Tampa Bay Lightning Are Hot And So Is The Weather (Dispatchers On The Outs)

Tim Of United Taxi

A game six was guaranteed today by a 5-3 victory by the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Boston Bruins. That is fantastic for two major reasons. One, I am a Tampa pro sports fan. Two, these games are bringing money into town. Three hours leading up to the face off, all I did was take people to the St. Pete Times Forum. The Boston fans are great (so is their money). They must have thought it was strange going to a hockey match in this heat at a stadium lined by palm trees.

Not only did the Lightning win, they took it to the Bruins. The series now moves up north for a game five. This series may very well go down to the wire. As a driver that was here when the Stanley Cup was here in 2004, I know how good that event can be. Go Lightning!

All of our dispatchers are now gone back to driving taxi. With the new computer system the radio is being handled by the girls that are phone operators. I can work an entire day now without the radio even being on. That is good for my stress level because I don't have to listen to the attitude and arguing that was going on. Quality is important.

Tampa Bay Lightning - In My Financial Interest

I picked up a newspaper reporter today who was from Boston and down here covering the match between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning. We had a great conversation and he told me he had lived all his life in Boston but was a rare journalist nowadays - he was impartial and objective. I agree.

ESPN is very biased against our Tampa Bay Rays and all they want to report on is how few people show up for games, and not how great our pitching is and batting. This guy has the right attitude.

He asked me If I follow hockey. "Not really," I told him but it is an economic fact that a long playoff run in NHL hockey will put money in a Tampa Bay taxi drivers pocket. I made $150 today and it has been a long time since I did that....The series is tied at 1-1 with Tampa at home ice tonight. GO LIGHTNING!!

Tampa At Night And Back Up And Running

I have had a tough week. The change of weather and the drop off in business has not been good. I ran into Big Mike the other day at the shop. He still thinks night taxi driving is the way to go but he does admit there are many Yellow cabs out in the So-Ho area and camping out at the Hyde Park Cafe and McDinttons. You have to pick your shots and be ready to roll on calls The new computer GPS dispatch will give you the mileage of any call you bid on. This is good. However, the best part is you can actually get to the call because of light traffic at night. Did you know that the Florida Highway Patrol estimates that 60% of the drivers on the road on a Saturday night have alcohol in their system. Man, I would not have thought that.

There May Be A Meter Raise For Taxis In Tampa

United Cab Taxi Meter

Paul Hinton told me today that there was a meeting with the Transportation Commission Of Hillsborough County and they are considering a raise on the drop from $2.00 to $3.00. I think this is necessary so that the taxi drivers who have to buy their own gas can make a living. This small amount could be the difference of being able to run the cabs or park them. There is a breaking or tipping point and we are almost there. I am glad that the companies are recognizing this.

There will not be a raise on the per mile charge or the waiting time. I believe on the drop is the right way to go.

The Economic Reality Of Taxi Driving In Tampa Florida

Taxi Drivers in the holding area at Tampa International Airport

The St. Petersburg Times ran an article about the state of taxi cab companies and drivers in Hillsborough County. They quoted me (Tim Fasano) in the article because of this blog. I believe the article hit hard on some very real aspects of the current state of cab driving. 

Jack Nicas went all over Tampa talking with taxi drivers and cab company owners. He went to the holding area at the airport, the major hotels downtown, the club party areas on the weekends and he saw first hand what goes on in our work. This is what he saw at Tampa International Airport.

"For hours under the sun in a lot near Tampa International Airport, a harsh course in economics plays out.
Dozens of taxicabs snake into a queue. Men shout and engines start. The line barely budges.
Rene Jeune is up front now, having waited two hours for one customer. Farther back, Jean Bourdeau watches birds fight. He has just $25 in his pocket for five hours of work.
A few men play cards. Others read. Some doze off.
All tell a similar tale: They work 80-hour weeks, yet take home what a waiter earns in tips — about $200 to $300. Some are said to be homeless, sleeping in their cabs and living for their next fare.
This is the taxi business in Hills­borough County." via www.tampabay.com

Unlike waiters, many taxi cab drivers are barely able to survive. This was not the case before the recession. The economy was good then. That is why I stayed with it for so many years. When the Great Recession hit OUR EXPENSES REMAINED THE SAME AND EVEN WENT UP! 

There is no other way to say it-United Cab use to have a call count of over 2,000 on weekdays, and over 3,000 on weekends. There are days now when we don't crack 700, and with 262 cabs, you figure that out. 

We need the meter to be raised so we can recoup what we have lost. In other business (even transportation) they pass the cost off to the customer. However, with taxi leasing companies, the driver is the customer and we bare all burdens and cost. 

You would think that a cab company would want all of its drivers to prosper and be successful. I believe that if they marketed the company to increase the base line of customers over time. The drivers and the company would all share in a cash party. However, when accountants run companies, their shortsightedness becomes contagious, and whatever visionary may be at the helm, he will shortly be converted by a spreadsheet.

"In 1967, the manager of the only cab company in town told the Tampa Taxicab Commission his drivers made about $112 per week. Adjusted for inflation, that's $742 in today's dollars.
Drivers were employees then, with health insurance, vacations and bonuses, city records show. But in 1975, the Yellow Cab Co. jumped on a national trend and made its drivers independent contractors. The agreement cost cabbies their benefits but let them keep whatever they made.
At the time, Yellow Cab manager Nick Cambas told the Tampa Times: "This should be the answer to those squawking about the little man not having a chance to make it in business."
Thirty-six years later, the little man still awaits his chance.
Drivers today say the system leaves them poor and at risk. Their predicament is compounded by a lack of choices: Two companies control 87 percent of the county's permits.

via www.tampabay.com

Adjusted earnings have not followed the taxi cab drivers nationwide that work on a lease system. All the major cities (except Las Vegas) use a lease system. Most of their drivers struggle to make a subsistence living. I can deal with being poor but as I get older, it would be nice to have some health insurance or Workman's compensation. If I am injured in a car accident today, I have no coverage. I have no pension or retirement. I have nothing, and I am one of the better drivers with over sixteen years experience.

I thought Obamacare would cover me but it will only cover the employees of the cab company. They call that "a prohibited cost" so they will pass that on to the drivers and raise our leases again forcing us to work 16 hours a day 7 days a week. With the price of gas, where is the tipping point?

When the economy collapsed a few years ago, drivers say they shouldered the burden. Their customers vanished, but the companies prospered. With unemployment rising, more people decided to give taxi driving a try, which meant more revenue for the companies.
"There was no concession on their part," said Tim Fasano, a United Cab driver who blogs about the industry. "Times have never been better for them. They have more drivers than before the recession and they're getting higher leases now."
Yellow and United managers say lease prices increased because they invested in better dispatching technology.
They also dispute drivers' claims of poverty-line earnings and say their business model is not as profitable as depicted. Their overhead and risk is high, they say. Searcy says Gulf Coast can't fill all its cabs and is "barely paying our bills." Yellow Cab co-owner Louie Minardi said Yellow isn't far behind.
But the most recent statement of income for either company on file with the commission show Yellow Cab reported $451,211 in profits for the first half of 2006.
The company filed for bankruptcy just four years earlier.
via www.tampabay.com

 One thing that I will never understand and my experience in life still leaves me with no reference point to make a judgement, is why do so many grown men continue to work under these circumstances? I am one of them but I truly believed that over half these guys would quit when the recession took hold. That does not seem to be the case. They know how many hours they will have to work and that kids at MacDonald's make more money. Are they just a collection of little boys? 

Many of them do come from third world countries so they have adapted to poverty and seem to have a real tolerance for it. They just keep driving every waking minute of their lives. Many  have died and they still keep going. I will never understand that. 

I do want this stated for the record: The old manager of United Cab was fired a few months ago and Rob Searcy and Paul Hinton took over. They have a completely different management style. They are very accessible and Paul keeps his door open at all times so any driver can walk in and state whats on his mind without any fear of reprisal. That could not have happened under the old regime. These new managers are what I call "drivers managers." I have not seen moral this high in years. The new GPS dispatch system has been a blessing. I know many drivers have had issues. I have not. I can't wait to the Fall time of the year because I just may be able to go on the Camping/fishing trip I have wanted too for years. 

Late Night With Coast-To-Coast Radio

The other night on Coast-To-Coast radio with George Norry, he had three distinguished Bigfoot researchers on his show who discussed the latest evidence and theories. People that know me are aware that I have a real interest in Bigfoot. I look for the Florida version of the big guy called the Skunk Ape. This is supposed to be a smaller, and harrier version.

Coast-To-Coast is the perfect show to listen to late night when you are driving a taxi. The night air can really pull you into experience.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum discussed what I have suspected by my research, that the creature is not really human like. He may live almost by instinct. He said there is no evidence that they use tools or build permanent shelters, which would put them more in the area of gorillas. However, there is considerable evidence that they build structures. I have found a habitat that they slept in for at least one night.

Silver Star Mountain Bigfoot

Founder of the center for Bigfoot studies Daniel Perez editor of the Bigfoot Times said it was the rarity of the creature that makes it seem so illusive. He believes the best evidence for Sasquatch is the Patterson/Gimlim film taken in 1967. He also believes the Silver Star Mountain photos taken in 2005 by a backpacker are of an actual Bigfoot.

Loren Coleman rounded out the show by talking about his latest book. I understand he has been in Florida researching a book about the history of sea serpents and lake monsters in the Sunshine State.

These discussions were beyond fascination. Noory has on the top field researchers in all forms of crypto and UFO kind of stuff.

So if you get into my taxi late night, I just might have the radio tuned into Coast-To-Coast

Lost In The Travel Section

The same thing as a Sunday morning with a cup of Joe?

     On the way to the airport I asked my fare if they were reading their emails on their cell phone. They said they were reading a book on an Amazon Kindle. They also said they could read the morning newspaper formated perfectly for the screen. I looked down at the newspaper I had bought out of a rack for 50 cents and wondered if I was Fred Flintstone for not being up with the latest gadgets. What price we are really paying for this new tech?  
     The modern world looks no different from the one I grew up in as a little kid in the ‘60s. I see houses, cars, telephone poles, and electrical wires strung aloft in the neighborhoods; styles have changed, but that is just fashion. What I do see are brick and mortar retail stores beginning to vanish along with newspapers because people can simply go online to buy whatever they want, and get a better price. I know I buy almost every book from Amazon. They always have better price, and consistent delivery and essentially every title known to man.
      I am sort of angry at myself for doing it this way, but I still like to enjoy a Saturday afternoon at the local bookstore with a fresh cup of coffee while I browse and look for the books that I will eventually purchase somewhere else.  I still find it very relaxing and there is something tactile about holding a physical book in your hand and thumbing thru it, instead of just reading a brief synopsis of it and a photo.  I had no idea that people would start getting their news this way.
     Can you really find everything you want and need on a website?  How can it be easier or more efficient to navigate than a newspaper with sections that proceed in a linear fashion?  I do not know, but apparently, millions do.
      We will one day live in a world where people will have no idea what its like to curl up on an easy chair on a Sunday morning with that ubiquitous cup of fresh coffee and slowly read and spend time with yourself, without the time pressure you have been under the previous part of the week.
      Does that make us a better society?
      Does that improve our humanity?
      Are we robbing ourselves of a synergetic connection with the world while we are lost in the Travel Section? Once things are gone, they can never be experienced again.
      They say Britain’s undeniably most significant contribution to Western Civilization was afternoon tea.  Is it just the caffeine or is it sitting down to drink tea that we enjoy. Relaxation and contemplation nuance the rewards of life and your humanity in many ways.  That is how I feel about the vanishing of newspapers and perhaps books.    

Changes To Tampa Taxi Shots And Bob Buckhorn Wins Tampa Mayor Race

I have decided to use Blogger as my host for Tampa Taxi Shots.  The software is just more attractive to me, and the options they offer are better than Typepad (which I have to pay for). Typepad does have some advantages, such as unlimited pages, and that's really about it. I still keep my account for timfasano.typepad.com because I have over 1,000 post since 2005 and that is a considerable amount of stuff that I do not want to lose by closing the account. For now, Tampa Taxi Shots will be hosted by Blogger. I will keep the typepad account to maintain my archives.

I voted for Bob Buckhorn today for mayor. I'm sorry, but a vote for Rose Ferlita would be like a vote for your Grandmother or Aunt Bee. My information of the Tampa mayor results tells me that Bob Buckhorn has won the Tampa Mayor race by a huge landslide, about 60% to 40% of the vote to Rose. Nobody saw this coming but it should have not been a surprise. Combining the votes of Dick Greco and Bob Buckhorn would crush Rose. It seems Tampa wants a responsible Mayor who knows how this is done.

The System Finally Seems To Be Working

It was a very busy day today and all of my calls came off of the BlackBerry. I know some guys don't like this system, like Big Mike but it seems to be doing its job. I am not a stunt or junk driver. I just post up and roll. It only takes me a few minutes now to get a call. I can't wait till next holiday season to win back some of the cab business we lost last  year. Life moves on, so will we.

Where Does The Tampa Taxi Business Go From Here?

December 16th, 2010 The Taxi Strike

I am referring to the drivers, not the owners. The people that own the businesses are doing very well. The drivers have been struggling for the last four years as we have shouldered the load. What we need is a healthy economy to make real money, but none seems to be in sight. There is a glimmer of hope, however.

United Cab Of Tampa has finally got the digital dispatch system up and running. Today I received a software update and my rate 2 and rate 3 on the taxi meter for the minimum and flat rate airport zones. The system is working for me but I have heard many complaints from drivers. I stated before that this system will put the hood stretchers and the sandbaggers and the guys used to being fed out of business. Those seem to be the ones complaining.

Mr. Rob Searcy (seen in the video below at the taxi protest) was the one that implemented the new computer system. The old management would never have done that. I really believe in the long run good times will come back to the taxi business, only at United Cab, however. The other companies are to dysfunctional and not on the ball. United will rule the day and their drivers will make a ton. Just wait for a healthy economy.

Before I had met Rob Searcy I shot this YouTube video of him addressing the taxi drivers at the "strike" last December. I knew we were dealing with a strong man.