Look out big Brother is watching!!

Its really bad when you can't stop to pick up or drop off a passenger without getting a ticket, I just read a story at address below.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/06/29/taxi-calgary-parking-tickets-cab.html

One thing that caught my interest was the fact that the company sends someone to court to fight the tickets, could you just see that happening at a cab company in Tampa, no I could not either.

In the past year, Associated Cab has seen an increase of 80 per cent in tickets or about 130 tickets every two months, issued by the authority against the company but about half of them are annulled in court, said general manager Jeff Garland.

I guess city's have to raise ca$h any way in these hard times.

How to tell when a cab is available

I just read something that reminded me of when I drove a cab at night in Tampa and would get flagged many times when my cab was all ready occupied.

I would turn on my inside light so they could see that yes I already had a passenger, and at that point I would get cursed out more often then not, it would all start all over again as we passed the next bar in Soho.

I would often tell my fare if I ever get rich Ill take out a full page ad in the Trib and explain when the light is out you need to find another cab, why is it people who go out each and every weekend can't figure that out?

Big Foot???

Hey boys and girls, ha just like the ESPN PTI. I was reading Tim's new web site, something about a Skunk Ape, whatever that is. Nice picture of Tim, head band and back pack. I don't have the foggiest idea if he drives his cab like that.

Now about a little baseball. My Dodgers are still surprising a lot of folk. Considering their top hitter is still on suspension they are doing quite well. The good teams always seem to find someone to pick up the slack when there is a problem. Now in the Eastern division, most consider the toughest division in baseball, which I concur. The Red Sox are playing well, the Blue Jays are fading, which doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is the Yankees losing two out of three to the Nationals, the last by being shut out. Also the Rays losing two out of three to the Rockies. I have to admit that the Rockies are playing well. The Phillies won the last title so they should be considered the team to beat. They are the Champions until they are dethroned.

A few words about people riding a cab who like to bring all of their kids, grandma and a few cousins so they can save a few dollars. I had a situation like that a few years before I got sick, this lady and her five screaming kids two of them which were under five. She used some words on me that I didn't use even when I was in the Air Force. She got rather upset when I refused to take her to the store. It was only a few miles away. But if something happened it would be hard to live with it. Have a good day folks, be careful out there

So you think your customers want to over load your cab?

Yeah I know by law you are only allowed to pick up 4 passengers at a time with a sedan, but sometimes you might let 1 or 2 more in rather then lose the ride on a slow night, but then you get an idiot that wants to put 7 or 8 in that same cab and you ask where are you going to put them?

It seems a very special cab driver in Cape Town, South Africa found room in his cab for 122 passengers, in a cab built for 26, yeah I know you would love to borrow that baby for Friday and Saturday night's working in Ybor or Soho.

While they where all kids, your paper work does not distinguish between adults, kid's or munchkins, 4 means 4, at least that's what I have been told.

Its really too bad there are no pictures of the 122 kids in the cab or just the cab, I would like to see a cab built to carry 26 people. Maybe it looked something like this.

Pedicab Slams Into a Taxi in Brooklyn

Sometimes you have to just scratch your head a wonder what some people are thinking, if at all.

On Thursday four people where hurt when a pedicab Slammed Into a Taxi in Brooklyn when coming off the Williamsburg Bridge, on a trip that started in Times Square, a trip of about 3 miles.

I have seen pedicab's in Ybor back when I still drove for United cab and wondered how safe they where, but driving in and around Ybor is one thing, and driving on a bridge is another, but most of those trips where short, such as taking people to there car.

The Williamsburg Bridge is very much like our Sunshine Skyway, high in the middle and low at each end, which means when you get over the hump its all downhill from there, and the driver loaded down with 3 passengers could not control his speed and hit the Taxi.

The driver got the worst of it, he flew over the taxi on impact and is in Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.

Its so typical, but Fridays paper asked if there should be tougher laws regulating pedicabs, yeah the horse is out of the barn so lets lock the door.

You can read the original story in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/nyregion/11pedicab.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

No, they where not kidding!!

A few months ago I wrote about the plans of the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County to start a water taxi, in and around downtown Tampa.

Then it looked like just another build it and they will come plain, as it still does, such as the railroad station that the city spent 5+ mil on a few years ago that still has but 1 train per day, the city will remind you that most of the money is from the fed's, but it is still our tax money at work, or not.

Another bright idea was to take down the art museum and build a new and bigger building, not to worry about the fact that the old one could not support itself, just pour more money into the hole.

How about the trolley, has it paid for itself yet? Maybe they just need to make it bigger, why not what else would they do with our money...I don't know, maybe make the buses as well as the government work for the people of the county, and stop waisting more money on build it and they will come pipe dreams in downtown.

2 story's that sum up the way things are for cabby's right now

Between the way the economy is right now and the fact the price of gas is creeping up and ridership is down and today I read 2 story's that make me wonder how much more can cabby's take.

The first story, is from Fiji, where you would think the biggest problem would be to pick which beach to go to.

I wrote about a story a month ago from Australia about a cab driver, who ran over a fare beater, it seems to have happend again in Fiji.

This driver as well as the driver in Australia where both arrested, so please don't try this at home as they say, you go from being the victim to being the bad guy in a heart beat.

The second story is from North Kent, England, a cab driver was beat and robbed and it took the cop's 30 minutes to arrive, despite 4 calls to 999 (there 911 I guess) and a take out joint hitting there alarm which has a direct line to the cop's.

What makes this even more amazing is the police station is 1 half mile away, the injured driver feels the closed circuit cameras that have been installed in the cab's there have made the cop's feel that is a substitute for quick response time.

The good news is the 2 assailants have been caught and are awaiting trial, where we can only hope they get something other then probation, be careful out there.

So you want to drive a taxi

If you want to drive a taxi there is no need to sign up with a company and give them an outrageous amount each week, or get a permit from the local city or county government, just get a sign and a meter and go pick up people.

This is part of the reason there have been taxi strikes in Ireland and other places
too many legal cab's and more illegal ones daily.

For 850 euros you can buy a meter and a sign that looks like the real deal, what a deal, that's less then 2 weeks lease at most cab company's.

Here is a link to read the story from the Times of London.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6445980.ece

What's next??

Among the dozens of stories about cab drivers getting robed, beaten and yes killed around the world in the Google news alerts I receive every day for cabby, cabdriver and every variant I can think of, today comes a story about robot cab drivers.

Yeah along with the the price of gas going up, the economy still heading in the wrong direction and more cabs on the street then needed with the number always on the rise, we now have to worry about being replaced by a robot, above is what it could look like.

My only question for the world in general is...who will you have to tell your troubles to then?

Cabby's never get a break

I found the following on the interest this fine day in Tampa, there a few articles about shootings, robbery and all of the regualar stuff. One driver claimed to give back $10,000 some drunk left in the back seat. The way the econamy is I tend to take that with a grain of salt. Possible yeah I guess.
Anyway this comes from New York, why readers doesn't that surprise me.

Gov. George E. Pataki has vetoed a bill that would have given a Long Island cabdriver the chance to become the first Lotto winner in the state to be awarded a prize without a ticket.

The cabdriver, Howard Reid, of Hempstead, said he tossed a winning lottery ticket in the trash before realizing it was worth millions of dollars. The bill vetoed Friday by Mr. Pataki would have given Mr. Reid a hearing before the State Lottery Division.

Mr. Pataki did leave the door open for Mr. Reid to collect eventually, instructing state lottery officials to develop an administrative review process ''through which clear-cut injustices can be addressed.''

''I remain sympathetic to the plight of individuals who can demonstrate convincingly that they purchased but misplaced winning tickets for substantial prizes,'' Mr. Pataki wrote in his veto message.

The bill would have applied only to the May 31, 1997, lottery drawing. Mr. Reid claims he held one of four winning tickets for that $70 million drawing. He said he had picked a lump-sum prize of $7.4 million.

Under current law in New York, a person must have a valid lottery ticket to collect. Other states, including Connecticut, have procedures for those who misplace tickets.

Mr. Reid's lawyer, Jerrold Parker, said his client was disappointed but remained hopeful.

A version of this article appeared in print on Sunday, August 9, 1998, on section 1 page 30 of the New York edition.More Articles in N.Y. / Region >

Intesting huh, I know if I had a ticket and I play every week, there is no chance that I would lose it, as I wouldn't have in my hot hand very long, just long enough for the Lottery to verify it.