Weekly News

!!! Breaking News !!! Aussie survey finds cabbies rude, offensive, discourteous, reckless, inconsiderate, intimidating, etc. On a scale of one to ten, taxi drivers’ level of service rated a dismal 4.7. I dunno, 47% ain't too bad, many cabbies would rate it a 'pass'.

Down in Adelaide it's been decided cabbies must hold an Aussie license for a minimum period of twelve months. Novel. As is a plan for oral language testing, six month probation period and hazard perception testing. Also compulsory professional development workshops. Seriously.

In Sydney taxi news a 'berserk' cabbie has stabbed a passenger, leading police to demand 'cabbies give up their weapons' (Daily Tele, print edition, April 24). Might work if they introduce a buy-back scheme. I carry a $5000 screwdriver !

Over in South Africa, aka Dodge City, shootouts herald a deadly turf war between taxi networks. The message being: don't hang around peak hour taxi ranks. If real violence isn't your go, then virtual violence against taxi drivers is the hottest game in town. Of course the industry has slammed the 'racist' game. Hate cabbies ? Try it, you'll like it.

The previous Weekly News reported on the likely demise of London's black taxi. However no problem for the manufacturer which has now launched into China. No problem for China, either. If Aussie cabbies rate poorly, then Bengali drivers in India barely rate. In Brunei the taxi industry is also under scrutiny. A Korean cabbie uses a unique taxi to differentiate his service.

At an American airport waiting cabbies indulge in brawling, 'just to pass time'. Officials struggle to improve driver behaviour. In Colorado a stray bullet killed a cabbie during a gun battle between two groups. The booming New York pedicab industry is to be regulated whilst Boston cabbies are set to receive monetary grants and work perks for adopting hybrid environmental vehicles. San Francisco joins the club. Moonlighting cabbies in Los Angeles are finally being hunted down.

Plans are underway in Ottawa, Canada to install video cameras in cabs. However one driver  creates interest by revealing the cameras will hurt cabs facilitating drug dealing. Another Ottawa cabbie has been acquitted of manslaughter after testifying his passengers forced him to speed. A tough win given he collided with a police cruiser. A third Ottawa cabbie claims he was unaware of a woman being dragged under his car, who subsequently died.

A taxi association in Bolton, England insists taxi-cameras are useless against continuing attacks on drivers, namely rock throwing. Yet cameras undoubtedly reduce in-vehicle violence. 'A teenage girl destroyed a taxi driver's life by crying rape at the end of a drunken night out and then refused to withdraw the claim out of embarrassment.' She got two months. Hit link for images.

From Athens comes a familiar story - taxi driving is an exteme sport. Who knew ? In a major Iranian crackdown taxi networks have been ordered not to carry 'bad hijabi', or un-Islamic dress by women. Black is the new black in Iran, popular or not.

Finally, an increasingly common method of fare evasion is to simply steal the cab.

Comments

[Harry Buttle]

"I dunno, 47% ain't too bad, many cabbies would rate it a 'pass'"

Which may well explain why the standard of service is so poor...

[robert deniro]

harry,you pay peanuts you get monkeys.if you want the standard lifted you go out and drive and get sh%ted on for a lousey $10 a hour.

[Turner Mitteron]

Talking about weapons. When I first started driving my wife gave me a screwdriver to take with me in the cab. Her reasoning was that if some good lookin woman got in the cab and asked "Would you like a screw, driver" I could tell her that I already had one.