Taxicab Confessional

Yeah I know this is my second post today on the subject, but I think I can shine a little more light on what the deal is. Earlier today I caught a cab from the West Village to Murray Hill, shelling out $15 to go from one zone to the other. I found out that the steep fares are part of the contingency plan that is helping people commute better by being able to share rides to and fro in the city.

Anyways, the cabbie was very friendly with me so we got to talking about the strike. Obviously you can determine his position on the issue since he was picking up fares for the one day event. After screaming at another driver for trying to get in his lane he addressed the primary concern before he decided to cross the picket line last month.

According to him the major cause for concern wasn't the GPS trackers (he understands many other driving professionals already use it around the country) but what happens with his 1099. With the trackers in place, the fare records can go straight to the IRS and that means....you guessed it, cab drivers would be held accountable for the business they do when it came time to do taxes.

My cabbie realized that with this in effect, drivers would have to be honest with the business that they do. "Honesty, what a concept," I said sarcastically to him and we both bust out laughing.

So it isn't about being tracked to your home when not on the clock, its evading taxes. Sure, no one likes paying them but generally people look down on tax dodgers. And besides that, he loved working today because getting a $15 fare when the trip is generally $9 is part of a good day's work. As I got out of the cab, he delivered a bit of sarcasm back at me..."Next time I see you, don't expect to pay these fares."

I won't mind the fares going back to normal, not at all.

Two Strikes Are More Than Enough

I took a break from posting as I was in Los Angeles over the weekend visiting family. What was a beautiful weekend at first turned smoky as a dozen blazes started up in the hills around the city and in Malibu. The Kashan Castle that I drove by Saturday night was burned to the ground only a few hours later. As we were staying in West Hills, the family was worried about another fire coming close to the house as it had done only two years ago. The firefighters over there are fantastic as I remembered they were saving the house in 2005, but now they are stretched thin as the humidity in So Cal is in the single digits.

Needless to say, I was glad to come back to more humid air without massive smoke plumes here in NYC. However, we were greeted with the taxi strike. A few cabbies were screaming and yelling at those that decided to work today despite the second strike in a month's time. Even though they gave a few good reasons (pensions, etc) after a while, the real concern is still having to install GPS trackers in their cars.

Bhairavi Desai and his New York Taxi Workers Alliance is claiming some sort of victory this morning, but I managed to hail a cab near Penn Station in about two minutes by dodging the taxi stand line. As the AM NY reporter mentioned, there are tons of cabs operating this morning, so there really is nothing to fear if you need to hail a yellow cab.

I am sticking to my position as I have over the last couple of months. While Desai and others complain that GPS trackers are an invasion of privacy, the real issue is accountability. Plenty of businesses use certain methods to hold their employees accountable and if cabbies don't like it, they should find something else to do. There are plenty of drivers out there today that do not care whether or not they are being watched while on the clock. If the GPS units were being used when they are off-duty, that would be another matter.