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Drive a taxi. It's fun. Really.
May 03, 2004
Well, I've more or less completed a shift in my sleeping habits. Here I am at 2:30 in the morning, and I can honestly say that I'm starting my day. Saturday was a bit of a hiccup in my sinister plan to tear shit up on the day shift. I ended up awake way late. Smoking cigarettes. Not good, for I had quit somewhat recently, and it had been going well. So I quit again yesterday. I'm getting good at quitting smoking. You can finish the joke if you think there's more to it.
I finalized quite an interesting setup with the taxi owner. I will hand over 50 percent of my earnings to him, keep my half, and keep tips. I will pay for my own gasoline.
Best part: If I let the taxi sit on any given day, NO CHARGE to me. Bwhahaha. This is where it really gets good. There's absolutely no way to lose money on this setup. I guess he really was serious about not wanting another driver to replace me. Count me as convinced.
There's only one thing left to take care of taxi-wise. I need the suspension lifted. When I went to the TLC offices almost exactly a week ago, they seized my hack license 'for safekeeping', which caused me to shrug. I'm hoping that this time, they don't go the extra mile and burn it into a puddle of plastic right in front of me. I'd like to retain the power to do that, thanks. Yep, I'm admitting I'm a tad nervous about the test results, though I'm not into any kind of 'illegal substance' (TLC's term). You just never know what problem they might have. Such is the arbitrary power of the Taxi & Limo Commission, and this will be one of the those situations where arbitrary power in the hands of someone having a bad day can put you right out of the industry.
So I'm going to put in a week (well, really, Tuesday thru Sunday) and see how it goes. One big reason for quitting smoking: warm weather. A/C will be running, as required. I don't think recirculating smoky air would go over well with nominally reasonable people that are now paying more for the same old shit. It's the reasonable people that I really don't want to piss off. People with the asshole-chip built right in will find anything to whine about, and reveal themselves early into the trip.
Next time I'll try to explain why a 50/50 split of meter take is both odd in the current state of the industry and better for drivers, once upon a time...
See ya in broad daylight (3am-3pm).
I finalized quite an interesting setup with the taxi owner. I will hand over 50 percent of my earnings to him, keep my half, and keep tips. I will pay for my own gasoline.
Best part: If I let the taxi sit on any given day, NO CHARGE to me. Bwhahaha. This is where it really gets good. There's absolutely no way to lose money on this setup. I guess he really was serious about not wanting another driver to replace me. Count me as convinced.
There's only one thing left to take care of taxi-wise. I need the suspension lifted. When I went to the TLC offices almost exactly a week ago, they seized my hack license 'for safekeeping', which caused me to shrug. I'm hoping that this time, they don't go the extra mile and burn it into a puddle of plastic right in front of me. I'd like to retain the power to do that, thanks. Yep, I'm admitting I'm a tad nervous about the test results, though I'm not into any kind of 'illegal substance' (TLC's term). You just never know what problem they might have. Such is the arbitrary power of the Taxi & Limo Commission, and this will be one of the those situations where arbitrary power in the hands of someone having a bad day can put you right out of the industry.
So I'm going to put in a week (well, really, Tuesday thru Sunday) and see how it goes. One big reason for quitting smoking: warm weather. A/C will be running, as required. I don't think recirculating smoky air would go over well with nominally reasonable people that are now paying more for the same old shit. It's the reasonable people that I really don't want to piss off. People with the asshole-chip built right in will find anything to whine about, and reveal themselves early into the trip.
Next time I'll try to explain why a 50/50 split of meter take is both odd in the current state of the industry and better for drivers, once upon a time...
See ya in broad daylight (3am-3pm).
May 02, 2004
Are You Ready...
For the fare increase. Effective at midnight. The meter's been readied. The 'rate of fare' stickers for the front doors and the rate card await the hour of ill shit going down. Yes. A 27 percent increase FOR YOU. Muahahaha. We will be rich at your expense! Watch us gloat as we take you to the poor-house! Notice the earplugs we have bought to silence your screams of 'injustice'!
Okay, so it sucks. So what. Let's go over the various facets of this deal.
1) The drop will rise from $2.00 to $2.50. I'll assume you can handle 50 cents.
2) Each fifth of a mile traveled will now cost 40 cents, versus the previous 30 cents. This is the core increase.
3) When the taxi is moving under 6 miles per hour, a rate of 40 cents per 120 seconds will apply. As opposed to the old rate of...30 cents per 90 seconds when moving at less than 8 miles per hour. Oh wait, that's nearly the same thing. Okay, whatever.
4) Between the hours of 4-8pm, weekends and holidays excepted, a $1 surcharge will be added to each trip. Your driver will be even less thrilled than usual to take you to Brooklyn. Think 'homicidal'.
5) The same old 50 cent surcharge will apply to any ride commencing between the hours of 8pm-6am, 7 days a week. The surcharge hasn't been necessary for 20 years, but somehow the TLC finds a way to keep stupid shit around.
6) The flat fare from JFK International Airport to any one destination in Manhattan rises from $35 to $45. Trips *to* JFK will still be metered as described above. Strangely enough, the flat fare has finally been added to the taximeters, though they were technically capable of reflecting the flat fare ever since it was instituted. Only took 7 years for them to figure that one out. Congrats to the TLC.
7) Going to Newark, er, Liberty International Airport involves the meter plus a $15 surcharge, versus the old $10 surcharge. This was overdue. NYC taxicabs are not permitted to pick up fares at EWR.
8) Drivers are somewhat likely to make more money after a year's worth of depressed business, lower tipping, and more competition from the first round (300) of new taxi medallions being put on the road, among other factors. There will be 300 more in each of the years 2005 and 2006, for a total of 900 new ones, and a grand total of 13,087 medallion taxis. By now, there should have been 40,000 yellow cabs in NYC, and we would be serving as more than a dysfunctional symbol of New York.
Let's go to anecdotal mode. I can take potshots at the industry any damn time I want.
But first, I have to get my license back. Tomorrow. I think. Maybe? Pleaaaaase?
For the fare increase. Effective at midnight. The meter's been readied. The 'rate of fare' stickers for the front doors and the rate card await the hour of ill shit going down. Yes. A 27 percent increase FOR YOU. Muahahaha. We will be rich at your expense! Watch us gloat as we take you to the poor-house! Notice the earplugs we have bought to silence your screams of 'injustice'!
Okay, so it sucks. So what. Let's go over the various facets of this deal.
1) The drop will rise from $2.00 to $2.50. I'll assume you can handle 50 cents.
2) Each fifth of a mile traveled will now cost 40 cents, versus the previous 30 cents. This is the core increase.
3) When the taxi is moving under 6 miles per hour, a rate of 40 cents per 120 seconds will apply. As opposed to the old rate of...30 cents per 90 seconds when moving at less than 8 miles per hour. Oh wait, that's nearly the same thing. Okay, whatever.
4) Between the hours of 4-8pm, weekends and holidays excepted, a $1 surcharge will be added to each trip. Your driver will be even less thrilled than usual to take you to Brooklyn. Think 'homicidal'.
5) The same old 50 cent surcharge will apply to any ride commencing between the hours of 8pm-6am, 7 days a week. The surcharge hasn't been necessary for 20 years, but somehow the TLC finds a way to keep stupid shit around.
6) The flat fare from JFK International Airport to any one destination in Manhattan rises from $35 to $45. Trips *to* JFK will still be metered as described above. Strangely enough, the flat fare has finally been added to the taximeters, though they were technically capable of reflecting the flat fare ever since it was instituted. Only took 7 years for them to figure that one out. Congrats to the TLC.
7) Going to Newark, er, Liberty International Airport involves the meter plus a $15 surcharge, versus the old $10 surcharge. This was overdue. NYC taxicabs are not permitted to pick up fares at EWR.
8) Drivers are somewhat likely to make more money after a year's worth of depressed business, lower tipping, and more competition from the first round (300) of new taxi medallions being put on the road, among other factors. There will be 300 more in each of the years 2005 and 2006, for a total of 900 new ones, and a grand total of 13,087 medallion taxis. By now, there should have been 40,000 yellow cabs in NYC, and we would be serving as more than a dysfunctional symbol of New York.
Let's go to anecdotal mode. I can take potshots at the industry any damn time I want.
But first, I have to get my license back. Tomorrow. I think. Maybe? Pleaaaaase?
