In Brief

Who remembers Trisha Goddard, the first black host of ABC TV's 7.30 Report ? Trisha tooled around Aussie tele for a while before returning home to England. These days she hosts her own chat show and is a real trouper with a sense of humour.

However there was nothing funny about her being racially vilified recently by a cabbie,

"I was on the receiving end of what I can only describe as nasty and overtly racist manhandling because a taxi driver didn't 'want my sort' in his cab.”

In other news a Colorado cabbie has decided the only way to beat a taxi monopoly is to offer free taxi rides,

"I just say I depend on the generosity of the people," Sullivan said. "I don't know if that's permissible, but that's what I do."

Whilst he expects $4 per gallon for gas, not exactly free, the regulatory body is having trouble nailing him because he's not a vehicle for hire. Todd doesn't care,

"It's my social life," Sullivan said. "I'm 71 years old, and this keeps me in contact with people coming into town. It gives me contact with working locals. They're the important people in town, the bartenders, waitresses and cooks. I know lots of them, maybe even most of them. This gives me something to do, something I'm proud of."

I know how he feels. Business lately is so bad it feels like I'm also a charity worker.

Comments

[baldrick]

Every now and again a bloke like Sullivan turns up and shines a light on things, a light that's not very bright and is short-lived, but exceptionally pleasant. Eccentric? - Yes! Idiosyncratic? - Yes! but a light nevertheless. I hope no other posts put any s##t on this fellah. Give him a fair go, the silly old bugger has got a bit of inventiveness about him and deserves our support - albeit silent.

[baldrick]

Every now and again a bloke like Sullivan turns up and shines a light on things, a light that's not very bright and is short-lived, but exceptionally pleasant. Eccentric? - Yes! Idiosyncratic? - Yes! but a light nevertheless. I hope no other posts put any s##t on this fellah. Give him a fair go, the silly old bugger has got a bit of inventiveness about him and deserves our support - albeit silent.

[Tom H]

So we only have her word that this actually happened?

This sounds exactly like the crap she used to pull here in Oz. Always whining about what a nasty, racist country we are, how she got "hard looks" and "nasty comments" when out in public. She's just another drama queen, not above using her race to try and score sympathy.

She's scum, not because of the colour of her skin, but because of the content of her heart (to paraphase a person of colour worthy of respect).

[turner mitteron]

I'm going to follow his lead. I'm going to make my 3 taxis "free". At $4US a mile for gas I'd make much more than I make now.
Let's tale a 5km trip. $3.10 flagfall. $1.59 per km. in my taxi. Total $11.05.
At $4 per mile for gas.
Convert US$ to AU$ and miles to km = $3.19 per km
5km in the "free" taxi = $15.95
He's making an extra $4.90 for every 5km trip than what a victorian country taxi makes. With none of the expense.
Sounds like a bloody good idea to me.