Long time taxi drivers

I ran into Patrick and Tammy this morning at United Cab. They have both been driving for decades. Tammy and I have been camping many times, including her famous birthday party camp out. The only reason I mention this is because cab drivers participating in recreational activities is rare. They don't want to get out of the cab, such is the subculture of a taxi cab driver.

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FUCK UBER

Listen, you Uber fuckers, you screwheads. You are stealing my shit. I tried to be rational (What's that?). But not now. I am a man who will not take it anymore. A man who stands up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. I am a man who stands up. Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for nineteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in a shit hole, another lives on drugs. You pick up a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? Why do you want to drive Uber? You think you can avoid your destiny? You'l...

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What Lyft and Uber will take from the Tampa taxi business

A lyft car at the Iconic sign on Florida ave downtown Tampa I have been a hack in Tampa Florida since 1995. Unlike the estimated 50% of Americans that hate their jobs, I have never had a day when I did not feel like going to work. Certainly, the last few years have not been fun because the economy fell apart like a three dollar watch. However, economies are like tides and this one is on the rebound, at a snail's pace. I would like to thank Mr. Obama for that but that would not be fair. The economy is recovering despite any fiscal policy of his. That being said - there are challenges. My job is inherently difficult. We face strange and deranged people street level on a daily basis. Taxi companies in Tampa (which are regulated) must serve the general population. We have no choice. Short fares, drunk fares, people going to buy drugs (they don't tell you that) we must pick up. Don't get me wrong, there are business people, beautiful women, great trippers, and long haul...

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Joe Lopano forces Uber impact fees at Tampa International Airport which is highway robbery

I don't like being robbed at Tampa International Airport The real reason Joseph W. Lopano let Uber and Lyft into TPA was he projected an increase in fees collected to be 5.2 million in the next two years. He seemed to view this as a revenue generating opportunity when the taxi companies were only able to come up with about 1.2 million a year. This was more than a reason to violate existing law. Joe Lopano (head of TPA) had a long range plan to soak the public and make a GIANT BONUS for himself. I wonder why he was fired in New York and flamed out in Dallas? Just wondering. The Tampa Bay Business Journal confirmed this fact the other day on their website. I knew he was corrupt and this proves it. Lopano stated that reason he let Uber and Lyft into the airport (violating the contract he had with the taxi companies) is he wanted to provide transportation alternatives to the traveling public. That was pure Bullshit. He simply saw how they could increase revenue long term by bilk...

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The Taxi Truman Show

I may have found the escape hatch Regulated Taxi driving is now dead. Uber has taken over. The current situation is no longer tenable for drivers who face an old model of cab leasing, and can no longer continue paying a Pre-Uber lease. Today was the tipping point. This time of year we should be very busy...EXTREMLY BUSY. We are not. It is dead as a doornail with drivers at the airport waiting up to 5 hours to a ride. It should be off the hook. It is for Uber. They pay no fee to the airport, yet they are allowed to operate. I made a good living for years. Transportation was regulated in Hillsborough County. This insured uniformity or rates, insurance, and accountability. But no more. The HCPTC has now allowed a gypsy cab company take over. Uber has not only taken some or part of our business - they have taken it all. This is because they are low balling the market in an attempt to establish a monopoly. They are well on their way to doing that with the compl...

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St. Petersburg Taxi tells the truth about Uber and ride share

Albert is a cab driver that follows the rules and pays his insurance, license, and operation fees Guest post by Albert Zee: Uber problem in Tampa Bay.....Taxi industry has been under siege since 2007-2008 due to economical collapse of 2008, then surge in new taxi cab start ups between 2010-204 which were still mostly operating according to all the rules and regulations prolonged recovery. Then uber came around with "great solution" to our transportation problems and said, what regulations, what commercial insurance, what background checks and what cars (we don't need to own any and our drivers don't need to be regulated because we are "rideshare" company), we will invade and steal the market by offering rides at half a price, we will put all those law obeying "taxi cartels" out of business by creating bogus press releases about advantages of uber, by lying to public, drivers and politicians, they don't know any better any ways. Curren...

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What happened to Tommy Duncan and Sticks of Fire blog?

The image below is a 2005 TBT article I still have about the Tampa blogger scene. The big boy was Tommy Duncan. He stopped blogging around 2008, and was never seen again. Here is what Creative Loafing said about that era: "The 40-something blogger founded the most-often-cited independent Tampa Bay news blog, Sticks of Fire, in Feb. 2004, and the site, without much financial assistance from advertising, is still going strong today with a stable of more than a dozen regular contributors. In 2005, Duncan was featured in a tbt* story about the young lions of the local Internet. Today, about half of them have fallen by the wayside or (in the case of famous sexy blogger Rachel Moran) moved to New Jersey. Duncan keeps on posting. The local digital scene has grown, but he's not sure it has improved in quality."

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BREAKING: Uber 65¢ a mile in Tampa (how low can you go?)

Uber is screwing their Tampa drivers up the ass. They have lowered their rates 30% to 65 measly cents a mile. Drivers now get 20 bucks from downtown Tampa to St Petersburg... Big deal. Minus gas, time, insurance, maintenance, wear and tear, federal income tax, social security, workman's compensation, and you have what's left in your baby's diaper. In a word: Uber drivers are desperate. This is what one Tampa Uber driver said on the boards: "Uber is a thermometer of what this country has become. We are scavangers.... Everbody is doing this UBER CRAP because there is only one reality, THERE IS NO JOB or just FEW JOBS out there. This country can measure the desperation of its people with UBER, like the economist who measure the economics of the world by the McDonald's Big Mac, same concept"

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Tampa Bay Downs

I went to the horse races at Tampa Bay Downs Sunday. It had been years since I had been there. Not much had changed except the Daily Racing Form is now 9 bucks. I paid it because I am from the old school, and want more comprehensive information then the track program. It did not seem to do me much good. The horse above was a maiden claiming horse. She had the top jockey and trainer on the track. Even one of the handicappers in the DRF picked the horse. So, I bet her across the board. She came in dead last. I mean I took a photo of her chasing the other horses. They not even in the frame. I actually felt sorry for the horse. Anyway, Tom could not make it, so I only stayed for a few races. I even managed to win a race. As you can see it was a nice day, so I enjoy the sights and sounds of the racetrack. They had a good crowd and most people seemed to be having fun. Of course, at the track, you see the same characters that you find at most tracks. There are the wandering around re...

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Paris taxi drivers cause traffic jams in protest of Uber

We should do this in Tampa jBay to show we mean business and want the mayor to stop illegal operators IF only the French could fight their wars as bravely as they fight against markets, eh? The latest is that several Parisian taxi drivers have beaten up someone driving an Uber limo : this is even after the French Government just passed a, quite probably illegal, law to favour the taxis over the Uber drivers : It seems that protest turned to guerrilla warfare this morning as one Uber driver, carrying Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage & Kat Borlongan from the airport to Paris, was attacked by multiple assailants, who allegedly, after smashing one window and slashing two tires (as seen in the photo), as well as defacing one side of the car with glue, attempted to enter the vehicle. Borlongan says their Uber driver manoeuvered the two out of the situation before anything could happen, leaving the three stranded on the shoulder of the freeway. Here’s the background: just as...

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Time for Tampa International Airport to honor their contracts with the taxi industry and shut out Uber.

We are entering a Neolithic age of capitalism. Oh, that is a Cuban cigar from Havana - against federal law to have one - Screw 'em ( Check my Twitter bar to view videos of my opinion on this ) The Tampa Airport Directors of Operations are screwing the local cab drivers up the ass. The local taxi companies have an exclusive contract on "transportation for hire" at the airport. The taxi companies pay $250,000 a year for the right to pick up. (You have to pay to play when it comes to the airport...unless you are Uber or Lyft). Uber pays ZERO $$$. Do you know that? And they are allowed to pick up in the tunnel where we are banned from. In fact, an ADO told me that for every 1 fare we pick up, Uber picks up 11. That is an outrage. It is time that the drivers protect their own rights and the taxi companies need to support us in this. Let me explain: The taxi business is not going well in Tampa. It is worse than what is commonly known. If it were not for the Logistica...

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Tampa Taxi Shots

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