suburbs.

In his research, Lutfallah discovered an article about the Chicago Taxi Times, a similar publication founded a decade earlier. "I didn't know if it was still around," he recalls. "I didn't want to step on anyone's toes."

He found Kenneth Cooper, editor of the Chicago Taxi Times from 1992 until the paper folded in mid-decade. Back issues and Cooper helped Lutfallah envision his venture.

Even now, "he's always giving me great advice and support, "Lutfallah said.

The first issue of Lutfallah's paper, the Chicago Dispatcher, was published in February 2002. It's free to cabdrivers and $1 to others. Some 15 people contribute to each month's issue, working independently.

About 10,000 copies of each issue go to 80 or 90 distribution points, including every cab company. Distribution reaches as far west as Elgin.

"I'll find that a lot of drivers want to tell me some things," Lutfallah said. "It gives me a chance to stay in touch with them."

"It's good," said Aurimas Palaitis as he sat in a taxi line at O'Hare. Besides doing a good job of providing practical information on conventions and business spots, the Chicago Dispatcher delivers details on "crime scenes" that affect taxi drivers.

"There are a lot of problems that we have," Palaitis said, which need to be publicized beyond the driver group. Because the Dispatcher is distributed mainly to cab drivers, though, the general public does not usually learn about them. In addition to coverage in the Dispatcher, Palaitis said, "some articles should be in other papers, including the Chicago Tribune."

Rafi E. Mohammed says the Dispatcher is "nice for the cab drivers."

Vladimir Golomb, a 12-year veteran behind the wheel, agrees. "I like the articles, the interviews," Golomb said, as well as the "taxi news." He appreciates the Dispatcher's focus on drivers, showing "what happens to them, and the experiences they have."

Issue No. 1 contained 12 pages, but lately the size has grown to 24 or 28 pages. "We want to be sure to get it in the drivers' hands before the 1st" of each month, Lutfallah said, so they can benefit from the calendar. Lutfallah believes that "within the next couple of months," it will further increase in size. He also foresees increasing the publishing frequency, to twice a month if not weekly.

In soliciting advertising, Lutfallah started with the Chicago Taxi Times. O'Brien's Restaurant on Wells Street committed to advertising since the first issue. "We don't have much attrition in terms of our advertisers," Lutfallah said. "They tend to stick with us."

Columns such as Dear Cabbie and Cabbie of the Month were modeled on the old paper. Some cabbies contribute to the paper. Submissions also come from people who don't necessarily drive but "have a fondness for cabdrivers," Lutfallah said. He cites the example of a man who wrote to inform drivers he felt their talking on cell phones was "highly unprofessional."

Quite a few contributors are anonymous or use pen names, often because they fear retribution.

Like his 1990s predecessors at the Chicago Taxi Times, Lutfallah likes to take on serious issues that affect drivers--and their passengers. Illegitimate cabs rank high on that list.

Late in 2002, Lutfallah investigated illegitimate cabs at O'Hare. "We actually followed this particular driver," he recalls. A traveler had arrived from Nigeria. "He walked out, saw this guy there, not a licensed Chicago cabbie. He got in this cab, and we followed. [The cabbie] was parked out in the terminals for about 15 minutes, so we knew there was something going on. He obviously didn't get a call."

Lutfallah talked to the passenger afterward. He'd wanted to go to the Blue Line train (which has a station in an O'Hare terminal), with a final destination of Chicago Heights. "This guy charged him [nearly] $70 and dropped him off ... nowhere near his [destination]. That stuff just goes on all the time."

A picture story in the Dispatcher asked "Can you spot the real cab?" Taxis driven by hustlers don't necessarily look much different. "We were called by some cabdrivers who said, you've got to go down there and expose this."

Chicago Dispatcher also helps drivers. One former cab driver had caught a rapist. But he ran into personal problems and wound up sleeping in a hotel lobby. After Lutfallah wrote about him, the hotel threw him out. But American Taxi gave the man a job, answering phones.

"George has that integrity," said former editor Cooper. He cited a case in which a cabbie had been murdered. In addition to publicizing the incident, Lutfallah was instrumental in establishing a fund for the driver's family.

"When I started driving a cab" as a 21-year-old student, Lutfallah said, "I didn't realize how difficult it was. ... You're pretty much forced to work a lot of hours. ... If I had a cab for 24 hours, I was working 14 hours straight. And having the [protective] shield ...forces you to sit more upright. It really takes its toll after a while."

Even so, "I enjoy driving a cab," said Lutfallah. "Every once in a while I have to, at the very least, just to keep in touch."

Early in 2003, Lutfallah started a radio program to complement the paper. Co-hosted by Daniel Dorame, the talk show may be heard on Fridays from 11 p.m. to midnight on WSBC-AM 1240 AM and WCFJ-AM 1470.

"Friday night's a time when all the drivers are out," Lutfallah said, and the radio show gives drivers "an opportunity to express their opinions." If the driver is tuned it, "passengers will be forced to listen," Lutfallah said with a laugh. And they just might learn something about the man or woman behind the wheel.

In the Dispatcher

Taxi drivers need to know where customers are likely to be at a given time.

So, a Calendar of Events is the centerpiece of each issue of the monthly Chicago Dispatcher.

The calendar lists all significant events taking place in the city in the coming month. Cabbies can find out about "something going on at Navy Pier, at a hotel, any kind of convention," Lutfallah said. "The calendar's grown up quite a bit" since the first issue.

The Dispatcher names Chicago's top cabbies and periodically describes new services or products, such as the London Taxis that Yellow Cab Co. hopes to bring to Chicago.

Each issue contains Tales From the Rear View Mirror, written by a long-time driver. And fiction and poetry. Drivers also get an opportunity to express their opinions on taxi-related issues.

In addition to a taxi-focused crossword and a comic strip, the storyline of "Hack," a TV series about a cabbie who solves crimes when not taking passengers to the airport, also is published.

- - -

Predecessor driven by desire to have forum

Kenneth Cooper had been president of the Chicago City Service Taxi Association when he decided to start a newspaper for taxi drivers. Cometas Dilanjian, the association's secretary-treasurer, joined Cooper in the effort that began in 1992.

"We decided that the industry needed some sort of communication," Cooper said. In a newspaper devoted to taxi drivers, everybody "could say what they thought." Early advertisers included the now-defunct Golden Ox restaurant and O'Brien's on Wells Street.

Cooper obtained press credentials from City Hall, not only to attend news conferences but also as an information source for events of importance to drivers: when the opera let out, for instance. But a calendar was only part of the paper's appeal.

"We wrote about corruption," he said.

As an example, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority had issued stamps that cost $2 each. Taxi "starters were steaming off the tickets and reselling to drivers for $1 apiece," Cooper recalls. Good drivers said, "this was wrong." Cooper took a camera to the site at O'Hare International Airport and led an investigation. Still, he said, it "was like getting a kite in the air."

Circulation rose to 18,000 a month from 3,000. The Chicago Taxi Times even had a Commissioner's Corner column by Caroline Shoenberger, who still heads Chicago's Department of Consumer Services.

Taxi papers have been published in San Francisco and New York. "Florida was sending us stuff," Cooper said. He received articles from Paris, and details of a taxi strike in Italy.

After 3 1/2 years, when his father had a stroke that left him with three months to live, Cooper gave up the association presidency and the paper, which ceased publication.

So a report on my first full week as a driver for the "other company" here in Omaha. I like it! It's not a perfect system and as a former dispatcher I can see lots of things that could use work, but it's good. I've been having fun again. Fun? Driving a cab!!?? Oh yeah, that's why I started doing this in the first place, I remember now. Turns out it's still fun (and after all these years!) and there are lots worse ways to make a living. I could be an accountant. After all, that's what I went to college for....oh boy...I don't think so. Took me a while, but I figured out I hate accounting. So in the grand scheme of life, being a cab driver is still fun. Do I miss dispatch? A little. Especially when I hear a less than helpful dispatcher being a smart ass to a driver in need of help. There's no call for the way some dispatchers act, and that's why I became a dispatcher, to stop the crap. But overall, like I said before, worrying about just me, my customers and my cab is a little easier on the brain than worrying about all the cabs on the street.
The computer system that this company uses is a bit different for me, and some of the rules are different. But I'll learn it. I'm not as blonde as I use to be, and I've got half an idea what I'm supposed to be doing out here. I'll start making money at this just any day now ;)
Thanks Tom for making me think really hard about it so that I left dispatch. Now, as for knowing the business...heheh

Thank God...Welcome Colleen. You don't know how happy I am to work with a cab driver that knows the business as well as you...and speaks English too. You have to be happy to escape from the rathole you worked in. Good Luck and the only thing that I can tell you is "Leave us some fares" We need to eat too!

A little excerp from a story I found on the web: (truthfulness could be probable)


DIARY OF A SOUTH AFRICAN TAXI DRIVER............

Togetherness Tshabalala weaves his High Impact African Culling Equipment
(Hi-Ace for short) through the rush-hour traffic occasionally using the
pavement to increase productivity. The rising sun shines brightly off
Togetherness' gleaming, stolen BMW hubcaps. Togetherness is a confident
man with high spirits, as evidenced by the stickers on his rear window;
'God loves taxi drivers' and 'avoid constipation - travel by taxi'.

On the front of his taxi, between a large dent which, ominously, is in
the shape of a traffic cop and the holes from a small spray of bullets, is a
lurid notice reading: 'Jukskei Park Express Inaugural Flight'. Using the
word 'flight' is Togetherness' own little personal joke. What we are
witnessing is the inaugural leg of what is hopefully to become a daily
service between Jukskei Park and Johannesburg; a twenty-five kilometre
journey which takes ten minutes - less if the pavements are open.

The percussion waves from Togetherness' powerful radio (taken from a BMW
Z3) pushes back the early mist. He is playing Boom Shaka's latest low
frequency, 120 dB hit, 'How low can we go'. He hoots as he drives.
Togetherness hoots at anything he sees, including trees, as is the
custom of his people.

On board the taxi are a dozen white people. They do not come whiter than
this. They are Omo white. But they were not born white. No, their pallor
is due to fear and stark terror. Take John Mleka. Never is his life has
he done 0 to 100 km/h in six seconds - especially not in heavy traffic.
Denise Mthaba's colour has changed from green-black to a sort of waxen
ivory as quickly as the last traffic light had changed to red (a colour
which traditionally prompts taxi drivers to make even more haste).

Togetherness regularly looks over his shoulder while driving (even for a
full minute) asking passengers their destinations. Elizabeth Mkize,
sitting right at the back, has the opportunity to say 'Rendbeg Centa'
even though she works in Johannesburg. Randburg was coming up fast and it
suddenly seemed near enough for her. She worries about how she will make
her way to the front; but only fleetingly because the taxi has now
reached Randburg and Togetherness has stopped. He has stopped as suddenly as
a
plane might stop up against a mountain. Now everybody is at the front in
a warm, intimate heap. Elizabeth alights as gracefully as anybody can with
one knee locked behind the other. She is vaguely aware of passers-by
loosening her clothing and shouting, 'Give her air!'
Togetherness bowls happily along Jan Smuts Avenue, overtaking a police
BMW which is chasing a getaway car. Then he overtakes the getaway car too,
exchanging boisterous greetings with the driver whom he knows.
Togetherness is steering with his elbows because he needs his hands
free to check the morning's takings and to wave to girls on the pavement.
What is even more remarkable is that Togetherness is doing this despite the
fact that his taxi does not have a steering wheel. When Togetherness'
friend, Sipho, stole this vehicle, it was fitted with a steering lock,
so Sipho had to remove the steering wheel. The spanner that Sipho has
attached to the steering bolt in its place is quite adequate though.

Togetherness smiles and turns to his passengers as he accelerates past a
truck on a blind rise. He announces: 'Ladies and gentlemen, thees ees
your Ceptain. We will shortly be lending in Johennesbeg. Plis make sure your
seatbelts are in the upright position, end your seats are fastened.
Thank you for flying with us today. We hope to see you soon again.'

John Mleka is gripping the seat in front of him so tightly, that he
notices his finger tips have gone transparent, as a passing taxi fires a
brief burst from an automatic weapon in his direction. Togetherness now
reaches the city and merges with the in-bound traffic like his ancestors
merged with the British at Isandlwana. He stops at his usual
disembarkation point in the middle of an intersection and picks his
teeth patiently while people sort out their legs and teeth, before groping
their way towards a pole around which they can throw their arms. By the time
his passengers' eyeballs have settled back in their parent sockets,
Togetherness is already halfway back to Jukskei Park with another load
of passengers.

Eeiisshhh!!!