INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

You have the right to remain silent.

If you give up that right it’ll cost you $200. That’s the fine for the first offense of talking on your cell phone for New York City taxicab drivers. While I grasp the concept I don’t agree that taxicab drivers should be singled out. If you’re going to ban any drivers you should ban all drivers.

My experience has been that the majority of long term taxicab drivers are quite exceptional at their trade, driving. They grasp situations on an almost premonition level and routinely avoid “emergency” maneuvers despite the asinine stunts pulled by the amateur drivers in their workplace. Couple that with the idea that the front seat is the driver’s office and you have a real case that they should be the only drivers allowed on the phone instead of the only ones banned.

Yes, I agree that the drivers shouldn’t be on the phone with a customer in the car, bad customer service and bad manners, but being left with no means of routine communication is unacceptable. Absent serious evidence that taxicab drivers specifically are more dangerous on the phone it gives the appearance that the TLC is simply lording over the taxicab drivers because they can. But then isn’t that the purpose of government, to take away the choices of the citizens? Yes, it sure seems that way.

Sorry, the Taxi God has spoken.

Tough luck for DC taxicab drivers. The city council may have voted for the removal of $19 cap on in town cab fares, but Mayor “Taxi God” Fenty said no. The sad part of it is that Fenty was really on the right track to bring the DC taxi industry into the 21st century, but he bowed to political pressure and lowered the drop and now won’t adjust fares in any meaningful way.

While I find most of the DC city council to be totally unimpressive even a broken clock is right twice a day. I would pick this as one of their times at being right. I don’t know what the mayor thought when he mandated meters, but I fully expected there to be several adjustments in the meter rate until a fair rate structure was achieved. If the mayor is concerned about how the cap is affecting the residents how about capping electric rates also. I mean, really, who cares how much it costs to put the product on the street or what the drivers make. The Taxi God has spoken.

Oh wow man, that’s not mine!

A Korean taxicab driver stopped in Camp Casey, South Korea denied the seventeen small bags of marijuana found in his taxicab belonged to him. While the bags were reported to only weigh 1.75 ounces total they appeared to be ready for sale and were stashed at various places around the vehicle.

A drug test of the driver showed that he had marijuana in his system, but he claimed to only have smoked it once, off base, out of curiosity. Apparently, the base police didn’t believe the drivers story that a US soldier had left the pot in the cab. A spokesman is quoted as saying “his statement is hardly reliable.” Really? I don’t know why they wasted the time and money on a drug test. You’d have to be pretty stoned to come up with that story.

The man is simply inspirational!

According to reports out of San Francisco, Harold Miller was so upset at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to auction off medallions that he filed to run for mayor. According to reports, Miller will have substantial competition all of whom will have bigger “campaign war chests.” Which pretty much sums it up, the best politicians money can buy.

While putting together “campaign war chests” politicians also put together the list of people they owe favors. You have only to research the “bailout,” the “stimulus” bill or read the details of healthcare proposals to see whose political allies are getting money from the treasury. The bigger the “war chest” the longer the list of people who will need to be paid off from public coffers.

So San Francisco, vote for the guy with the smallest “war chest” and you get the guy with the shortest list of people that need to be paid off with your money. Good luck.

Speaking of medallion sale.

Ocean City, Maryland is reported to be selling medallions for only $1,500 each. Along with their new medallion approach to medallions they’ve instituted random drug testing.
The city currently is reported to have 159 licensed cabs but has authorized the sale of 175 medallions.

If there are only 159 licensed cabs right now and the city plans to seize the medallion of any driver failing the drug test I would suggest that perhaps selling 175 medallions is an unrealistic goal. Of course, the city might be able to resell some of the medallions for extra profit, at least after a couple of drug tests. The good news is that drivers who fail drug tests and lose their medallions will still be eligible to run for city council since they aren’t required to be drug tested.

The article didn’t mention how, exactly, random testing would be conducted or if post accident, pre-employment or probable cause testing were going to be conducted, but hey what are the courts for?

Because it’s illegal to kill them.

The axiom “some people are alive simply because it’s illegal to kill them” has acquired a poster child. That poster child would be Jason Hylton of Westbury, Connecticut who was reported to have given his cab over to a “friend” of his, a convicted sex offender, who he is reported to have asked to take a young girl home.

Hey, Jason was tired, okay? I mean, it could have been unsafe for him to be driving, you know, tired and all. Well, Jason’s “friend” is now accused of raping the young girl. Jason, and Metro Taxi, got sued by the girl’s mother who was awarded $1,000,000 pain and suffering and $27,256 in economic damages. While Metro Taxi was unaware that Jason’s friend was driving the cab without a license or that Jason was like, you know, really tired, they still got stuck in the jury verdict. Personally, I can see three easy lessons from this entire affair:

1. If you’re going to utilize independent contractor drivers you’d best have good contracts and be able to show that you treat them as independent contractors.

2. There really are good reasons for some of the rules companies have about who drives their cabs, and

3. Some people are alive simply because it’s illegal to kill them.

If you have any comments regarding this or any of my articles please feel free to contact me at dmc@cmcauto.net. —dmc