INDUSTRY IN REVIEW

By Don McCurdy

What do they want?

Recent reports are that Boston has approved Ford’s Transit Connect for use as a taxicab. While the Transit Connect has a bit of the box like appeal of the Checker Marathon the real question is, how will it hold up? The vast majority of the time durability is the deciding factor in taxi vehicle selection. Taxicab owners were, and still may be, slow
to warm up to front wheel drive. It is the opinion of many that front wheel drive transmissions tend to be a bit more fragile than rear wheel drive transmissions and cannot hold up to the abuse doled out by life as a taxicab. Beyond that one potential shortcoming the Transit Connect seems to have a lot going for it, plenty of interior space, easy conversion to wheel chair accessibility, and some cool computer stuff. Can I get GPS dispatch with that? Well, maybe not. There is reported to be a purpose built, American made taxicab coming soon. That’s a good thing because Ford is going to discontinue the current standard of the industry, the Crown Victoria, in 2011 so there will be some demand for a replacement. Ford is touting the Taurus as the replacement, but I’d guess it will have to prove itself prior to mass acceptance. The Taurus has been used before with less than stellar results. While green politicians push this or that hybrid and alternative fueled vehicle, the industry experiments with what’s next as the mainstay of the US taxicab fleet. I’m thinking hybrid Mini Coopers pulling rickshaws. Okay, maybe not.

Okay, what do they want?

Edmonton is struggling with taxicab driver safety issues. Well, come to think of it, almost everybody is struggling with taxicab driver safety issues. The usual assortment of gadgets, procedures and changes are being discussed and it appears the drivers have focused on what may be the single most useless of the group, distress lights. I certainly would want to throw a wrench into the “if it saves one driver” dribble, but don’t these taxicabs already have safety shields? Manitoba mandated shields and cameras and has continued to adjust their thinking about what is needed. The practical side of providing driver security is that the driver may or may not be inside the vehicle. The driver may or may not be driving the vehicle once the situation has been exposed. The number of variables is huge, but there is one common denominator, the driver.

Driver needs to be trained to observe their surroundings, understand what they are seeing and how to develop a plan to survive. Of course, the best plan of action is prevention. So how do you go about that? Well, understanding profiles, local customs and local dangers is a start. Pretending that taxicab drivers should pick up MS 13 gangbangers at 3 am isn’t going to get you there. Fact is, if you want to protect taxicab drivers the bad guys need to walk. Determining who the bad guys are is a whole lot safer than signaling for help after you’ve loaded 3 or 4 Bloods. Drivers need to understand the penetration difference between JHP and FMJ before they hit the streets. Oops, Edmonton is in Canada, not Texas.

Not quite what you wanted?

Well the city of San Francisco started the big medallion sale. The first order of business was to downgrade the city’s rake to 2.5 million from 15 million despite reportedly not having taken in a single penny. The medallion sale, the brain child of Mayor Gavin Newsom, appears to be a flop. Yes sir, Newsom is ready for state wide office, especially considering it's California. Let’s look for some pie in the sky scheme to pull the city out of financial hardship instead of engaging in sound fiscal policy. The citizens who ride in taxicabs will be paying for grandiose Gavin’s medallion scheme from now on while realizing almost no benefit from it. While the reasons Newsom should never be elected to another office are numerous and obvious it’s equally as obvious that he will be elected to other offices since he is good looking and articulate. God knows it is important to be a smooth talker in politics, especially if you don’t have enough sense to understand that you can’t spend more than you have. Well, I guess you can, perhaps Grandiose Gavin is ready for national politics. He’d fit right in with the free spenders and smooth talkers currently in DC.

It’s an outrage!

Winnipeg taxicab drivers are up in arms regarding comments from Jerry Kozubal of the Manitoba Taxicab Board. Kozubal is reported to have said "Basically, we have people coming from other cultures that may have different views on what's appropriate and what isn't." Uh, okay, what’s the problem with that? It’s true, that’s what the problem is with that. Jaspal Singh, reported to be a “veteran” cab driver termed the remarks “insulting.” He didn’t say the comments were untrue mind you, he just said they were insulting. Go figure. Apparently, there have been 13 incidents of drivers harassing or sexually assaulting passengers reported to the board since 2007 and amazingly all of the drivers were new to Canada. What an insulting coincidence. Now, did Kozubal say that all foreign born drivers are sexual deviants? Well, no, but that’s not the point. Yeah, so what is the point? In some cultures it is the woman’s fault if she gets raped if she is out in public without a male member of her family. No cultural disparity there. Before the drivers run their mouths about how insulted they are, perhaps, they might just review the statistics. Saying you’re insulted by someone reporting an issue doesn’t change the fact that there is an issue. So which would be more outrageous, a cultural awareness class being required of the drivers or sending drivers out on the street from cultures that view a female alone as asking for it? Yeah, that’s really a tough one, huh?

Say what?

The city of Toronto is reported to have a book. A secret book. The secret book contains parking violation exemptions that include taxicabs, limousines, out of town visitors and certain streets. According to Howard Moscoe, chair of Toronto’s licensing committee, the secret book is costing the city millions in lost parking ticket revenue. In fact, Councilor Moscoe states that the book is so secret that he is not allowed to talk about it. Now, I’m not Canadian, but it seems to me that secret parking exemption lists are just a little strange. Why are they secret? Who determines who is on the secret list? Will Moscoe have to stand trial for revealing the presence of the secret list? Is there a Ministry of Secret Parking Exemptions?

Speaking of Toronto.

The lie continues as Toronto Ambassador taxicab drivers seek to have their Ambassador plates turned into standard plates that can be bought and sold. Ten years has passed since I visited the graduation of a group of Ambassador drivers in Toronto. The Ambassador program’s laudable goal of putting plates in the hands of drivers has now been twisted into a racial discrimination case. What could have been an excellent example of an innovative way to distribute plates to drivers instead of just selling them, ala New York City or San Francisco, has now turned into a money grab by the current crop of Ambassador drivers. The simple solution would be to either have them turn all the Ambassador plates back to the city or, perhaps, just have the driver pay the city the market value of a taxicab plate to convert their plates to regular plates. I’m sure Toronto could use the cash and I’m equally sure the Ambassador drivers claiming racism wouldn’t want to unfairly acquire a plate. After all, they’re only looking for justice not a freebie. Uh huh.

So what?

According to reports, Brian Conboy, the concierge at the New York City Paramount Hotel, has been photographed shaking down taxicab drivers for bribes for fares. The report further states that if drivers don’t up the cash they will be “blacklisted” from hotel stands around the city. “Blacklisted?” Wouldn’t that imply that there is an organization to the shakedowns taking place around town? Is this organized crime income getting reported on somebody’s income tax forms? Here New York City is going broke all the while allowing hotel doormen to extort money from taxicab drivers and not pay income tax on it to the city? Where’s the TLC in all this? Well, they’ve written letters to hotels requesting they tell their employees to stop it. Help me out here, the TLC is attempting to terminate over 600 drivers ability to drive because they overcharge the public, but the best they can do it write a letter to some hotels to try and get Brian Scumboy and his cohorts to stop extorting money from drivers? It seems pretty obvious to me that the purpose of the TLC certainly isn’t to see that the drivers get a fair shake. Why not just write a letter to the drivers that are overcharging and ask them to stop? Ever wonder why some drivers just seem to have the attitude that they’re on their own and that cheating is just the way it is in New York City? If you want the drivers to be on the up and up getting on their side once in a while wouldn’t hurt. Fact is, nobody really cares what goes on out there.

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