Does it occur to anyone here that the TA is treating us all like children? The below article is from Tripsheet (see partial below), but there was another in Cabbie Guide that I find quite patronizing. It makes me feel like I am a criminal and that all cabbie are nothing but lawbreaking scum.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I can tell you I follow the laws and regs as best I can. To hold a cabbie hostage to a missing bag (when it clearly states in the cabs and on the cabs that lost items are not the cabbies responsibility) is just ridiculous. To then have the TA set up sting operations against cabbies may well be a violation of our rights. In fact there may be a case to be made for TA harrassing (as a class) cabbies for situations that are not within thier control. Let’s face it, ever try to find a black wallet in a black upholstered van at night? Good luck. But yet we are told that we are responsible for the carelessness of the passengers. If another fare picks up that wallet, how can the cabbie know about it? He can’t but by the rules that are being stated he could go to jail. This is not fair.

And why are they picking on cabbies anyway. Cabbies are not the only people to break the rules of the road, to single us out is yet another reason we may have a class action against the TA. The TA is here to protect us and investigate crimes against cabbies, since when are they our private police force? Doesn’t Metro do a good enough job with that already?

Also, we are now told that there are 96 more medalions on the street. Thanks TA for lowering my fares by 5%. Don’t they get it, they are screwing us and really could not give a damn about the cabbies. I mean it does not make a difference to the companies, they are going to get the same amount of cash income every day anyway, but the cabbies are screwed. Do the math, there are X number of fares, and Y number of cabbies. Divide the two and you get the number of fares for each cabbie (roughly). The cab companies do not care, the average will work out the same for them any way you look at it. Adding 96 more cabs only hurts the cabbies.

Now I do not want to hear that people are standing in line complaining, so are the cabbies, and 96 more medalions are not going to make a difference in the service of fares. The day works in peaks and valleys in terms of fares available. As the peaks of fares run up, there is no way the cabs can keep up with demand. Adding 96 more cabs will not help this. On the other hand, when it is slow and cabbies are sitting in lines waiting to pick up, all those extra cab will lengthen the wait time for the cabbies. Since the most precious commodity a cabbie has is time, the more you delay the rides, the worse off he is and can never make up for the lost time.

Of course the best of all worlds is if we can vary the amount of cabs on the road so that the peaks are met and the lulls are thinned out (one reason why I take a breakfast at 6:30am, during a lull) but that is not possible since most shifts are 10 to 12 hours and the peeks do not last that long.

Speaking of killing an honest cabbie, lets talk about convention plates for a moment. We cabbies hear it endlessly that we do not service the conventions, so lets clear up a few things. 1) Do you know how hard it is to get to the convention centers when they are letting out? If we can not get there, we can not make money and if we cannot make money, why bother to go there. If traffic was set up to allow better access for cabbies in and out of the convention centers you would have a lot more cabbies going there because it would not be a colossal waste of time. In fact it would be advantagous to go there and thus the service would be better. 2) I actually think that the convention medalions are a good idea, but there is a problem, the drivers do not follow the rules that are implied with the plates. These convention drivers go anywhere taking away fares from normal medalion cabs. If the convention cabs are only allowed to pick up at the convention centers, they should be policed and NOT allowed to pick up anywhere else so as not to kill normal plated drivers business. Otherwise why bother with convention plates at all.

In case this may seem too difficult to understand, I will give my three rules for driving. 1) Keep someone in the back seat as much as possible (meter on) 2) Keep the wheels rolling ($22 for waiting is not nearly as good as averaging 40mph and $80 and hour) 3) Between drop off and pick up the shortest time and distance possible. Do these three things and I will have a good day.

The last paragraph of they article in Cabbie Guide was about tipping. The author implied that “tips should not be expected”. Well I got news for TA, since they tax us on the meter and add an addition amount to our gross pay, we are paying tax on the tips even if we are not receiving them. In this case, now that taxes are expected the tip must be expected also. So yeah, I expect a tip from each fare, and if the tip is not enough to cover the tax that is charged for it, i am getting ripped off. It is not hard to see why cabbies expect a good tip, after all, they are adding 22.5% to out gross pay that we are being taxed on.

It just amazes me that the TA is that blind to what is really going on here in Las Vegas in regard to how a taxi driver must look at the business. We are working the streets for a living. If you took away the tips (which was implied in the article) you would have very few drivers left because we do not make an hourly wage. There are some hours we do not even make a minimum wage and the hours where we are making a good wage are now thinned because there are 96 more cabs on the street. It is no wonder that there is a shortage of drivers, it is becoming more are more fiscally unsound to be a driver.

BTW, if you think that this, lower earnings, is not cause for cabbies to get grumpy and not provide great service, then you are living in LA LA Land. Lower earning grate on you day in and day out and some drivers do not deal with it very well. So yeah, you are going to get some rude behavior, and that will only increase as the days continue and the earning get lower and the tips get fewer and further between. So on behalf of the future taxi fares that get insulted and complain, thank you for providing more of the reasons we cabbies get crabby. Hope you at TA like taking even more complaints.

* Partial Copy of Article from; Trip Sheet Magazine.pg.34.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: “ CRIME “.. & .. “ ACCIDENTS “ by: Investigator - Rob
Stewart - Public Information Officer & Nevada Taxicab Auth-
ority.( 702-486-6532, Ext.510 ) from: August 2006, Volume
20 , Number 08.( Publisher - Lynn H. Pearson 702-641-9944.)
***********************************************
* CRIME : It would appear that crime in the industry is
on the rise once again.June’s statistics show there were
5 reported Robberies,1 Attempted Robbery and 1 Battery
on a Cabdriver. An arrest was made in one of the
robberies and the suspect in the one Attempted Robbery
was also arrested.During June, 4 taxicabs were stolen.
Two were taken during Robberies and two were taken
from their respective yard.All of the stolen cabs have
since been recovered.The Officers of the taxicab Authority
responded to 1,096 complaints and 490 teaffic accidents
or reports of damage to cabs.As a note of caution,the
LVMPD Tourist - Safety Unit and the Taxicab Authority
conduct periodic checks of drivers to determine if drivers
are turning in “Lost Property” from their cabs.You are
STRONGLY encouraged to follow the rules and laws when
it comes to checking your cab after EVERY ride and turning
in any “Lost Property” you find. Several drivers can already
tell you from first hand experience that you may just
find yourself in the Clark County Detention Center trying
to post bail for a felony charge.

* ACCIDENTS - The Nevada Taxicab Authority responds
to an average of 500 accidents a month involving taxicabs.
The number represents not only accidents but also include
damage to cabs like “door dings” and passengers opening
doors into other cars, ect.Still, the number of taxicabs
involved in accidents is way too high.Traffic accident
statistics compiled by The Nevada Highway Patrol,The Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and The North Las
Vegas & Henderson Police Departments all show the
violations mentioned above are the primary causes for
accidents here in the valley.In responce to this,Taxicab
Authority Administrator Richard Land is implimenting a
“ Zero Tolerance.” policy when it comes to what is termed
as “crash causing violations” effective August 1st.What
this means to you is when TA officers stop a cabdriver
for 1. SPEEDING. 2. RUNNING A RED LIGHT. 3. RUNNING
A STOP SIGN.and 4.SEAT BELT VIOLATIONS,the officer
will be REQUIRED to write a citation.Additionally,the fines
for those violations will NOT be reduced.! So far,about a
dozen Taxicab Authority officers have been trained &
certified in the use of RADAR and have RADAR units
installed in their cars. More RADAR units have been
ordered and are on the way for the rest of the officers.
The bottom line is: SLOW DOWN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** OTHER TOPICS also covered in the
“ Taxicab Authority News” are:

1. A very respectfull condolence for Mr.Craig
Harris passing. ( As most of you know - our Brother
cab driver - Craig Harris - was the Managing Editor
of Tripsheet Magazine & a Union Steward and
long time ACTIVIST for the cab drivers in Las Vegas.).

2.* LONG HAULING and GEO RESTRICTIONS:

3.NEW MEDALLION ALLOCATIONS:

4.PASSENGER SERVICE.

** IF you would like a COMPLETE COPY of the Article..??
( It’s VERY INFORMATIVE )..!! Contact us here @ the
International Taxi Drivers’ Safety Council and we will
be happy to FAX or snail mail U a copy. OR..perhaps U
would prefer to contact Investigator - Mr. Rob Stewart
@ 702-486-6532,Ext.510 in Las Vegas...OR..Contact :
Trip Sheet Magazine’s Publisher & Advertising
Dir.Lynn H. Pierson @ 702-641-
9944.( Email- _editor@..._
(mailto:editor@...) ).

Most Sincerely & Respectfully Submitted F.Y.Info.
( Please pass it on.).

International Taxi Drivers’ Safety Council.
_www.itdsc.org_ (http://www.itdsc.org/)
304-525-0902 or 509-217-6525

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