What A Ride!!!

Wow. This is why we have regular safety inspections, boys and girls. This is also why taxicabs cost so much to operate.

I bought my Mercury in April of 2007. Not long after I bought it, a crucial piece of the suspension, commonly known as a ball joint, failed, immobilizing it. When this happens, the vehicle basically collapses to the ground on the affected corner and grinds to a halt, if you're lucky enough for this to happen at a low speed. If you aren't so lucky?.... Vehicles have been known to spin wildly out of control and turn over because of this.

As there are four of these in Crown Vics and Marquis', I had all four replaced, at a cost of $900.00. Needless to say, I will never use the shop in question again, since the parts were at over 100% markup.

On to the point. 30 months and 80,000 taxi miles later, the SAME ball joint (interesting, to say the least) failed AGAIN at 50 miles an hour. As I mentioned before this is extremely dangerous.

The car bounced hard off the pavement nine times before it finally settled and began dragging on the pavement, literally dribbling me like a basketball in the driver's seat. My head hit the ceiling at least four times.

Fortunately, I was vacant, having dropped a fare less than two minutes earlier. No other vehicles were within half a mile, and the tire apparently blew out and became trapped under the car, preventing its weight from digging into the pavement too hard. This quite likely saved my life.

Somewhere, someone or something, whichever it may be, still likes me. If this had happened 100 feet down the road, the car would likely have rolled. It's a wonder it did not spin out or otherwise go out of control.

Looks like I bought the van just in time.

Grrrrr....

Okay, these local hotels are really starting to get on my nerves. They are telling people what THEY think a taxi should cost from the airport, and don't have the slightest clue what the hell they are talking about.

A woman came out tonight going to a hotel on the far east end of town. If memory serves, it's around 12-13 miles. Runs around $48 on my meter, so I told her I could do it for $45. She tells me she was told this should cost around $25.

No one will even leave the airport line for less than $17. Most of us won't leave for less than $20. I won't leave for less than $25. With a maximum expected haul of 3 rides per shift, what do you expect?

At any rate, I already knew at this point I would not be getting the fare. Any time someone starts this "I was told" bullshit, they are going to take the cheapest cab they can find.

I informed her that there were minimum charges from the airport, and the minimums, as well as the fares, would vary from cab to cab. She got a price from the next cab, and asked if I would do it for that. I politely said, "No, ma'am, have a nice night."

The way I see it, if she got a price from another cab, let her ride with that cab. I'll be damned if I am going to let another driver put a price on my service.

The customer thinks.....
she proved how smart she is.

The other driver thinks.....
he proved how stupid I am, and that I'm a crook.

I think....
the customer proved what a cheapskate she is.

I think.....
the other driver proved what a slave he is to someone else's whim. The company he works for sets his wage.

Wake up, people. You're not showing how smart you are. All you are showing is how cheap you are. I know that my opinion of you means nothing to you. But to give anyone and everyone this impression of you, over a few dollars? Have you no shame?

I truly do not care whether someone rides with me or not. I have come to find that what most people consider a good tip combined with the so-called going rate is actually less than what my meter runs. I barely make minimum wage now. I would rather risk missing a ride than do it for no profit.

My fare from the airport is usually only about $10.00 more than the average competitor. What's funny about all this is that I have seen people wait in the cold for 20-30 minutes for a "cheaper" taxi to arrive, just to save that $10.00. Are they really THAT stupid?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You get what you pay for. Chances are, if a cab driver is charging more than others, there is probably a reason. Around here, you either get a cab driver who:

A) is a cab driver and nothing else
B) is a cab driver when he's not dealing or transporting drugs
C) is on welfare

More Work-Related Thoughts....

I have considered doing a shuttle service with the van instead of just a taxi service. Doing a test run by making a lap of the area to the most common destinations from the airport, the meter ran $98 without allowing for loading or heavy traffic, and took around an hour. Ten minutes of time is $6.50, and I think I should allow approximately 30 minutes for traffic and loading, which would make a total time of approximately 90 minutes. The extra time for loading and traffic would come to about $20.00 or so, coming to about $120.00 total.

If the meter runs $60.00 to encompass common destinations, the shuttle should divide the $60.00 among however many riders on that particular trip (e.g., 6 riders at $10.00 each, 5 riders at $12.00 each, 4 riders at $15.00 each, and so on)

I am also considering just selling the business, buying a small car and going back to delivering food like I used to do. I have come to realize that I am working more hours for less money than when I delivered food. On top of that, I don't have much of a life outside of work, and I know there's more to life than just work.