And I'm watching the price of crude head towards $100 per barrel (just like we said it would) and what will happen to cab pay (already pathetic) when we have to pay $4.00 per gallon for gas? I pay for my own gas; then I pay my company 40% of the meter... $4 gas prices would clearly reduce my wages to the minimum wage, if not lower.

Price controls could save the cab industry this Spring; otherwise, good luck getting a ride to the airport for your flight.

That's pretty cool ... do you like driving a cab? I was thinking of moonlighting as a cab driver - do you think that is a good idea, if not for the price issue?

Ideally, the cab driver's solution to rising gas prices would be to raise fares. Unfortunately, fares are controlled by the city - that is, they are limited by price controls. In NYC, anyway, this has created a cab shortage, which is filled partially by gypsy cabs and partially by rationing based on time.

So say the city puts a cap on gas at $3.00/gallon. That's a pretty good price. Unfortunately, a lot of other people think that's a good price, too, and they'll buy more at that price than they would at the fair market price, and soon enough there won't be enough gas to go around. So, if you want to buy gas, you'll need to get it on the black market, where you'd pay what you would pay under a free market system, plus a load for the reseller's labor, plus a load for the risk that the reseller undertakes. So the average person ends up in much worse shape, but it works out well for shady types and people who are politically connected.

As far as the cost of driving a cab, I agree that the city will have to do something - no one works for free. I would prefer that they remove the price controls currently in effect, but that's just me. No one seems to like my suggestions anyway.

stay away from cab driving. If, however you don't mind working at the same rate of pay around the clock and you happen to be an insomniac; go for it. But, you hafta like people, all kinds of people; which is what I love about the job.

There is no way in hell that gas prices will be controlled by the govt; look who's in the white house, but there is no denying that we have a problem come Spring with cab pay. Most cabbies don't work off a commission; they lease the cab and keep the remainder at the end of the week; but it still ends up impossible when the price of gas hits four bucks; and yes, our fares are controlled. We also have strict rules about where we can operate and how. In Chicago they charge the cabs $2 every time we pick up a party at an airport... Midway or O'Hare.... that's a city tax and it works via stamps that have to be bought in advance and attached to a form that informs the NSA who the ride is and where it is going.

WE DON'T EMPLOY MUCH PRICE CONTROLS DIRECTLY IN AMERICA, BUT WE HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF WAGE CONTROLS and when you control wages while allowing prices to rise you strangle the working class... something that has been happening ever since Nixon.

I drove a taxi for sixteen years; the first eight were some of the best years of my life, good money and good times. I used to say that about once a year I picked up a person that was so bad they should be shot on sight, even God would forgive you. By the time I quit driving cab, I was meeting five or six of those people every year. Those are bad odds.

The advent of AIDS and crack cocaine sort of marked the end of the party, not to mention Reagan's invention of homelessness. It seems that a lot of people gradually became more poor and sad, while the well-off were more open about pulling the ladder up behind them.

Good luck, and remember, the main skill involved in driving taxi is knowing who to leave on the curb. (I know Days understands this, but for those who don't, I don't mean the poor, I mean the mean.)

I was at the checkout noticing that I was paying $2.49 for a loaf of bread that I paid $2.19 two days earlier and asked why doesn't my pay just increase with prices as they happen and, of course, the answer was a shrug.

both my mortgage broker and my taxi cab dispatch/owner are from the phillipines. Both are wonderful people. The cab job is running total dispatch, I don't work the street. But the street in Chicago suburbs is nothing compared to Watts, Los Angeles or Tijuana or New York City or Miami... places I have lived but have no plans to return. But you are right, it isn't a safe profession, and the money isn't any good any more, either (thanks to gas prices)

I just filled up my personal car and gas went up 15 cents from Monday (the last day I drove)... notice our wages haven't gone anywhere in the last 30 years? I make less than I did at the age of 19; back then gas was 25 cents a gallon (Detroit area).

Days,

Is the subprime effect squuezing the mortgage brokerage as well? Tough times.

The mortgage brokerages are dying in greater numbers than the Lenders. My broker is still there, but he's not doing any business and all his Loan Originators have left him to drive cabs, etc. Mighty slim pickin's out there for any score below 620.

Posters on this thread may be interested in my observations on taxis here in Panama.

Panama has the highest per capita rate of car ownership in the region, and although there are more cars than streets to fit them on, most Panamanians still do not own a car. We have been here for 7 months now and are undecided on whether we should buy one. There is bus service everywhere, and taxis are easy to use. I have calculated that we spend about $30 a week on cabs. This is obviously less than the cost of owning a car. The cabs are all subcompacts, made in Japan or Korea. The drivers are much more resourceful at avoiding traffic jams than I would be, and they let me enjoy the view.

For the future, I foresee that, in all countries there will be less individual car ownership and more reliance on mass transit and taxis - more efficient all around.

I own a car and when I look at my costs versus taking a cab; it makes sense to take the cab. But here is another angle; the wife does shopping; and small runs for various stuff; the cost factor is not as important as the convenience factor (and hence, the time factor) for our household. Twice a week we pick our 4th grader up after school; we can't be late; we don't want that timeframe jeopardized waiting for a cab.... but if we lived in Panama, I bet we would stick with cabs. If I was single, I wouldn't need a car.

Days:

from Enterprise at $18/day and drive from Friday through Sunday like I did this last weekend and logged 800 miles.