What’s wrong with the taxi career? Don’t I make a lot of money doing this? Yes and yes I love this job but the taxi industry in NYC is dying.
Thanks to Uber. Too many drivers are on the road. So no one is making money. Thanks to Uber, our infamous NYC Yellow Cabs are also going out of business. Did you know 5 taxi drivers committed suicide this year? Because they can’t pay off their medallion loan which cost millions! Thanks to Uber, they’re also killing their own drivers because of high commission fees. When you catch a ride which cost $30, the driver only gets $18 at the end of the trip. 25% Uber commissions on each fare which means the driver have to slave themselves everyday on the road. The damn Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) refuses to raise the fare price. THAT fare price you see today is the same price you pay more than 10 years ago. Our taxi fares never changed. Thanks to Uber again, to kill the Yellow Cabs is this. Lowering the fare so more people can take Uber instead. To be serious, that harmed more of their own drivers instead of helping. We’re not making anything from Uber anymore. I’ve stopped driving for Uber for almost 10 months now because I hate their work politics. It makes me laugh when they send me messages through email saying Uber is trying to help people. That’s a lie. All they care is themselves. Let’s face the real world people. This company ruin a lot of people’s lives. It almost ruin mine, because of their greediness. Also I hope the City of New York will banned them in the future, like how London banned them.
I own a cab and I can’t wait to take those TLC registration off the windshield. I am so sick of it. Anyways, the biggest problem is finding parking back at home. In the neighborhood where I’m living in, the houses here has no driveway. So everyone have to park on the street. When I work 8 to 10 hours a day, coming home from work and no parking is available, I have to go spot hunting. There’s one street I hated to park is the street where you can’t park during the day time. Which means I have to move the car at 8am in the morning. Imagine that, coming home late about 11pm, I’m exhausted from driving. I have only a few hours to sleep, get up early and move my car somewhere else, if lucky if there’s spots in front of my house. Then go back to work again still feeling exhausted. Imagine that, being sleepy behind the wheel. I’m just lucky that I didn’t fall asleep behind the wheel.
I might as well add this. The biggest CON about this job is CANNOT find a restroom! Let me tell you, us taxi drivers are treated very badly at these rest stops. From Taxi Stands/Relief Stand and Public Parks where there is public restrooms that we can use. We weren’t welcomed at any of these. Local restaurants which is near by the taxi rest stops, the some of the owners really hated us for using their bathrooms, that’s why they never let us use the bathrooms. Sure if I wanted to buy a coffee or tea no problem to use it then right? Wrong, some owners don’t allow us to stay even. If you think that’s worst, the public parks are even more worst. Not because they are dirty no, no. The cops write out tickets for us, even when we legally parked. They hand out tickets because “Not accompany with a child.” Seriously, I’m not making this up. This ticket was given to a taxi driver a few years back when he is trying to use the bathroom in one of the city’s parks which is a playground. He brought the ticket to court and fought it. (The driver won by the way) I think they don’t want a stranger walk into a park full of children and start a kidnapping or something. It’s so stupid, you saying that A PUBLIC PARK and PUBLIC RESTROOM is restricted to us cab drivers?! That’s discrimination right there. But still, I have to be careful with these cops. They can write up anything even for using a bathroom. Also I know what you’re thinking, why not just don’t drink anything throughout the day? For 10 hours with no water? I get extremely thirsty, also it will ruin your body and health. So don’t risk it. Even if you have to go, just carry a bottle with you for emergency. You may think it’s funny, but that’s what us cab drivers have to put up with. We deal with so many problems out there and all the bullcrap. We try to make a living surviving this town and everyone is against us for doing our job. The more I see and hear, I wish I wasn’t a taxi driver anymore. All I have to do is, hang in there until the right job comes along.
My future plan is find a job that pays a little decent, and benefits. The taxi job has no benefits at all. No vacation pay, No off time pay, No sick pay, nothing! Not even a retirement plan. We only get paid if we drive. I was thinking about becoming a bus driver or a trucker. Not sure about being a trucker, I’ve heard it’s sucks because you have to deal with your annoying boss. The good thing about this taxi job is, I can choose my own work hours and days. So I’m basically taking break from driving long hours right now. Also I’m driving my own clients around town if they needed me. So I don’t have to stress out too much. That’s why you see some stuff being updated very recently.
I’m just hoping the NYC Transit would call back. I took two tests, are Motorman and Conductor. If I get in, I’ll be very happy to get a union job that has benefits. If this doesn’t work, I’m planning to save up much money as I can to get a Commercial License to drive a bus or truck in the future.