{"id":5692,"date":"2019-09-30T10:16:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T14:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/?p=5692"},"modified":"2023-01-26T15:40:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T20:40:44","slug":"taxis-vs-uber-tales-from-a-seasoned-taxi-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/2019\/09\/30\/taxis-vs-uber-tales-from-a-seasoned-taxi-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxis vs. Uber; Tales from a Seasoned Taxi Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This story first appeared on <\/em>RideGuru<\/em><\/a> as a two part segment regarding the tensions between Taxi and Uber Drivers. We are sharing both segments below as it is a fascinating in depth look at how ridesharing has completely changed the culture of being a Taxi Driver.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet Patrick: The Seasoned Taxi Driver<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I live in Florida, it\n is hot and humid most of the year but I’m too stubborn to replace my \nhome AC. It died in late September about 7 years ago, at which time I \ndecided to tough it out until the next summer. Summer can begin in May, \nbut by June the heat and humidity are here in full force until the end \nof October. I found I was saving over a hundred dollars a month on my \nenergy bill without an AC, and today that’s a much greater consideration\n than it was in the past. I drive from 6pm-6am so if I get home and to \nsleep by say, 8:30 am, the heat is going to wake me up any time from \n11:30-1:30. I may catch another hour, but I’m lucky if I get five \nuninterrupted hours of sleep before my next 12 hour shift. If it’s not \nthe heat it’s the neighbor’s barking Yorkies, the weed whacker next \ndoor, or the recent Sunday morning tree trimming project involving the \nuse of an electric chainsaw, by the same neighbor who owns the Yorkies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have ample time to think about these things as I sit parked at a designated taxi stand downtown. It’s Friday night and the streets are flooded with Uber\/Lyft vehicles from out of town. I began driving a cab in 2003. It was economic necessity as I had been unemployed for a couple of months and exhausted my rainy day savings. Part of my motivation was also that I thought it would be a good way to learn how to drive. Prior to that and up to the present day my lifestyle choices allowed me to live without the necessity of owning a vehicle. I didn’t own a vehicle and hadn’t since 1974, I’d gotten by just fine without one. In fact, 1972-’74 were the only time I owned vehicles in my life. I owned a motorcycle which was a gift I received in 1993 and drove for 12 years. It was destroyed by the floodwaters of Hurricane Wilma in Oct. of 2005. In 1972 while living in New Jersey, I had purchased a 1970 red VW bug convertible which I sold later that year for $250. Then I bought a tan 1969 Chevy Sport Van. In late 1973 I left it parked on the edge of a farmer’s field near Matawan, N.J., with the permission of the farmer who owned the land. I didn’t return to New Jersey until a visit in 1992 and the Chevy Sport Van was still sitting where I had abandoned it. It had sunk into the earth down to the chassis and the farmer was using it to store corn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uber\/Lyft & Cab drivers –  Similarities are Endless<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At\n some point a long time ago everything that was new, challenging, \nfrustrating, puzzling, distressing or shocking about driving a cab \nbecame familiar and commonplace to me. I learned, and continue to learn \nfrom experience. I am about as comfortable as I can be in an environment\n in which I work. Most of the time I am able to cope effectively with \nthe stress that is unique to that environment. I work on the weekends \nfrom 6pm-6am, so I am dealing mostly with passengers, both locals and \ntourists, who have been drinking. They are in varying stages of \ninebriation, often to excess. It might sound kind of crude, but among \nlocal taxi drivers it is common knowledge that if you drive a cab during\n the day you deal with the traffic, while driving at night you deal with\n the drunks. There is some overlap, but it’s accurate to say they are \ntwo entirely different jobs and you have to choose one or the other. \nIt’s the difference between night and day. They both require patience \nand tolerance but have distinctly separate qualities. Personal \ntemperament might be the deciding factor as to which you choose. A \nformer night driver I know who switched to days did so because he \ncouldn’t deal with drunk people anymore. He said the very thought of any\n such encounter made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\n I sat for my interview in the office of the general manager of the taxi\n company that hired me, I was asked if I wanted to drive during the day \nor at night. I had no idea, no preference and no answer. There happened \nto have been a taxi driver by the name of “Lucky” who was present at \nthat moment, and observing my hesitation he volunteered the information \nthat “It’s more fun driving at night”. So that’s how I chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\n for driving, you have to exercise constant vigilance. The traffic is a \nchaotic mix of vehicles, scooters, bicyclists, skateboarders and \npedestrians, many of them tourists who are distracted by one thing or \nanother; the exotic sights and the tropical scenery or the hypnotic glow\n of their smartphone as it navigates them into jeopardy. Excluding for \nthe most part those who are driving cars, because it’s the weekend the \nrest are often under the influence of alcohol to a greater or lesser \ndegree, for better or for worse. I often think of it as a video game \nwhere the object is to avoid hitting the targets, and you must also \nmultitask while playing the game. Generally speaking though from about \nmidnight on the traffic begins to thin out and driving from one side of \ntown to the other can be a breeze. As the night progresses, getting into\n the early hours often the only vehicles on the road are police cars and\n taxis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I began driving a taxi I was pleased and relieved to find that I was making decent money from the start, despite my lack of experience. However, in retrospect I can’t say that I recommend it as the best way to learn how to drive or make up for a lack of experience behind the wheel. It’s too nerve wracking. In a short amount of time my taxi earnings increased considerably. My income became comparable to the years I worked as a commercial fisherman. Very good, and I got to go home every day instead of being out to sea for 2-3 weeks engaged in brutal, nearly constant labor. Another bit of generally accepted wisdom among local taxi drivers is that you must put away some money when times are busy, to get you through the times that are slow. That’s a true fact. There were slow stretches. I fell a little bit behind sometimes, but I always caught up and then I even thrived, I prospered. The overall economics trended upwards for a long time. The taxi industry already had a well established reputation of being a reliable entry point for people joining the middle class of this country, many of them recently arrived immigrants. Furthermore it provided the opportunity for upward mobility with the chance of a better life for the children of those immigrants who became drivers. In the town where I live, which survives from the tourist industry, it’s a great way to earn money, providing you can tolerate the working conditions and environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supply & Demand<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One\n of the most important factors that influence how much money I earn in a\n 12 hour shift is determined by the total number of cabs that are on the\n road at any given time. The less cabs the better. In my city there are a\n fixed number of taxi licenses, (which are known as medallions in places\n like NYC). At one time there was a total of about 76 licenses, so that \nwould be the maximum number of taxis in play at any given time. \nSometimes there aren’t enough cabs on the road to service the demand, \nsuch as when it rains, but that’s rare. More typically there are too \nmany taxis operating, and as a result all the drivers earn less money. \nWhen this occurs for any duration the drivers, who are independent \ncontractors, eventually begin complaining to the fleet owners, who make \ntheir money by leasing the cabs to us drivers. It’s what I would \ndescribe as a cordial symbiotic relationship, but those of a more \ncynical perspective might view it as parasitical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every\n relationship is unique though, subject to change, and the owner of the \ncompany I drive for was a cab driver before he became the owner of the \ntaxi company and 45 taxi licenses. I see that as advantageous to me \npersonally as well as generally, in terms of his ability to relate to us\n as cab drivers and such has been my experience, to an extent. He is \nalso a dispatcher and I have fond memories of many years working \nlucrative 12 hours Friday night shifts every week while he sat at the \nmicrophone, dispatching all of us cab drivers with great skill, slightly\n acerbic humor and lightning fast sarcastic wit. It was a pleasure and \none of the most enjoyable workplace experiences I’ve ever had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When times are slow and enough drivers complain long enough about the excessive number of taxis on the road, the fleet owner might eventually respond by scheduling less taxis, even though it reduces his profits. If drivers aren’t earning adequate income during their shifts, at a certain point they’ll just call in sick or simply not bother showing up. Even though the company policy is to charge the drivers who pull a “no show” for the full twelve hour lease anyway, I think it’s always been understood that there has to be some give and take. Otherwise drivers will leave to find other employment or reduce the number of shifts they work, and ultimately it has a negative impact on the company itself. At the company I drive for there was at one time a long list of applicants waiting for a chance to become a taxi driver. There was an awareness among us drivers that we were all easily replaceable and subject to being fired at will. At the same time I think that the owner recognized the advantages and importance of having seasoned, knowledgeable and committed drivers who could behave professionally and perform their job safely and effectively. If you weren’t a complete reprobate or some kind of loose cannon, I guess you could feel secure in keeping your job. No question that the fleet owner has the upper hand, and being an independent contractor has many disadvantages, but if you’re earning enough money that you can actually thrive, (and you could), then there is a reasonable balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making Ends Meet<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The cost of living is very high here. Some people work 2 or 3 jobs just to survive. You could earn enough money driving a cab to pay your rent or your mortgage, clothe and feed yourself well, afford regular dental care and basic medical care. You could take a month and a half vacation each year, or even more. Some drivers only work part of the year then survived the rest of the year on their savings, often going to a foreign country to enjoy and experience a different culture where the cost of living was much less. Some didn’t even commit to the obligation of a steady schedule, and would show up when they felt like driving, waiting to see if someone would call in sick or pull a no show and a cab would become available. Or else they would sign up to cover the shifts that temporarily opened when a driver went on vacation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Uber & Lyft<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In\n 2017 when all of us cab drivers realized that the arrival of Uber\/Lyft \nwas imminent, everyone planned for that event accordingly. Some drivers \nreacted drastically. I was content and relatively comfortable with the \nway things were, still prospering as a taxi driver despite the \ndisadvantages of my self employed status. I had no desire to purchase a \nvehicle, which would have entailed a payment plan to become a rideshare \ndriver. A spark of doubt had been struck within me as I listened to all \nthe hyperbole about the looming apocalypse for the local taxi business, \nthe inevitability and innovative superiority of it all, the unstoppable \n“juggernaut” that was Uber, the end of car ownership and the looming \nadvent of autonomous vehicles and flying taxis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nthought of ridesharing became even less likely for me. I rebelled \nagainst the authoritarian “resistance is futile” tone. Not even when the\n negative impact of Uber\/Lyft’s presence on the local taxi industry \nbecame apparent. At that point I was more aware of and angry about their\n business methods and tactics and so even less inclined to have anything\n to do with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With effort everyone made driving a \ncab work for them. There was flexibility. We all prospered. Just as each\n year there were slow stretches, there were also long passages of time \nwhen it was consistently busy. Nearly constant calls and street hails \nfrom the beginning to the end of a 12 hour shift, night after night. \nI’ve been speaking in the past tense here occasionally because those \ndays are gone. At least for now. The slow stretch has become permanent, \nthe struggle is constant and the battle often seems like a losing one. \nFrom experience I know that when the streets are flooded with for hire \nvehicles to the point of oversaturation, there is less money for \neveryone and it creates more traffic congestion. Nobody makes much money\n then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government of Florida passed legislation written by Uber\/Lyft that allows them to operate freely and at will in the entire state without having to abide by any of the local rules and regulations that apply to taxis. The ruling went into effect on July 2nd of 2017. Since then driving a taxi here is mostly a minimum wage job. Sometimes more, but unfortunately there are frequently times when it’s even less. No one can survive in this town on $8.46 per hour. That’s what I earned here in 1985 working 35 hours a week at an Italian Restaurant. My schedule was 7 days a week, five hours a day. If you drove six 12 hour shifts a week you might get by, but there is no guarantee of that anymore and it’s a recipe for ill health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does Patrick feel about Uber\/Lyft Drivers?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As\n bad as it ever was and as bad as it may be now, it’s certainly worse \nfor the Uber\/Lyft drivers who inundate the town on the weekends. They \ncome here because Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are oversaturated with \nrideshare drivers and no one can make money there. They wouldn’t make a \n350 mile plus round trip, sleeping in their vehicles when logged off of \nthe platform if that weren’t the case. I see the Uber\/Lyft driver \nturnover, (or “churn”, as it’s known), because I’m out there every \nweekend. Anywhere from every few weeks up to around 3 months or so I see\n familiar faces disappear and new rideshare drivers replace them. Lately\n they appear to be mostly Haitian. They clog up the main streets in the \ndowntown area as they slowly cruise around empty, bringing traffic to a \nstandstill and making it hard for taxi drivers to respond quickly to \ndispatched calls or get from point A to point B. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\n weekends I’m pretty sure they outnumber us. They don’t pull over to the\n curb when picking up or dropping off passengers and they’ll stop just \nabout anywhere. In the middle of intersections, at green lights, or even\n halfway through a turn. They are being directed by their app and at the\n very moment it tells them they have arrived at their target, they stop,\n no matter where it is. It’s plain to see that’s where their eyes are \nfocused, rather than on the road. I constantly see their \u201cwould be \npassengers\u201d running up and down the street holding their smartphones up \nin the air, darting in and around cars as they chase after vehicles \ntrying to find their personal Uber\/Lyft driver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \ntaxi fleet owners have been accused of being greedy and some of them \nare, but like I said before I found that as an independent contractor my\n relationship with ownership was a cordial symbiosis that was lucrative \nand flexible. The billionaire CEO’s and venture capitalists of Uber\/Lyft\n bring greed and exploitation to a whole different level. Maybe that’s \nhow billionaires are made. The taxi company I drive for has a fleet \nmechanic whose job it is to keep the cabs in good working order. Along \nwith the dispatch service it’s part of what I pay for in my lease. It \nnever was and never will be as good for rideshare drivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get frustrated by the presence of these out of town rideshare drivers but don’t hold it against them personally, knowing to what extent they have been misled and the horrendous way they are constantly mistreated.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick\u2019s Outlook on Rideshare Services<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As\n for the future, I don’t think that Uber\/Lyft will survive. It’s not \neconomically possible, otherwise it would have already happened. Not \nwith their present business model, where the rides are subsidized and \nthe drivers absorb all the operating costs and are getting squeezed more\n and more with the passing of time. It’s no wonder that drivers are up \nin arms. Their unspoken end goal has always been total market dominance,\n after which they would raise their prices and begin earning an actual \nprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complete market dominance is something that taxi\n fleet owners never achieved, not even locally, and since some of them \nare undeniably avaricious, if such a thing were possible it would have \noccurred at some point in the last hundred years. I truly believe that \nUber\/Lyft are nothing more than a giant scam fueled by a massive PR \ncampaign consisting of grandiose exaggerations and lies. It’s designed \nto enrich the one percent, or the point one percent at a cost that is \nbecoming more evident with the passing of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They \nbroke a lot of rules and a lot of laws when they steamrolled into \nexistence, thumbing their noses at officialdom and they behaved \natrociously on a corporate level. They got called onto the carpet for \nit, but the economic damage they inflicted on an entire industry is \nongoing and the independent contractor\/taxi drivers are the majority \nvictims of the harm they inflicted. The rideshare drivers have it worse,\n though some of them may not realize it yet. I honestly think that the \nonly way they can count on making money is by gaming the system, using \nstrategies and tricks that would likely get them deactivated from the \nplatform if they were caught. Uber still makes the absurd claim about \nbeing the “Amazon of Transportation” and the press continues to report \nit as a factual, foregone conclusion. A particularly arrogant form of \nmanifest destiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see them more as the “Cancer of the\n Economy” and I hope their malignant methods and practices don’t \nmetastasize to other industries and turn the employees who had decent \njobs with financial access to good benefits into mistreated, scorned \nsharecroppers. Maybe someday there will even be a moral accounting. Then\n the billionaires and venture capitalists, along with the high priced \npolitical lobbyists and willing politicians who supported Uber\/Lyft will\n have to answer for their disruptive, destructive actions that created \nthe staggering wealth and positions of authority and power they have \nattained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story first appeared on RideGuru as a two part segment regarding the tensions between Taxi and Uber Drivers. We are sharing both segments below as it is a fascinating in depth look at how ridesharing has completely changed the culture of being a Taxi Driver. Meet Patrick: The Seasoned Taxi Driver I live in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[1307,1305,1308,251,1306,1309],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5692"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5824,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692\/revisions\/5824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxifarefinder.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}