Tampa Taxi Shots

I spent a good month at home in Clearwater Beach Florida relaxing and getting caught up on things I had placed on the back burner. Having the time to watch many of the movies I wanted to get caught up on was a real treat. Sleeping in with no alarm and just rolling over and getting more sleep was something I had not done in years while the taxi business went down the drain. Now, I had it going my way. I really did miss being a cab driver but it has been at least 12 years since I had been one. LYFT ultimately allowed me to return back in time and recapture what I had missed so much. I was never cut out to be a private ambulance driver and that is what the taxi industry is becoming. No thank you, I moved on and right now it feels great. Relaxing in #ClearwaterBeach during my month long retirement. pic.twitter.com/uA417NEkVN — Tim Fasano (@TimFasano) June 11, 2019

After 24 years of driving taxi for United Cab of Tampa, I am now driving for LYFT. Good call, I think. Ride share has taken over and the taxi companies are going the way of the pay phone and the corner video store.

I got a new camera for my arsenal last Christmas. The GoPro Hero 7 Silver will be a huge upgrade to what I am trying to do with my photography. My YouTube channel is taking off and I am now making money with it. I just need to keep putting up fresh content that people will want to watch. This is a video I took and edited as an experiment to see how I could do it.

A short documentary about my day working Tampa International Airport. It was a slow day as we move closer to the holidays. That is really a bad time for cab driving in Tampa. No business travel and no medical charges for most of the doctors don't even work the last two weeks of the year. Today was decent. I can only take it one day at a time.

Saturday afternoon at Tampa International Airport taxi holding area The average wait at Tampa International Airport is about 2.5 to 3.0 hours. This is the slow time of the year. But what makes it worse is it is also the hottest time of the year and that can magnify your woes. The hazy, lazy days of summer are never good for the mind of psyche of the taxi driver. You try to curb cost by not running the air conditioning when you are on the deck but you really have no choice. Unfortunately, the money you need for gas has to be used to keep you cool while you wait and miserable wait on the sun deck. Come on autumn. The lady you see standing by her taxi told me I was beginning to smell. No doubt. I was covered with sweat. I felt disgusting and could not to get a fare and go home, shower, and change into clean cloths. I  can't imagine how I'm going to continue doing this when I am living out of my taxi when I get evicted from my apartment. That is gong to be a bitch.

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...

Thunderstorms loom over downtown Tampa I actually had a good day today and it was not because of U2 playing tonight at Raymond James Stadium or the thunderstorms building up over the bay area. It had to do with the three part approach I use to try to book like the old days. 1) I live in Clearwater, so I get out early to rack up some liquid gold. That is the increasing number of people that are going to PAR on Logisticare charges. That tends to slow down by 8'oclock. 2) I work Tampa International Airport in until the lunch hour. 3) I work the hood until late afternoon. That is where a taxi driver can still get cash fares because these people are not good enough for Uber or Lyft. They don't have bank issued debit cards and the ride share folks do not want them. You also get many Logisticare charges from the poor areas. That's about it. Adapt or perish is the rule of the jungle. Forget about getting any U2 people like we would have in years gone by. Those folks w...

HULA Girl goes with me everywhere I have been fighting it spiritually for some time. The reality that I am not a taxi driver anymore. I have become a medical transport driver. That is nor what I wanted to do. That would be a job. Cab driving is not a job. It is a hustle. You get customers who use you to go buy drugs, go to the bars, the clubs, the massage parlors, the grocery stores, work, the airport, football games, church, and so forth. Along the way you meet a variety of interesting people. They all use Uber now. We load walkers in the trunk for elderly people with oxygen tanks. Seriously. God love them but that's not my calling. I want my whores, drug addicts, business people, jerks, sports fans, hipsters (I really miss the hippies), computer geeks, college students, degenerates, gay duds, the confused band the lost back. There are only a handful left as the gig slowly dies.

The Skyway Bridge I have not put up a post in the entire month of April. There are a few reasons for that. The main one is that I am trying to take my mind off of how bad the taxi business is in the traditional form. The business is becoming a hybrid form of medical transport precariously dependent on a few eggs in small basket. I have simply lived long enough to know that is an untenable situation. I am not, however, looking a gift horse in the mouth (whatever that means) for without it, it would be chips out. I am at least able now to have not such a myopic view of everything and I'm adapting a long view of the situation. Hence, the image of the Skyway Bridge. I crossed that bridge six times in one day when I lucked out at and caught a double Bradenton run from St. Pete. The charge included deadhead and that worked out pretty good. Believe me, I never got anything like that when I was driving traditional taxi. So I am not able to complain too much. I am coming out of my...

What is going on now in the taxi business in Tampa is not just having "a bad day." Most drivers are getting somewhere between two to five calls a day. That's it. "Don't worry, it will be better tomorrow." a customer told me. I am worried.  Each day is just the same. For example, this morning I came out at Five a.m. and did not get a call until Nine. There has never been a time when a driver during the morning hours would not get a call for over 4 hours. The new dispatch system is inherently unfair. If you are not close to a call, it will not give you one, nor will it even send you a f *g bid. Without the bid, I cannot make any money. Paul Hinton says I simply need to park my cab where the calls are going to come out. How in the hell do I do that? The calls could come out from anywhere. I have no psychic abilities, so I guess I am screwed. Talking to Paul Hinton and Eddie Munster (the computer guy) has proved useless. They don't even know what the a...

Once in a great while the storms of change will overshadow the plans of man. That would happen today. A cold wind blew over Tampa Bay this morning, a brief repose from the subtropical heat ever-present most of the year. The cool air felt good on my face and brought my spirits to a new high. I needed a lift. I had a ride out to Boco Ciega which is a beautiful part of the area. I had a scheduled ride of some significance and I felt hopeful. This ride I was on would put some serious money and my pocket. I was excided because I needed a break. Today was going to be a good day. Would I at least have an auspicious start?  It is believed Desoto once landed in this area. It was all jungle prada then. It had to have been very inhospitable to his gallant crew. Today, it is airy homes, many built in a time of no air conditioning. The natural winds off the bay during storm season will cool a house off. You just need to be near the shore. Its the end of winter in Tampa Bay. Winter ...

I can honestly say that in the 22 years I have driven a taxi in Tampa, that I have been treated more than fairly by the company. In fact, I consider the management friends. As I have stated repeatedly on this blog, the problem is not the ownership of United Cab. The problem is the HCPTC which, in my opinion, has been compromised by the deep pockets of Uber. This is why the commission treats them with kit gloves and makes tremendous concessions that would never be made in another industry. Drivers gathering at United Cab Tampa Running a cab company is costly. That is where Uber has an absolute advantage. They have managed to shift all the cost onto the worker and Uber takes no risk. This is an anti-labor practice that has gained ground under the stagnation of the Obama administration. Fortunately, that may soon end. I read the other day that the leading employer in the United States is Wall Mart. Most of their workers make minimum wage. I also read that nationwide over one ...

NOTICE NO CALLS ON THE BOARD DURING THE PIRATE INVASION! This is an image of my tablet at around noon on Gasparilla day 2017. It was a clear board. In years past, there would have been 1,500,000,000 calls on the board. The business is gone. There is not anything more I can say about that. I used to blame the HCPTC for taking no action to stop a gypsy cab operation. They were compromised early in the process of negotiations, and with the billions behind Uber, is that a surprise? The only mystery now is why do so many drivers continue to work for a leasing operation. There are no real perks to that anymore. The airport will soon be open season. When that happens, you won't be able to find a taxi in this town anymore. I did pick up a couple south of Gandy who told me the reason they called United Cab was they did not want to pay 10x surge. A 10 dollar fare would now be over 100 bucks. Apparently many were willing to pay that instead of getting into a taxi. Its over fo...

Tom and I have a discussion about Uber and the problems we don't think they can avoid, such as laundry, groceries, and asshole customers. Uber drivers will soon find out that all that glitters is not gold. Vomit on the back seat with Big Mac sauce mixed with French fries is so nice. You drive all night and your cab will smell like sex and livestock. How could Uber avoid this?

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...

Dana Young swore the safest form of transportation for women was Uber. It seems many women are not so sure of that. In fact, many Uber women riders are now requesting female only drivers . Uber said they will look into that. Unfortunately, for Uber, that would be no different than wanting a white only driver. Sorry folks, you cannot have it any way you want it.

It was raining but not a lot of damage In 21 years of driving, I have never been at fault in an accident. Yesterday I was. My foot slipped off the brake causing a low speed rear end. Fortunately, nobody was injured. I was really traumatized by this event because I have never been in this situation before. I have been hit by others but I have never been at fault. I found out today that I still have my job which is good. I do need a gig. What I want to do now is put this as far behind me as I can. The bumper did get knocked a little loose

Abandoned building in south St. Petersburg I have started a new business of running medical charges. My activity is all in St. Petersburg and my first two days have been a resounding success. Since I am new to this area, I did notice some abandoned buildings with a theme graffiti. I have no idea what those buildings were (except the bank) but the birds and the word loser are on two of them. A customer of mine said they may have been the old welfare buildings. Not sure. Graffiti on the building next to the one above closed down bank across the street

I had a drop off in Clearwater Beach (not far from where I live. I mean their vacation rental was right a beach access. Nice. They were from the cold north and they were ready to enjoy some fun in the sun. Good for them. The locals must work like anywhere else. Across the street was an abandoned Beach house. Perhaps a testament to the economic collapse that disrupted many lives in Florida. As I was looking at it thinking of the potential, this friendly cat emerged. I really hope he was not just left behind. I could see if he was feral. Anyway, hanging out at the beach. Not bad. I named him "Beach Bum."

Poor Richard. He had pretty much run his course as a long time cab driver. He was just trying to hold on through bad health until he could retire. That was not to be.  It's bad enough to get into a bad crash and lose your gig, then go home and see it all over FOX, CNN, MSNBC is just a kick in the nuts. Even Jim Rome and Steven Colbert were talking about the viral video of the composed newscaster that did not flinch when the accident happened. It turned out for the best for Richard. He is drawing his social security and does not miss the cab business in any way.