From the Chicago Dispatcher, January 2009
Days or Nights? (originally printed Feb. 2005)
Choosing a shift setup that's right for you - and your bottom line.
By: Dan Van Hecke, Master Chauffeur
The basic difference between days and nights is that overall, days are done with a microscope (block by block) and nights are done with a telescope (planning for the next one to three miles).
Aside from convenience, customers take daytime trips because a customer's time is critical or valuable. This keeps their trips downtown, lakefront or to and from airports. At night, many customers take cabs because they are cold, tired, scared or inebriated. These reasons at night make for a base of business five to ten times larger.
Days
The two and one-half rush hours-morning, lunch and evening -are a base of business, but not relying on them helps ease the total stress.
Start the earliest you can to break even.
Using the radio and working neighborhoods on the way downtown needs to be learned and refined, but it's worth it.
No matter what other drivers say, use only the positive tips or ideas to start with. Your own skills or patterns you develop are what help you make consistent money.
Don't be concerned if, on a radio call or neighborhood pickup, you don't hit a “home run” - e.g. going to an airport, etc. As any seasoned driver will tell you, the less empty time between trips, not just trips themselves, is how you net higher income per hour.
After the morning rush there are a number of “rebound” trips - people getting up late, going into the office (checking messages and getting “marching orders”) and then to first meetings, airport checkouts and people starting to shop or going to medical appointments.
If you catch an airport trip and are not staying there, even on the expressway back you should track radio zones as you are going into them and at least one to two miles past to take orders.
If this sounds different, keep in mind when you get back downtown (burning gas and time), it will still take you probably five to ten minutes to get your next customer anyway.
Keep track of where you take people to work so you can return for possible business.
In “connecting the dots” between trips you will start to see a pattern emerge (especially in the afternoon) as customers usually flag cabs in the direction they are going.
Depending on your check-in time, keep an eye on theaters' matinees. Shows usually start at 2 pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays and sometimes Sundays, ending about 4 - 4:15 pm.
Ending the day, try to get a trip going as close to your garage or night driver as possible, but don't fret if it isn't really close, as you were probably going there empty otherwise.
Nights
The advantages to driving nights are:
Past the rush hour, traffic gets less congested. For example, a downtown to O'Hare trip can be done (legally) in 22 - 25 minutes, but during rush hour it is about one hour, much better return on time.
As mentioned before, more people want cabs in a wider area at night, and when you drop someone off you can route yourself more quickly to your next one.
People tend to be friendlier, tip better and are able to see you more as a person than “just another hack.”
You can get longer (including suburban) trips because after 8 or 9 pm, some companies pay their employees' fares/
Nights are more predictable than you would think, with conventions, theaters, restaurants and special events up to 10:30 - 11 pm.
Disadvantages:
Although the stories about drunk and/or obnoxious customers are somewhat exaggerated, they are real and can be handled.
Later, you can go empty 20 - 30 minutes and get discouraged - and then do $15 - $20 in the next half an hour.
Except for Fridays and Saturdays, most business dies off dramatically after 11 pm. This is why holding a higher average in the beginning is essential.
It is harder to have a normal life and family, so you will have to be focused and committed to make your money before you burn out completely.
Unless you have a good working partner, you are getting an unknown cab with repairs not as available later.
Conclusion
Whatever you choose, do it for one week and ask any and all drivers who are doing the same for advice. The good ones will help, as they may expect you to do. No matter which you choose, decent money can be made.
