A voice from July 2008

Its not only slow; its very hot in the Florida sun

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 algorithms are set at or the parameters of how it will give out a call. Paul just says that one day he will call the main office and find that out. Great! That will do me a lot of good while I STARVE!

The only reason I have not left United Cab to go to Yellow Cab is that I am in the Lighthouse program for the blind school children. After that, I am on my way to a company that will put me to work and provide me with business. I am ready to work and I need to work. With my years of experience, I will be an asset to any company that wants a quality driver, not just someone that can fog a mirror.

Comments

AnonymousOctober 19, 2014 at 1:41 PM
Tim, you are fighting a battle you cannot win. The tampa taxi business had a good long run but it has met it's grave. Yellow is worst off than United. You should consider what you had said in an earlier post.. Move back to Las Vegas! Vegas cabs are alway's moving, the cab drivers only work five days,have benefits and are making $1000 plus weekly. Simply put stay in tampa and be broke and short lived or go to vegas and have money in your pocket and long lived!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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."

Read more about it here! »

Hillsborough County bans Uber today as taxi company

The HCPT and Hillsborough County public commission today affirmed Uber is an illegal taxi company and bared them from operating in the Tampa area. This is wonderful news to longtime drivers like me. An Uber attorney asked Hillsborough County to make new rules to fit the trendy ridesharing movement pioneered by his company and Lyft, but was told flatly on Wednesday that Uber is an illegal taxi service. The county's Public Transportation Commission unanimously affirmed that an appointed officer had enough evidence to fine Uber, based in San Francisco, for providing hiring and public taxi services without proper licensing. Uber attorney Drew Sorrell held to the company's argument that it isn't in transportation. As a technology company, it doesn't need to follow transportation regulations as they are written. "There's a perfectly good way to do this, and that is to write the rules so that they fit," said Sorrell, of the Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor

Read more about it here! »

The Price of gas is now lower then when Obama took office

The day Obama became President (notice the price of gas) It's about time! The photo above was taken at the Racetrack gas station the day Obama took office in 2009. The photo below that is at the same station today and its back to the same level. Gas is a major expense for taxi drivers. Nothing could be better news than to see gas continue to fall. Gas is lower today then six years ago Are you going to give the credit to Obama? Is it his economic and energy policies that have led to this fall? I would like to believe that but I can't. If it were not for Obama's green energy policies, gas may even be lower then it is today. He has tried to kill the coal industry. He won't allow off shore drilling. He has stopped the pipeline from being built. Thank God, the fracking guys have been able to create a new source of oil and lower the demand for middle east crude. This president (and his fans) for years wanted investigations into the oil companies because they t

Read more about it here! »

The political decision process on Uber

Today at the hockey arena in downtown Tampa, all of the local Tampa Bay state representatives and senators gathered for the transportation hearing. What was first and foremost on the agenda was the subject of uber and its relationship to the Tampa Bay community. Both sides offered their reasons many of them anecdotal in nature. (Senator Jeff Brandes from St Petersburg, the one Center in the picture, came across as an arrogant asshole. He was rude and belligerent and combative with all speakers. This is an example of someone who bullied his way into a political position, no doubt. Sorry for the sidebar). State senator Arthenia Joyner was the best of the lot. She asked the most pointed questions and dug deep into the real issues. She pointed out to the room that seemed surprised to find out that all of the fees that apply to the cab companies by regulation uber has none of that. There are insurance requirements, licenses and fees, and fees associated with the airport authority, m

Read more about it here! »

Uber hits roadblock in Florida

Ubers exponential growth has not been without problems. After amazing advances throughout the United States and Europe, they have hit a roadblock in Florida. Uber is now fighting it out with Miami and Tampa, where they are currently illegal. Understand it is against the law to ride in an uber car in Tampa. It's currently against the law for an uber car to be dispatched in under an hour. Tampa and Miami classify ride-share as a limousine company. The rules are a $50 minimum, and 1 hour advance notification. Why? This rule is to protect taxi ccompanies and drivers, who've invested in medallions. Travis Kalanick says these rules are crazy. he says he is spending too much time fighting the officials in Florida. he says he would rather be at the Miami Shore Club. that is a swanky boutique hotel in South Beach. google it and see if you have the money to stay there. As much as people say they like uber, they are contributing to the demise of a regulated industry that serves the

Read more about it here! »

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

Read more about it here! »

Hurricane Irma and "The Superfecta"

A monster is on its way If I time it right, I may lose my job, get evicted from my apartment, have my drivers license expired, and be wiped out by a hurricane ON THE SAME DAY! How cool is that! THE SUPERFECTA! I owe my company a ton of money. With the advent of Uber and ride share, I have been destroyed because I have continued to try and be a street driver. I have no money to pay my landlord the rent that was due today. He told me he will evict me. I need to renew my drivers license by the 13th of September but I have no money to do so. Plus, there is a category 5 hurricane headed for Florida. If I time it right, all my fears will come true on the same day. If that is the case, I hope this storm wipes out the state of Florida. I really don't want to see anyone hurt. I just want the pompous assholes that own big houses on the beach see their shit crushed. You know, the houses they earned on my back. I hope they have all their shit destroyed. I will not evacuate. I will

Read more about it here! »

Uber driver arrested in Brooklyn for robbing passengers

Uber first denied this had happened until Jewish Political News reported this. Uber is now in damage control A 51-year-old Uber driver was caught stealing $5,000 worth of jewelry from a Jewish couple, who took a ride with him from Borough Park to Williamsburg 9 days ago, JP has learned. The driver, identified as Morales Juan, 51, from Brooklyn was driving an Orthodox Jewish couple in their 30’s on Friday April 3rd from the Borough Park section of Brooklyn to Williamsburg to celebrate the first two days of the Passover holiday. Two hours after they left the car the woman realized that her bag of jewelry is missing, but they couldn’t contact the police since it was after sundown. On Sunday after sunset, the couple contacted Juan who denied taking the jewelry. After another attempt on Monday, the driver agreed to come down to a location in Borough Park and return the the jewelry in exchange for a cash reward. The family then contacted Borough Park Shomrim and asked for assistanc

Read more about it here! »

I was sick in the ER

I was sick in the ER today. My head was swimming; I was off balance; I have high blood pressure; I was in trouble. An Iranian driver gave me a ride to the ER. The good news was they could find nothing wrong. My meds have my bp under control and my motor skills were good. Their best guess was its an inner ear issue, and told me to see an ENT specialist.

Read more about it here! »

PTC ticketing Uber and Lyft drivers

The HCPTC got tired of waiting for the Florida Legislature to do something about the rules of ride share. Now, they are taking matters into their own hands. They are detaining and writing tickets of $700 to the illegal drivers. Next, they will begin impounding vehicles. This should be expected. When you have no charters, licenses, insurance, you are as bogus as the day is long. Could you open a bar without a liquor license? Could you open a radio station without an FCC license? Could you open a barber shop without the proper permits? No to all the above. So why does Uber think they can get around the law by just existing and ignoring all the rules and regulations that everyone else has to play by?

Read more about it here! »

Tampa Taxi Shots

Search This Blog