NY Cabbies on Strike - Again
The cabbies are striking again to "protest against new additions to their cabs that let customers watch TV and pay with credit cards, as well as allowing drivers' employers to track them with GPS. City officials say the devices help passengers by making payments more convenient and lost items easier to locate. But the Taxi Workers Alliance said they called the strike — the second in six weeks — because the technology is a costly invasion of cabbies' privacy and works erratically at best."The rest of the story on AP here.
I'm confused. According to the story, passengers can find cabs, but "Payment was unusually complicated, however: passengers had to pay $10, plus $5 for each new "zone" they passed through in the city. Manhattan was divided into four zones, and each of the outer boroughs counted as another." So does that mean that as the DC cabs go from zones to meters, the NYC cabs are adding zones to their meters? It's all so confusing!
So the NYC cabbies have gone on strike twice, and the DC cabbies are threatening to strike because of the meters. So I ask the drivers who read this blog -- why aren't YOU striking? :)
posted by DC Cab Rider @ 8:36 AM
2 Comments:
I've never quite understood the point of striking. First of all, you're self-employed. Secondly, you will never get 100% participation. A few drivers will always work, and they'll make out like bandits.
Over the years, drivers at Dulles have gone on strike several time. Again, a certain percentage of them stayed on the job, and they cleaned up because they never had to wait in line. Also, outside cabs were allowed to pick up at the airport when the Flyers were out. We were more than happy to get fares coming out of there.
Well the reason I participated in the strike is because the meter system was only proposed after the commission that were elected and appointed agreed to higher scales of zones. When I started driving a DC cab in 89, a passenger could ride all the way from dupont circle to union station for $2.80. Never was there a suggestion that cabs were due a raise from the masses of the residents. Now that the elected and appointed members of the taxicab commission wanted to set the meter fare...Ol' Uncle Tom Fenty wants to take another democratic process from the citizens of DC and not only practice anti-capitalism but also demonstrates the dangers of why liberals are not to be trusted...
Way to go Uncle Tom Fenty...
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