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Drive a taxi. It's fun. Really.
May 07, 2003
The news: My roommate, who is also a taxi driver, looks to be getting serious about purchasing his own taxi. He seems to think that it would solve a raft of problems. To me, it looks to be a recipe for disaster. But then again, I've largely disposed of the notion that I'd be getting ahead in the world by driving a taxi more often. I have my reasons, which I've been more than happy to share with him.
But he is not dissuaded by the incredible clarity of my logic, because he is a taxi driver. Here's one theory about this job, one of many. Almost anyone can be a taxi driver. Pay your fees, get your hack license, and get to work. However, a *good* taxi driver tends to be almost insufferably opinionated. Why? Well, like most jobs, driving a taxi lnvolves making decisions about what to do and how best to execute it. However, there are no set rules, or even guidelines, about what might constitute a job well done. How is it measured? Those decisions are made by the taxi driver, unless preempted by the customer. They are made with the implicit understanding that 'a job well done', as far as a taxi ride goes, means different things to different people. So it would follow, then, that decisiveness is a good trait in a taxi driver. Apparent indecision is not rewarded with blind confidence in New York City.
But that attitude doesn't necessarily help a driver in non-taxi situations. (It'd help me, sure! But I'll get to that later.)
To me, one of the last remaining advantages of driving a yellow cab is the ability to make my own schedule. If I wanted to work every day for the next 4 months, nobody would say 'Stop'. If I dropped off the face of the earth and suddenly reappeared at my garage four months later, they'd send me to work. And every scenario in between. Such is the apparent miracle of the leasing arrangement. The taxi garage has little practical interest in its drivers, for it does not write the paychecks. We write our own. We employ our former employers (of another age, more on that later).
So, from that standpoint, taking out a loan on a new taxi ($30,000) and leasing a medallion (the right to pick up street hails) puts a driver in a must-work situation, regardless of whether all the other bills are paid. It's another thing to worry about. In fact, it just might become the main thing.
And when you're finished paying off the taxi, you are still leasing the medallion. The medallion is the only equity worth having in the industry. Everything else is chaff and vapor. If you're no closer to a medallion, then you've accomplished nothing worth knowing about. That's not intended as an endorsement of the medallion system. It's simply how it is.
However, my roommate is of the opinion that the money will outweigh this factor and all the others I haven't named yet. OK. He's not yet 40, in good health, with his wife and daughter currently back in his country of origin. Nothing much to do but work, I guess, right?
If he was completely devoid of ideas and interests, sorely lacking in motivation, intelligence, wisdom, you name it, I'd not care a whit if he drove 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. After all, he'd be doing what he's capable of doing. No harm there.
But he is capable of more. So sealing himself in a yellow coffin is just a delaying tactic. This intelligent man is gambling on sharply declining odds of 'success' greater than if he just stayed at the garage, options open. I hope he makes out like a bandit.
But he is not dissuaded by the incredible clarity of my logic, because he is a taxi driver. Here's one theory about this job, one of many. Almost anyone can be a taxi driver. Pay your fees, get your hack license, and get to work. However, a *good* taxi driver tends to be almost insufferably opinionated. Why? Well, like most jobs, driving a taxi lnvolves making decisions about what to do and how best to execute it. However, there are no set rules, or even guidelines, about what might constitute a job well done. How is it measured? Those decisions are made by the taxi driver, unless preempted by the customer. They are made with the implicit understanding that 'a job well done', as far as a taxi ride goes, means different things to different people. So it would follow, then, that decisiveness is a good trait in a taxi driver. Apparent indecision is not rewarded with blind confidence in New York City.
But that attitude doesn't necessarily help a driver in non-taxi situations. (It'd help me, sure! But I'll get to that later.)
To me, one of the last remaining advantages of driving a yellow cab is the ability to make my own schedule. If I wanted to work every day for the next 4 months, nobody would say 'Stop'. If I dropped off the face of the earth and suddenly reappeared at my garage four months later, they'd send me to work. And every scenario in between. Such is the apparent miracle of the leasing arrangement. The taxi garage has little practical interest in its drivers, for it does not write the paychecks. We write our own. We employ our former employers (of another age, more on that later).
So, from that standpoint, taking out a loan on a new taxi ($30,000) and leasing a medallion (the right to pick up street hails) puts a driver in a must-work situation, regardless of whether all the other bills are paid. It's another thing to worry about. In fact, it just might become the main thing.
And when you're finished paying off the taxi, you are still leasing the medallion. The medallion is the only equity worth having in the industry. Everything else is chaff and vapor. If you're no closer to a medallion, then you've accomplished nothing worth knowing about. That's not intended as an endorsement of the medallion system. It's simply how it is.
However, my roommate is of the opinion that the money will outweigh this factor and all the others I haven't named yet. OK. He's not yet 40, in good health, with his wife and daughter currently back in his country of origin. Nothing much to do but work, I guess, right?
If he was completely devoid of ideas and interests, sorely lacking in motivation, intelligence, wisdom, you name it, I'd not care a whit if he drove 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. After all, he'd be doing what he's capable of doing. No harm there.
But he is capable of more. So sealing himself in a yellow coffin is just a delaying tactic. This intelligent man is gambling on sharply declining odds of 'success' greater than if he just stayed at the garage, options open. I hope he makes out like a bandit.
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