Fake Cabbie

Well I’m still not totally sure but it seems tonight I was picked up by a male person driving a taxi, who wasn’t actually a licenced and registered taxi driver. This person even explained the whole thing to me. He met a friend a legit cabbie it seems at his house and the cabbie wanted a drink. Our moonlighting friend declined and instead decided to make a few dollars on the side by driving his mates cab. From what I could see in the darkened interior of the taxi the id card on display didn’t match his face. But it was the fact he didn’t run the meter that initially raised my suspicions. I let them know at base when I booked the cab that I was a driver and the had obviously included that information on the job details as he asked me if I was heading to or from work when I got in. When we got to my destination I expected him to say something about forgetting the meter but he just said the fare was on him and don’t worry about it. Given my suspicions I didn’t complain and hopped out and went about my business.

Had he been the real thing I would have given him $10 even after the kind offer of a freebie as we all have to make a buck and he had done me a favour.

UPDATE: I just contacted the base supervisor and asked if my job had been picked up by the driver who accepted it thinking he might have rejected the fare or called a no-job but no he had run the meter to indicate pickup just not while I was in the cab …. Weird if you ask me!!

You ran over my feet

That last post reminded me of another sunday night down at the Obie.

I had picked up and was trying to make my way through the throng of people inch by inch tapping the horn as I went as they were really tightly gathered around the whole car. Finally I got through and pulled onto the road wating for a gap as I needed to make a u-turn.

Anyway before I got the gap a guy comes running up to my open window and shouts at me “You just ran over my f***ing feet!” To which I replyed “Well obviously your feet are alright, after all you just ran down here to tell me!”

Duty of Care

Tonight I picked up a guy from outside a local pub. It was clear to me he was well tanked as he was slurring his words and talking in unrelated bursts. Anyway he requests the bottle shop drive thru and when we get there the attendant noticing his condition tells him sorry but I can't serve you alcohol. We leave there and I ask "Where to?" assuming he will head home but no he tells me to find him the nearest bottle shop as he still wants his block of cans.

Finally after driving around for a fair while and finding all 3 bottleshops in the area closed I took the guy home. But it raises the question. The bottleshop attendant has a duty of care under the law requiring him to refuse service to someone visibly under the influence, which he did. But where does that leave me? and what are my obligations under the law or the taxi act for that matter?

Do I blindly drive him wherever he wants to go or am I meant to tell him the best place for you is home you've had a skin full? Simply put my job is to drive people from point A to point B but we all know the law is anything but simple

Your only a cabbie

4 words that don't look like much on a page or a computer screen for that matter but damn if they don't make my blood boil when they are said in a derogatory and/or dismissive manner as they were Friday morning.

Yes I am a Cabbie should I be ashamed of the fact? Should I apologise for it? Sure I might not get to wear the nice suit or have lunch in the fancy restaurant and sure I don't have the ditsy but definitely good looking personal assistant and I'll never have the six figure income. But damn him I'm 'PROUD' of being a Cabbie. I'm 'GOOD' at what I do and hey he 'NEEDED ME'

So be dismissive Mr Arrogant and up yourself but remember this. When you needed to get somewhere I turned up and took you there and I did so efficiently, professionally, courteously and without treating you in the manner you treated me.

Signed

Only a Cabbie

Lost property and secret recordings

I picked up 3 young women tonight in their mid twenty's they wanted to go from Trigg to Cottesloe. Anyway after about 10 minutes 1 of them asks me for my cab number and promptly sms's it off to a friend. I thought that was a bit strange but she says she has a habit of leaving stuff in cabs and wanted to make sure she knew the cab she had been in so getting her stuff back would be easier. I suggested just checking the cab when she got out would be the smart option but it seems she is a serial loser of stuff in cabs. The tally was 8 mobile phones, 3 handbags, numerous sets of keys and sunglasses.

Anyway towards the end of the fare she says "Shit!, I've been video recording the whole cab ride since we left home. Everything we've said has been recorded and I've just sent it off to 'Beck" Now I'm not sure how to feel about this. I mean had she not sent it too her friend I would have asked her to delete it as I wasn't aware I was being recorded and didn't feel too comfortable about it.
Am I overreacting?? Conversations happen in taxis that would be inappropriate in another context but from what I can remember nothing was said that I should worry about.

What do yo think?? If your a cabbie how do you think you would feel being taped without your permission? I'd never even thought about it but with mobiles today it's certainly possible.

Persistance pays off

I realised after talking with the service station guy this morning that the title of this post "Persistence pays off!!" could have been the title of this blog, it certainly is my motto I just didn't realise it until this morning.

Taxi drivers are a funny lot. 4 nights a week they will work from 6pm (usually) to midnight or 1am then head for home and in doing so they forego the remaining 5 or 6 hours of their shift. They justify it by saying "it's not worth my time" or "it's too quiet/theres no work" when in reality there is work out there you just have to know where to find it and given that I don't work Fri/Sat nights I have to stay out and make the most of those early morning hours.

I've gotten to the stage where I LOVE the quiet times and I realise that may sound a bit strange to you but I really mean it. I feel a much greater sense of achievement and accomplishment right now after finishing my shift even thou I'm $80 down on my take for New Years Eve. The reason is because unlike NYE the money wasn't thrown at me I had to search it out, It would have been easy to finish the night with $100 less than I ended up taking but I wanted to work, I searched out the work and I found it and because of that I got the reward.

So my motto for 2007 is going to be "Persistence pays off!!"

Below Par

Crap!! That is my assessment of this New Years Eve. It rates second in the list of crap New Years only missing out to the New Years of 1999/2000 when everyone thought the world was going to end because of the y2k bug and no one could agree if it really was the new millennium or if that started with 2001.

My best night in 2006 came in November before we had a fare increase and it was a weeknight I don't work Fri/Sat night and haven't for over 12 months. Well tonight after the fare increase which gave us 6cents a kilometer, 20cents each flagfall and 50cents on our phone booking fee and including the New Years Eve surcharge of $4.50 on each fare I only bettered my previous best by $6

I had time to go home at midnight for a toilet break and a coffee a luxury you just never get on a busy New Years Eve. If I had to estimate it I would say I should have made at least $150 more than I did and thats not ego talking or greed thats an honest estimate based on a good night including the extra $4.50 surcharge.

Part of it was the increased public transport that was put on something I support totally. It's about time people both customers and officialdom realise taxis can't cope with the huge peak demand that occurs at times like this and we can't be expected to.

The other problem was the media beating up the fact that taxis will be swamped and getting 1 will be nigh on impossible so make sure you have other arrangements. The trouble is they did. The trains left Perth packed while the taxis coasted around busy but far from flat out.

My take for the night was good don't get me wrong and any other night I would be more than happy with it. It's just that this was New Years Eve and I guess there just wasn't the sizzle that you normally expect. It lacked that total consuming edge to it that you associate with a good New Years Eve.

Tonight we have Perth Cup and 20/20 cricket at the WACA so it will be another busy night hopefully it will make up for last night. 1 thing I know, the extra transport isn't running.

"Bloody hell, Even the bins are in green and gold!!"

That was the comment made by a rather dejected English cricket fan on the night of the 4th day of the recent 3rd Ashes test held here in Perth.

Our household recycling bins are green with a yellow lid and are put out on the verge the night before and then emptyed early the next morning. I guess after the 2 late wickets fell putting victory in this test and any chance of retaining the Ashes beyond the reach of the English team my passenger didn't want to be reminded about anything Australian.

Rip off!

I picked up a lady around 2am from the Sheraton hotel wanting to travel to Como. She seemed very nice, attractive and well dressed and we chatted easily about her night out. Then I mentioned the fare and was stunned by her reply. It came to $12.60 no surcharges applied.

I got the job even thou I was the second cab on the rank. The point driver gave it too me, why I don't know I suggested to the customer maybe her either didn't know where it was or thought it wasn't worth his time and effort. Anyway the conversation went like this.

me: Maybe he thought it wasn't worth his effort for $12.60
lady: Personally I think it's a rip off! I mean you've used like $1 worth of gas and I still have to pay $12.60.

At that point I started getting defensive explaining how it wasn't only the gas but the clean cab, friendly conversation and the fact I knew where to go without checking my map that she was paying for. None of that matters thou and she was very polite about it. It just shocked me when she came out with it and I finished with my stock answer.

me: I just switch the meter on at the start and off at the end, what happens in between has nothing to do with me.

My pax had a knife

Tonight I had a passenger in the front of the cab and he had a knife. Not only did he have a knife but he was agitated, really agitated. You always wonder what you will do if a situation like this occurs in your cab but until it does you really have no idea. For a split second I panicked and my mind raced. What was the right thing to do in this situation?? Keep driving and hope he doesn't use it?? or stop and bolt hopefully without provoking him into using it before I can get away??

Then he started talking. I wasn't the problem. In all reality he most likely has no idea how I felt for those few seconds. It probably never occurred to him that it would be a problem taking out a knife in a cab. You see he is a chef.

The story goes someone else in the kitchen has been using my passengers knife. Apparently that is just not on especially as they weren't looking after it which it turns out was the reason my passenger was so agitated. I guess knives are a big deal when your a chef and believe me I could see the roughness of the blade from where I was sitting. So anyway the guy then pulls out a sharpening (pole/rod) thingy that chefs use and goes to work trying to put some life back into the blade.

By this stage I had relaxed as I understood the situation and to relieve the tension a bit I grabbed the mike without actually calling anyone and jokingly shouted "Base! Base! he's got a knife, he's got a knife! We both got a good laugh out of that and the rest of the fare passed without incident.

1 thing was certain as I drove away after dropping him off. I doubt I will ever forget that fare.

ABC Taxis stuff up again

Following on from my previous post Wait Awhile I took a job tonight and when the customer got in he mentioned he was afraid he was going to miss his plane. It turns out he had rang ABC Taxis initially and after waiting 30mins had rung them back only to be informed they didn't have a taxi in the area. So he rang Goliath Taxis and was now finally on his way to the airport.

The problem was he had called the cab 1hr 45mins before take off. It should have been plenty of time right? By the time he got the brush off from ABC Taxis, called Goliath and I got there (I was 20 mins away) he was tight for time. I got him to the terminal just 30mins before take off and he still had to check in, get his ticket and make the gate before they closed it.

This had got to stop. His only mistake was calling the wrong cab company. I read today that Goliath has 84% market share leaving just 16% to ABC Taxis is it any wonder they can't cover the work? An hour and three quarters is plenty of time to call a cab and get from his house to the terminal and checked in etc with no stress. Instead the experience left him a bundle of nerves and as far from the relaxed traveler as you can get.

Do you think he will call them again?? Do you think the next time he needs to be on time for a flight he will call a cab?? Any cab? Not likely, he will ask a mate or family member for a lift then not just ABC Taxis but the entire taxi industry will lose out.

Something has to be done.

I like Red Bull

Wow that was a big night. The estimate I heard was 300,000 people turned out for the event some getting to the South Perth foreshore as early as 5am!

There's a story here from news.com.au

As for me I was blown away by the size of it all. The work was solid from midday when I started thru to 5pm when I stopped for dinner. In fact I ended up only working 12 hours (I had the cab for 17) and had my best shift yet.

I can't wait for next year.

Sometimes you fluke it

After posting about how difficult it was Saturday night to get a run going and consistently find the bigger jobs I felt I just had to tell you what happened last night.

It started when I checked my post office box and a customer who I had carried nearly a month ago and at the time hadn't paid, had actually sent me the fare. I mean I know I gave the lady my mailing address but I never really believed I would ever see the money so it was a nice surprise to get the letter.

At the time I had logged off the MDT and was intending on having an early night but after the nice surprise in my mailbox I decided I would head back into the city and see what was around.

I logged back in and made myself available and no more than 30 secs after doing so I scored a medical parcel job. Normally the ones I get are fairly small Perth to Mt Lawley or Nedlands etc $15 max. Not this time thou, I was headed to Joondalup Hospital some $47 away.

Btw the time I dropped and got back on the freeway there wasn't enough time to get another job before I really had to change over but seeing how the morning had gone that was fine with me.

Sat night

There must be an art to working these busy nights. An art that I have apparently forgotten. I filled in last night for the regular driver as he had to study for uni exams and to put it simply my take for the night was roughly what I would have expected for a Sat night 5 or 6 years ago not 6 or so weeks out from xmas in 2006!.

The work was going gangbusters for the first 2hrs and then I hit the small fares. I got a hail for $6.00 a job off the computer from Mt Lawley to Northbridge that was only $9 things like this. Then later in the night I spent a whole hour for the princely sum of $11 the rest of the time I was chasing jobs that weren't there.

You have to expect these things of course but the most annoying part was the huge volume of work that was there and I just lucked out time and again with either small fares, time wasters or no-jobs.

Less is more

I worked last night as the regular driver had the night off to prepare for uni exams.

I picked up a couple last night the lady making reference to the level of undress amongst the women that were out. Her comment was haven't they heard of the phrase "Less is More"

I couldn't help myself and had to reply "For sure, The less they wear the more we look" lol.

She just groaned "Thats not what I meant"

What do you think?

I was faced with a decision this morning and I think I made the wrong one.

I was plotted rank on the Sheraton Hotel waiting for a timed booking when the GPS gave me a job at the Duxton Hotel about a block away. It was for room 1203 @ 4am to the domestic airport.

I get to the hotel and go inside to let reception know I am there and who for etc. Well he tells me the pax has just walked out to the (other) taxi waiting outside, I run outside and call to the customer "Rm 1203 sir?? Your taxi is over here."

At this point the driver of the other taxi approaches me and explains he has been waiting with the gentleman's bags in his boot for the past 5 minutes. I point out that I have the job on my taxi dispatch computer and the other driver hasn't switched his meter on which I can tell because the flee light on the roof is still lit up.

I ended up taking the customer.

Part of the problem was the time of day the situation occurred. My change over time is 5am. It's a 15 minute drive from the city to the airport and I need to leave the airport by 4.20am to have time to fuel up and drive to change over. So had I missed out on the fare I would have most likely not got anything remembering I was sitting on a booking at the Sheraton before all this started.

I think had it been earlier in the night and had I not been so tight for time I would have let the guy take the job and in hindsight that may have been the right thing to do in this case as well.

What would you have done??

The things kids say!

I did a parcel job tonight nothing special and fairly short only $15, It was when I got there that the job became memorable.

A lady came out to collect the parcel and her 5 yr old son came out with her. Anyway the lady wanted to take the parcel inside and make sure whatever it was meant to be it was and she asked me to wait. It was then that the kid spoke up, it went something like this.

kid: Do you kill baddies??
me: Thats the police I'm just a taxi driver
kid: But you don't like baddies?
me: Well no one likes baddies
kid: So do you kill baddies??
me: No I just drive away really fast!!

It was then his mother came back and I relayed the story to her, she saw the funny side of it but I couldn't help wondering what this kid had been watching that had him thinking taxi drivers kill baddies. Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver perhaps??

Fare evaders spoil good night

Last night I had 2 fare evaders or 'runners' as we call them. They come up with all their excuses, some try the sympathy vote, the 2nd fare last night just plain bolted when we stopped outside his unit block.

The thing is what can you as the driver do?? I went to the police after a runner a couple of weeks ago. It took them 2.5hrs to download the photo's from the camera and write the report. Neither of the officers who were trying to download the camera had ever seen the software before and actually had to refer to the help file while doing it. It took 5 officers before someone could even enter the password to load the software itself as no-one knew what it was.

The whole procedure could have been handled in a half hour or so if police were trained in how to operate the software instead of fumbling along learning as they go and taking up the cabbies work time.

Then there is the pax. They ring from public phones even thou they have mobiles as they are untraceable. There is also the benefit of no traceable address as they aren't at home they are on some non-descript street corner somewhere.

With my 2nd runner last night the 1st couple got out next to a lane way to "save money" instead of driving around the block into their actual street. Again ensuring there is no traceable address. Then the last guy goes to his street and gets me to stop past his apartment block, in front of a house. After fumbling with his wallet for a bit he bolts out the door heading behind me and is gone. I did actually get my hand to his arm before he left which is something I usually never do but I was just so mad.

Lucky for me he got away as you will see here Fare evader stabs taxi driver It's just not worth the grief.

Good things can happen

Tonight actually ended up being quite good thanks to a job I couldn't do.

Now I know that comment doesn't make any sense so I will explain. I was given a job to pick up at UWA (University of Western Australia) for all those non-locals. It said the pick up point was the main entrance but then under that it said 'University Club'. Well the 2 aren't even close on the map and the operator didn't have a phone number for them so I gave it away. They still would have gotten a cab as when they rang back to find out what the delay was, the telephonist would have asked for more information on exactly where they were waiting.

Anyway because I got that job and then gave it back I found myself vacant in Crawley and almost the exact moment I plotted in on the computer I was giving a job. This time picking up at the Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC). When I get there 3 people climb in 2 girls in the back and a guy in the front. "Where we off to ?" I ask. "Ballajura" was the reply. Great I think finally a decent fare maybe my night is going to turn around after all. On the way there I find out that only 1 of the girls is getting out in Ballajura and the other couple are carrying on to Joondalup. Bonus!! It turns into a $61 fare and easily my best fare for the week. 200 meters after dropping them off I score a hail which ended up being $15:00 Then after having a break for a meat pie and a coffee I was sent to Carramar which is past Wanneroo and that gentleman asked to go to the Novotel Hotel in the city a $51 fare. I couldn't believe my luck, other than Friday nights if you get taken up that way to Joondalup etc you can normally expect to run empty back into the city for your next fare. So being paid both ways was a bonus.

Just after I dropped him off I was sorting out my money and writing the fare in my book when a guy asks me if I can take him to Lesmurdie a $36 fare by the time I dropped him off I had taken $163 in 4 jobs and doubled what I had taken for the night.

In hindsight I have never been so happy I couldn't find a customer!!

Mondays shocker

Monday night was a shocker

It started with an elderly lady who I have taken before and she is a real pain in the butt. She goes from Balcatta to Dianella and she will tell you she doesn't have a lot of money and please don't rip her off by going the long way. The trouble is her sense of direction is shocking especially considering it is a trip she does in both directions at least twice a week. She constantly tells you you should be going the other way ie behind you. If it was anyone else you would turn around and go where they believed you should be going until such time as they realised there mistake and agreed to shut up and let you do the driving but she is on a pension and doesn't have a subsidy book so you try to be patient with her and get her home as quickly as possible.

Now this time she kept on and kept on that I was going the wrong way right until she saw the local supermarket and now realising where she was she took a new tack. "Ooooh you are charging me too much I don't think I have that much" Referring to the amount on the meter. Now she has too know what the trip is worth because as I say she does it twice a week so I patiently explain that I only charge what is on the meter and I can't do anything about that etc etc. But it gets better. She pulls a $10 note out and announces that is all she has. What am I supposed to do ?? If she was a younger person I would turn around and take her part way back and make her walk but shes got to be at least 80 so that is out of the question. The total fare is $18 so I'm short $8 I tell her she knows what its worth and shouldn't have called the cab if she couldn't afford it but she uses her age to her advantage very well and insists I stop the cab which conveniently has just turned into her street. I haven't even stopped when her door is open and she is reach for her handbag and stepping out. What can I do?? So I resign myself to losing the $8 although if I see her again I will be making sure I get the $8 and the fare before we go anywhere.

Update: I picked her up again this week (24/10/2006) and after more fruitless driving around we did find her daughters house and I was paid the fare owing for that nights trip with an agreement to return the following night for the $8. The next night when I returned I got talking to her daughter who told me they are aware of the problem with their mother and are trying to deal with it. It seems she makes the same trip every day.

I felt sorry for the daughter as I explained to her last nights taxi fare should have been $6.00 all told but not having an address and having to play tour guide hoping a familiar sight would jog the old lady's memory it ended up being $22.

I hope they find a solution soon in the mean time if I see her again at least I have an address.