Mr. Vanisi,
While I agree that the more cabdrivers who show up and speak at these public hearings, the better the impact on the politicians who make the decisions that affect not just how much we make, but how we make it, I must disagree with your conclusion, nor do I accept this method of inspiring cabdrivers to show up. There are other factors to consider.
As with the strike, the information was not widespread, nor was the notification timely, and the planning and organizing left a lot of room for improvement. The City has conditioned some cabdrivers to not ask for anything out of a fear of creating more of a negative effect with by tying any fare increase to more rules or meddling. There's also this persistent belief that if we get a fare increase, the lease caps will go up and we'll actually have a redcution instead of a gain. Mr. Allen, through soliciting testimony from Ms. Reyes, clearly determined that the lease caps have not gone up in 14 years. I've been driving for 10 years and know a few things: that the lease cap does not go up after a meter increase, and that customers will continue to take taxicabs. That is the other absurd argument against asking for what we need to make a decent living. Think about it, do you really see any type of business person dealing with a client saying to him, "Let's go to lunch and finish this deal Tom, oh, let's not take a cab cause it costs $1.50 more now. Let's wait for the State Street bus and then take the Grand Avenue bus to Navy Pier. We can walk to Riva from there." No, nor they care about the $1.50 either. It is "chump change" to them, which is slowly becoming what we make. They're also not going to ride the Blue Line as it stands today, not when the company is footing the bill. That express Blue Line or Orange Line will give us a little competition, as well as any mass transit to Peotone, but I'm sick of hearing us worry about things we can't control. That stuff is, like the idea that all we need to do is drive hybrids, beyond the near future.
Cabdrivers would do better to contact their Alderperson instead of contacting Commissioner Reyes. Ms. Reyes works for Mr. Daley, but the Aldermen make the laws. Mr. Daley is simply, the guy with the most influence. The Alderperson wants to know what can he do for you, but only if you can provide him with your vote. If 5 guys in his Ward want it one way, and 3 want it the other way, who do you think he's gonna side with? If you're not registered to vote, then you might as well be talking to a wall. I don't care if you do it today, tomorrow, or by Friday. Register to vote. If you can't do that to help yourself, then God help us, and shut up when gas goes to $4.00 and we're still at the same rates. Cause if can show that we have a significant number of new, registered voters in this Ward or that Ward, then any future gas increase will OUR trigger to call the Aldermen and have THEM introduce a reasonable fare increase which we agree on. (Or else!) End of story.
-MIKE FOULKS
P.S. Many cabdrivers simply cannot afford to strike all day nor can they afford to go to a public hearing. It IS that bad. But, we have other options to achieve the same effects. And they're affordable.
BIG TIPS on how to live without a meter increase:
Go on a diet.
Eat more fruit and nuts.
Get somebody to push the taxicab a few blocks.
Quit smoking.
Quit eating junk food.
Give up pool, gambling, most fun stuff.
Cut back on coffee, tea, beer booze, pop.
Quit idling engine in a cab stand to keep warm.
Be nicer to customers.
Be nicer to other drivers.
Be nicer to pedestrians.
Take a day off once in a while.
Quit gabbing on your cell phone.
Don't waste gas looking for best price in town.
Don't worry, be happy.
Don't exceed the speed limit at any time.
Work at least one extra hour every shift.
Get at least one more fare before you QUIT.
-wjw-
And call your **** alderman already.
Call everyday if you have to, but be nice.
More meter. Less Taxicabs. Now.
is it better to call thd alderman where i live or the aldermen who make rules on taxis?
Mike,
You made an interesting point about a business person not being too concerned about the price of a cab ride rising. That's probably true.
You then talked about how important it is to vote, which is definately true.
While the business traveler may not feel the effects of a taxicab fare increase, the elderly woman who lives on a fixed income and takes a cab every week to the grocery store most likely will.
Which of these two types of people vote more?
On the economic side of things, the concept is known as the "elasticity of demand" which, in this case, would study how much ridership would drop off when fares increase.
If you're talking about downtown and Lincoln Park, ridership may not fall very much if the proposed fare increase were implemented. I'm not so sure that would be the case in other neighborhoods.
Or think about it like this. Suppose the price of cab fares dropped. Would ridership in the downtown area increase? Probably not a lot. As you pointed out, business travelers wouldn't take cabs any less if prices were to rise reasonably, which probably means they're taking cabs currently as often as they need. So business travelers probably wouldn't take cabs any more than they already are if fares were to drop.
But ridership may jump up in other neighborhoods where people are making the very real choice between taking a bus, the El, a taxicab, carpooling, hitch hiking or just walking.
Is the answer to have different rates in different economic zones where it's less expensive to take a cab in, say, Englewood and relatively more expensive downtown? If so, how would you regulate that? How would you prevent cabdrivers from charging the wrong rates in different economic zones, whether intentional or not?
GPS may be the answer. GPS could automatically know where you are and adjust the meter accordingly. Furthermore, with regards to the fluctuating price of gasoline and the recent discussion of altering the way a surcharge may be imposed, GPS could have the answer for that as well.
A computer program could monitor gasoline prices (the source of this would be up for debate) and a price change could automatically trigger a change on the flag pull. Through GPS the message could be sent to every meter in the city of Chicago at the same time.
Meter rates are still changed manually for the most part but the technological capability is there and it's only a matter of time before this becomes a real option for the industry and its regulators.
What the rates would be, along with privacy and discrimination issues would be very real concerns though which would need to be discussed and hopefully negotiated if cabdrivers are able to develop negotiating power.
Carl Engels
Mr. Engels,
Thank you for your thoughts, but let me briefly counter some good ideas with a few concerns:
The problems with technological advances occur when society starts to rely too heavily on them and then is at a loss when the "future" is "temporarily unavailable".
For example, cash/currency is a concept that's been around since the Ancient Polynesians. The credit card is a baby compared to the automobile, which is a punky pre-teen compared to the horse and buggy. This lack of affordable oil is our societies' wake-up call. That bicycle looks like, and is, more and more an economic option for those who cannot afford to burn gas. The bicycle taxis, now in New York, but long-established in other areas of the world, are no touristy gimmick. I believe our future contains glorified full-electric golf carts which will not burn one drop of fuel as we know it.
One problem with credit cards arises when the cabdriver cannot get an approval code to ensure payment, whatever the reason. Our time and service is not like a material good which can be put back on the shelf if the customer has no other means to pay. There is a false belief circulating amongst our most ornery passengers that if the cabdriver refuses a credit card or cannot get an approval code, then the "customer" gets a free ride. This, fully protected by the most fundamental law, is simply not the case.
The ideas you have talked about with using GPS technology to set a variable-rate meter will also create the same sorts of problems when radio reception is compromised. Inasmuch that unscrupulous passengers try to take advantage of cabdrivers who accept credit cards without approval codes there are unscrupulous cabdrivers who already see the fraudulent advantage they could take when an "outside signal" is determining the "location", and thus, the fare. No sir, a simple, tamper-detectable meter and a uniform, well-published and known rate is how we create confidence in our customers that each of them is paying each of us the fair share. GPS should only be approved to allow emergency services, the dispatch service or program, or "smart" advertising to automatically locate the vehicle. (The public can be so misinformed about our business; some can understand why we don't want GPS in the cabs 'cause they think it is retail-type GPS for routing.)
It is probably true that the stereotypical eldery woman who regularly votes currently gets more attention from some of the politicians; we have the CTA TAP program and other subsidies to take care of them and we can and should have more programs like that to subsidize our most deserving citizens' transit needs.
However, we cannot let poverty excuse impoverishing others. If our current rates prevent us from making a living by exclusively servicing "underserved" areas, then a reduction in those rates, in all reality, is neither going to generate a net gain in business nor incentify cabdrivers to go there. This is Chicago, not Utopia.
There is no serious debate about the fact that we need a meter increase. The only question is how much, and can we marshall our potential political will to make that number as high as "socially justifiable." We'll have the luxury of discussing the future more calmly when we can be assured we'll be around to see it. As WE grow older, it would be better for all of society if WE became rich enough to properly pay the cabdrivers of the future.
-MIKE FOULKS
Mr. Foulks:
You raise a lot of interesting points, particularly regarding your GPS concerns with respect to variable pricing.
One of the reasons meters are important in the first place is to give consumers confidence in knowing that their fares are standardized. I'm an advocate of the free market but can you imagine if every fare at O'Hare was negotiated at the inception of the ride? It would be a bigger madhouse than it already is at times. Passengers would get ripped off and cabbies would be taken advantage of too.
Thus your point is well taken when you say that "a simple, tamper-detectable meter and a uniform, well-published and known rate is how we create confidence in our customers.."
While consumer confidence is extremely important so that people aren't deterred from riding in taxicabs, it is also important to make sure that a cabdriver doesn't have to subsidize his or her passenger's ride when gas prices jump. Similarly, industry regulators need to be much more responsive to drivers when gas prices do change. I believe that's why Messrs. Kasp and Lutfallah proposed that a surcharge be placed in the hands of the Commissioner who can react quickly as opposed to a "committee" that might take so much time to make a decision that the crisis may be over and drivers are trying to dig themselves out of a hole.
Finally I'd like to address another point you made.
You said, "If our current rates prevent us from making a living by exclusively servicing "underserved" areas, then a reduction in those rates, in all reality, is neither going to generate a net gain in business nor incentify cabdrivers to go there."
That may or may not be true. The key is to focus on profit. This is what I was getting at with the points regarding price elasticity.
If the grocer on the corner sells a dozen eggs for $5 and he's not making any money from it, should he raise his price?
He may find that if he lowers his price to $0.99 for a dozen eggs that he's selling a lot of them each day and may be a lot more profitable.
It may be the same case in certain neighborhoods when it comes to cab fare. For example, it may be the case in some "underserved" neighborhoods that if the average cab fare dropped a little, ridership would jump a lot. More people would call for cabs in those neighborhoods and drivers would be more apt to working those neighborhoods rather than chasing a long way for a $5 fare, only to find that there's no more business and that he should deadhead back downtown.
Reducing rates in less affluent neighborhoods could possibly create a situation in which residents want to take cabs more frequently and taxi drivers are busy throughout their entire shift making a lot of these runs. Sure a comparable ride in a more affluent area would be more money in the driver's pocket for that given fare, but what would you rather do, take one ride for $5 or take three comparable rides for $9?
The bottom line is profitability. If raising meter rates in an area leads to greater profitability, that's good for drivers and if lowering meter rates in other areas leads to greater profitability, that's good for drivers too.
Carl Engels
Mr. Foulks:
Thank you for the compliment.
You said, "I just don't agree that lowering the fares in less affluent neighborhoods will have the necessary results."
I don't know that it will. My point is simply that it could and it's worth studying and it's the responsibility of the city to find out for the sake of drivers and the citizens and visitors to Chicago.
By the way, your ideas regarding gaining political power by providing rides to the polling stations is tremendous. Any incumbent Alderman or challenger would see the value of this.
Carl Engels
Mr. Engels,
I get scared when the City "studies" something because I don't believe the City is a truly neutral body capable of coming to unbiased conclusions, and it seems that the City likes to "study" issues by using "pilot programs" where politically connected persons sometimes are beneficiaries. There was once a "great idea" worth studying which turned into the jitney cab (giveaway) attempt (failure) and can we still be absorbing all the "Neighborhood Cab" medallions which really were not a very good idea. How about the ambitiously named "Call-a-Day" "solution" to the "undeserved area" crisis (political hay/bull). Worthy of discussion/accident scene reconstruction are the "Van Lines"/Handicap-Airport Voucher Incentive/mandatory Credit Card acceptance/Short trip time limits/Straight meter suburbs/Underutilized Shared Rides/etc...
I believe in KISS (Keep it simple, S_____).
-MIKE FOULKS
Mr. Abunassar,
I said that "many" cabdrivers cannot afford to strike. Most can. I did. I went to the public hearing. I agree with your feelings, but let's focus more on what are YOU and I are going to do because I've heard too many people use the lack of other people's participation as a lame, lame excuse for not doing something themselves. When the group gets larger, the naysayers and thopse who can least afford it will come.
Are you a registered voter?
-MIKE FOULKS
registered voter? how do you register to vote when u r not a citizen?
hosni,
You cannot register to vote unless you have citizenship. But wait!!!
Think about this very carefully.
Think about how many registered voters don't actually vote.
What's their excuse?
Sometimes it's the same reason many cabdrivers didn't come to the public hearing: nobody went their their house and gave them a free ride.
Each Election Day, volunteers drive many, many senior citizens to the polls so that the can vote for the politician who's helping them get there.
So, even if you can't vote for your Alderman because you're not a citizen yet, you can do something even more valuable. You can deliver him 4 voters. Then pick up 4 more and deliver them to the polls. And 4 more after that.
Are you starting to understand the system now?
Politicians need people to hang up all those signs you see everywhere. Did you think they hung themselves up?
They need people who can look at an address, and figure where to go in a car (cab) and hang the sign up.
Sometimes the early bird catches the worm, or the guy who's tearing the signs down in the middle of the night. Don't we cabdrivers work all kinds of hours to make sure the Aldermen's who support us signs stay up or get re-hung?
Are you starting to understand how much value we can have to an Alderman even if we can't vote?
And, if an organization of cabdrivers keeps an eye on an Alderman, and says that he's a friend of ours, couldn't you justify giving him a campaign contribution? You know how many Alderman have got accepting $10,000 bribes? (and less!). The legal bribe is a campaign contribution. If each of us tosses ONE DOLLAR to "our" alderman, they get $13,500. We get regular, receptive treatment from the City Council. What do you think all those people we pick up and drop off from City Hall are doing each day.
And when you become a citizen, your vote counts just as importantly.
Every cabdriver should go to the City of Chicago.org website and figure out which Ward do they live in and who is their Alderman. Right now. Educate yourself. And then let other cabdrivers know that you did this and that they should do it do. Figure out who is in the same Ward as you. This is the power of democracy.
-MIKE FOULKS
P.S. Please send me an e-mail to chinatownmike@yahoo.com when you know your Ward and Alderman with your phone number and addresses.
To find out who your elected representatives in City Council are and where to contact them, go to this web site:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalProgramAction.do?channelId=-536879024&programId=536879154&topChannelName=Residents&Failed_Reason=Invalid+timestamp,+engine+has+been+restarted&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&Failed_Page=%2fwebportal%2fportalProgramAction.do
Then click on your War and you get a map and all the contact info you need.
cabdriver 'the question of a rate increase will benafit who?" the new people with a big plane for chicago cab driver to make out of them good slave working 15-16 hours seven days just to make the leas and the gas and not be able to afford to drem to own one.or benafit cab driver the 10-20% anaverge of $20 in good tims. and give up the hope and dreem of own a medallin becuse he can"t aford to by .
