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After a lot of huffing and puffing, a group of cab drivers across the city went on strike yesterday at 2 p.m. for 24 hours, but the strike didn't make much of a dent. Advocacy group United Taxidrivers Community Council is calling for a 16 percent fare hike effective January 1; the city has already said the fare hike is coming, it just won't happen until the spring. Spokesman Fayez Khozindar said, "We're sending a message to the city. We're not trying to inconvenience the public." Another group, the Chicago Professional Taxicab Drivers Association, refused to strike for fear of upsetting passengers who have enough to worry about in the trouble economy. Workers and passengers at O'Hare said they didn't notice any problems or fewer cabs. One does have to wonder about the logic of striking on one of the most potentially profitable days of the year.
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There did seem to be an effect at Union Station. The usual line of taxis was missing in the early evening.
Presumably, striking on a heavy travel day would garner more attention. However, it took my taxi driver to tell me that the taxi drivers were on strike.
I noticed (unfortunately) that Taxi drivers did not take a strike against not showering, filling the cab with obnoxious food/body/unidentified odors, trying to run me over while I'm crossing at a green light, or talking on their cell phones in such a manner that you think they are talking to you.
When is that strike gonna happen?
Give them the raise. I will just take it out of their tip.
"We are sending a message to the city." That's a good one.
Cabbies send message to city: "GIVE US A RAISE."
City sends message to cabbies: "STOP CUTTING US OFF."
The way they drive, or them cutting me off, or their smell doesn't bother me.
What bothers me is their unbelievable aversion to actually performing their duties. When cab drivers are punished for not accepting credit cards, they can have a fare increase. When cab drivers are punished for refusing fares, they can have a fare increase. When cab drivers take the most logical route somewhere, instead of driving right into a traffic-choked route in order to run up the meter (no, it is not proper to go through Wrigleyville when traveling from Lincoln Square to Lincoln Park), they can have a fare increase.
I understand some of these things can happen on a micro level by calling 311, but it is rampant, and something needs to change on a macro level.