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 .
