A fellow driver, who worked the airport line with me, recently sold his taxi and tried to make a fresh start in Arizona.... Apparently, it did not go well, as he called me a couple weeks ago asking if I wanted to sell my van complete with its airport permit.
I have seriously lost interest in serving the airport, mainly because of the politics and double standards. Example? So many rules, hoops and hurdles that make us spend more money than is really necessary to comform to ridiculous standards (this is a regional airport with less than 15 flights per day, down from 24 two years ago).
As previously explained elsewhere in my blog, taxi meter rates are unregulated in this area, and when people discovered that I was charging more than others (about $10-12 more for a 10-mile ride), a great deal of whining and moaning started. Seriously? You're paying $150-$250 more to fly into a local airport and you're bitching about a $10 difference on a taxi ride?
The airport began singing their song by posting a sign advising passengers to shop rates, even those that might not otherwise have. This is simply not fair when the average fare takes 5 hours of waiting in line, and the standards the airport cabs must meet and remain in compliance with mean spending much more than is really necessary.
Add to this the fact that flights have been getting cancelled, delayed or overbooked more and more often, and I don't know about you, but if I pay $350 to fly on an airplane, I'd get a little heated about being shoved into a cab at the last minute I could have booked myself for half the price, and then don't make my connection. We have often been given the impossible task of transporting passengers 95 miles in 75 minutes. It just isn't going to happen. People are starting to use this airport less and less because of the customer service issues and flight reliability.
Anyway, I saw my chance to rid myself of these problems, and possibly recoup some of the perhaps $8,000 I've spent in the three years I've served the airport. So I agreed to sell my van with equipment and airport permit for a fair price, and I must say, I feel liberated. As far as I'm concerned, I was wasting my time and money there.
I am currently exploring other options, including Class A OTR driving, other types of freight driving, vo-tech school, college, and relocating, among other things.
Just in case, I have lined up at least one replacement van for a taxi. I found two more tonight.
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