Rahm Proposes Taxi Reforms

I'm chicago cab driver and this is my 2 cents.rahm and krimbel are completely clueless about the industry. they say they want to avoid "band aid" approach but that's exactly what this reform is!the cabbies driving 12+ hours is not the real issue here, it's merely a result of much bigger issue. let's be honest, who in their right mind would want to work 12 hours a day 365 days a year? cab drivers are people, not commodities, statistic or numbers. as a cab driver, I want to work less and make more. I want 2 days off every week. I don't want to work more than 40 hours a week. but I have to.

this gets us to the root of the issue, and that's what this so called reform is failing to address. gas prices went up, cab lease, food prices, rent, utilities, parking and even traffic tickets! in the same time economy collapsed and business is suffering.
when bills go up and income down, there is only one solution: to work more! mayor is being foolish if he thinks that 12 hr limit will make our streets safer. it will likely have opposite effect. here is why:
our bills will not magically disappear and we will have to find a way to make up for the lost income. how? few things come to mind. driving faster and more aggressive. not taking any breaks, driving for 12 hrs straight (very dangerous). or maybe some will take different approach. get a second job as a pizza delivery drivers for instance. so yes, technically the driver will be driving a cab for only 12 hours, but he will be driving another car for 5-8 hours before or after his shift. now that is way more dangerous than a 16 hour shift where driver spends 1/3 of that time at the airport sleeping. it's virtually impossible to enforce 8 hour rest policy without serious invasion on privacy (24 hour cabbie surveillance maybe).
so dear mayor, I will not go to sleep just because you want me to be rested for my shift. it would be hard to sleep anyway knowing that my family is hungry or my bills are not paid. basic survival instinct will trump all your rules.
without the 12 hour limit drivers can work hours that make sense, when business is good, they can take multiple breaks and/or naps, make decent money and still be well rested while driving. reform will ruin the only good part of this business, flexibility.

also, driving a hybrid will NOT save us $40 per shift. maybe it seems like a good idea on paper, but in real life it will not work. it may work for some drivers who drive 12 hours a day 7 days a week and who constantly drive without stopping. for drivers like me, it will make no difference. I do not work 12 hours a day and I take at least one day off every week. I work on radio mostly so I don't burn that much gas driving around, usually $40 a day, sometimes less. hybrid would save me some money but not nearly enough to make up for more expensive lease. on top of that, mayor fails to understand that we don't make set amount per hour. some hours or days are slow, others are better. how good is saving in gas if I don't make money in the first place?

but all this doesn't concern me that much because as I said, I don't work that much. also I'm customer service oriented and make good money because most customers appreciate good service and tip accordingly. if all I was getting was metered fare I would probably be hungry and homeless. most drivers fail to understand that good service and safe driving is the best way to increase your profits.

here is what really bothers me:

Rosemary Krimbel stated that she doesn't like that drivers use taxis as their personal vehicles and wants to get rid of 24hr lease! wow!
the fact that she doesn't like it is her personal opinion and it could affect drivers in many ways. If I pay $2400+ for the car, what's a big deal if I use it to drop my kids off at school or get groceries? I don't have kids and I don't use my cab for personal purposes because my wife has a car, but not having option to park my cab in front of my home would have serious impact on my quality of life.

first and foremost, I'd have to by another car just for my daily commute to and from work. that means car payments, insurance, repairs... even if fore mentioned gas savings were true cost of car ownership would would eat them up! buses and trains are not an option for my commute because I carry cash on me and it's a safety issue. so mayor would make me buy a car even though I don't need one. in this economy. thank you mayor.

second, I'd have to waste 1 1/2 to 2 hours EVERY DAY on my commute to and from work! that's a big difference compared to not having to commute at all with 24 hr option. that's 2 hours literally stolen from me every day just because mrs krimbel "doesn't like it". if I work 12 hours a day, commute 2 hours a day when am I going to have time to sleep or spend time with my friends and family? I would have 10 hours every day to shower, eat, sleep and most importantly LIVE!

and third, probably most important is lost income! as I already said, all hours are not the same in cab industry and krimbel and emanuel completely ignore this fact. that's why they shouldn't try to "reform" industry they don't fully understand. there are hours and days when there is absolutely no business. that's why cabbies need flexibility. when I have access to a full time cab I have better chances of making at least some money because I can work hours that make sense. Maybe I can just work morning and evening rush hour, or go make few rounds around united center after the game, or do a few early morning or late night airport runs when there is no traffic...
so, under new proposal I'll have to work morning or evening shift which I tried before and I wasn't making enough money, I will make less money, work more, under more pressure and even when I'm tired (remember, no flexibility), I won't have time for breaks, I will have to buy a personal car, waste 2 hours to my daily commute, pay more for a hybrid car... do they really think that gas savings from a hybrid will be enough to make up for my lost income, car payments, insurance, and more expensive tiered lease?

I do have solutions for all this and I may post it here later because now I have to go.

but even if we disregard everything I said here, there is another thing mayor should consider: leave this "reform" for better times, so drivers who don't like new rules can find other jobs. it is not fair to drive more people out of work with unemployment this high.

I take a lot of cabs--at least once a week, generally more--and I have rarely been in one in which I felt my life was in danger. It's happened, but not that often. I was in a cab once that got pulled over, the driver insulted the officer's bad toupee, and the driver was cuffed and hauled off in the back of the squad car.

Good times, good times.

It seems that we can all agree that cops aren't ticketing Chicago drivers for pretty egregious offenses. The day I see somebody pulled over in Humboldt Park that doesn't look like they're being arrested for gang related activities will be a revelation. As I watched *3* drivers cruise through stop signs on the back streets this morning....

Sure, some of the stupid/dangerous driving that cabbies do is to increase their thin margins, but I have the sense that a fair number of cab drivers simply don't know that what they are doing is stupid and dangerous.  I have literally asked drivers, "What did you think you would gain by doing that?" and I consistently get dumbfounded looks back.  It seems entirely possible that there is no training that explains to them, "hey, you learned to drive in Warsaw/Karachi/Lagos/wherever, but that is not how we drive in the US/Chicago."

I'd be interested to know more about the variety of attitudes that Chicago police have about ticketing cabbies.  The police are out driving on the streets with the rest of us and see all the same stupid/dangerous driving they do.  For a lot of policing situations, a traffic stop is more about checking out the people/activity in the car than writing a ticket, but the amount of "blind eye turning" is amazing.  We should have a fair amount of sympathy for cabbies - it's a dangerous, tough way to make not much money, but only within reasonable limits.

I think that getting the majority of cabbies to drive in a more safe, professional and polite manner would do more to improving safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists than all the crazy (operated by companies with lobbyists) camera systems.  Along the lines of the "broken window" theory of policing, if cabbies weren't constantly speeding, diving from lane to lane, running red lights, running stop signs, honking to attract fares, failing to yield to pedestrians, not blocking lanes/intersections when they stop, etc., etc., etc., etc., then the "climate" or "culture" of driving in many parts of Chicago would improve drastically.

Bottom line - no fare increases until cabbies clean up their act driving.

I'd agree except that many non-cab drivers drive just as bad as the cabbies.

Most infractions are perpetrated in the name of "getting there faster."  Speeding, running lights, lane changing, illegal turns, "passing on the right", etc.  All of them are a form of jockeying for the best position to shave 5 minutes off of their trip.  Sure, cabbies have the most clear incentive to pull this kind of crap (more turnover == more money).  But a shockingly large number of run-of-the-mill assholes do it, too. 

I think you'd have to enforce it across the board to really start to effect the driving culture here.

More reforms that do nothing but enrich current medallion holders at the expense of everyone, especially drivers.

Do you have better ideas?  (that isn't meant nearly as sarcastically as it may sound, BTW)

I do get the point that some regulations tend to keep little guys out of the market because only the big guys can afford them.  But at the same time, there are a lot of out of control drivers out there and I'd like the city to try to do something about them.  Which is why I tend to be cautiously optimistic about rules like these.

In my perfect world, CPD would be coming down--HARD--on drivers city wide, which would presumably catch a lot of the worst cab drivers at the same time.  The rules of the road are too rarely enforced.  You'd think enforcement would be a cash cow for the city, especially in these not-enough-tax-income times.

My ideal taxi regulation would have maybe four components:

1. Keep existing meter and fare-setting regulations.
2. Any properly licensed driver may operate a cab within the city, so long as the driver provides proof beforehand to city hall of enough liability insurance.
3. A violation of the insurance requirements of #2 -or- more than three moving violations in any three year span results in a lifetime ban.
4. Operating a cab after being given a lifetime ban will be punishable by jail time.

Everything else would naturally work itself out