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Some
Las Vegas Taxicab Companies
Pressure Cabbies
to Rip
Off Tourists
by Vegas
Taxi Driver
February 6, 2009
Several
years ago I went to work as a Las Vegas cabbie for a very high
pressure cab company. It had been quite a few years since I had
been a cabbie in Las Vegas. I had worked for other cab companies
in Las Vegas and I was confident about my ability to do a good job
at any company. But no matter how hard I worked or tried to keep
up with the drivers of this particular company I was working for,
the average amount of money booked by other drivers on my shift
was much higher than my book. At the end of my shifts, when I was
counting my money, I would listen to the drivers tell horrible
stories about how they ripped off customers and long hauled
people. Then when I came to work the next day I would be called to
the office to get chewed out by a supervisor for not booking
enough. When good conventions were in town, I was not allowed to
work because I had not been booking enough. I was required to come
to work seven days a week and at least one half hour before the
cabs started come in from the previous shift and sit there until
they called my name, if I was lucky enough to have my name called
at all. Then I would be assigned to one of the oldest junkers they
had in their fleet, because I was not a high booker, and most of
the time I was given a restricted medallion so I could not pick up
passengers on the Las Vegas strip and McCarran Airport and
Downtown Las Vegas, which is where 95% of the business is in Las
Vegas.
It did
not take long for me to realize that the only way to succeed at
this company was to start booking as much as the other drivers,
and the only way to do that was to be a crook and a thief and a
liar. But I think more highly of myself than that. I hadn't been a
crook for other kinds of businesses where I could have made a lot
more money than driving taxi, so I wasn't going to be a crook for
them. Fortunately, they did have a lot of radio calls and a few
good dispatchers. Since I had owned a taxi in a different city 20
years ago where drivers only take radio calls, I knew how to take
radio calls. So I just drove restricted cabs and went out and took
as many radio calls as I could and went to local casinos on the
outskirts of Las Vegas and picked up passengers at their cab
stands.
Every
day the company printed out a sheet with all the drivers names and
the amount of money they booked so that drivers could compare how
well they did. When I was driving restricted cabs, I always
was one of the highest booking restricted drivers. However, when I
was driving an unrestricted cab for them, I was always one of the
lowest bookers. But the amount of trips I did was more than the
average. The only reason I was a low booker when I was driving
unrestricted cabs was because my trips cost less because I just
took people the direct way instead of jerking them around and
going in circles.
One
Saturday night I remember I booked about $120 less than the
average amount booked by the other drivers on that night. It had
been a busy night at the airport and there were some late flights
that came in, so there were lots of opportunities for drivers to
long haul passengers through the airport tunnel. I also had more trips than the average amount of trips of other drivers. The only thing I did not do is jerk people around. The next day I was chewed out
by one of the supervisors for not booking enough. That was the last time I worked for that company.
Because
of my experiences working for some Las Vegas cab companies, I wrote several blog articles
years ago about the bad policies and unscrupulous practices of taxicab companies in Las Vegas. But what I failed to say
is that not all Las Vegas cab companies are the same. After working for the worst, now I work for a company that is owned and operated by decent people who have never punished me for not being a crook and have never tried to force me or coerce me to be a crook or break laws or be unethical, and have allowed me to drive good vehicles and work good shifts and not be restricted even though I am not a high booker. I
don't want to give the impression that all Las Vegas taxi companies are
run the same way.
I just started writing on this blog again after taking a two year break. My point of view has changed and my situation is
different now. Two years ago I would have guaranteed you that there was no way I would still be driving a taxi in 2009. But things happen. During those two years the company I currently work for
has treated me way better than I ever expected, and if I knew then what I know now about the owners of
my current employer, I would have been more careful in the past to make
certain that readers understand that not all owners run their
companies the same way. Just because some Las Vegas cab companies
have practices and policies that are unethical and abusive does
not mean that it is true of all taxi companies in Las Vegas.
Why should I care if some Las Vegas taxi companies have bad policies and unethical practices?
Two years ago the Nevada Taxicab Authority was going crazy flooding Las Vegas with more taxis
and two of the reasons they gave were: (1) Not having enough taxis at the Las Vegas Convention Center during times when it is impossible for taxis to get to the dysfunctional poorly designed Las Vegas Convention Center, and (2) The amount of money booked by drivers was high. >
Some Las Vegas taxi companies force and/or encourage drivers to long-haul customers and drive crazy and steal from other cabbies and even run their meter with no passengers in order to satisfy their bosses and be able to continue to drive a decent vehicle or work a decent shift or not have a restricted medallion.
The Nevada Taxicab Board should take into account that the amount of money booked
by drivers who are pressured to book high amounts and that should not be the basis for punishing the honest drivers by
adding more medallions and creating long lines of empty cabs at
the airport and in front of hotels. As far as the Nevada Taxicab Board relying on a report from a Nevada Taxicab Authority administrator who stands at the Las Vegas Convention Center and says, "See, we need more cabs," without doing studies on traffic congestion and feasibility and capacity, anybody can do that. The Nevada Taxicab Board should have better information
than that before just putting more and more cabs in Las Vegas without finding out the real reasons and working to fix the real problems.
The
Nevada Taxicab Authority, which is responsible for enforcing laws
regarding taxicabs in Las Vegas, routinely says that they are
cracking down on long hauling by drivers, and sometimes they do
take action in that regard. But even if a Las Vegas cabbie gets
caught long hauling, it does not do anything to hinder cab
companies from having policies that force, encourage, and pressure
drivers to long haul. The driver pays the fine, the driver also
has to reimburse the money collected from passengers, and still
has to pay the company for the meter, and the company still makes
money from the long haul. If the driver gets caught enough times,
the company fires the driver and hires new drivers who learn from
other drivers how to long haul and not get caught. There needs to
be a law in Nevada that specifically prohibits taxi companies from
coercing and pressuring drivers to long haul. The company I work
for now does not reward drivers for being crooks and thieves, but
some Las Vegas cab companies do.
There
have always been crooks driving cabs. That does not bother me
personally as a cabbie. I don't care what the other drivers are
doing, as long as it does not hurt me. I feel sorry for people who
have such low esteem that they feel that have to stoop to ripping
people off in order to make money, but I don't have anything
against them. That is up to the individual drivers and the
authorities in charge of the taxicab business. I am fine with the
fact that I make less money than crooks, whether it is in the taxi
business or any other business. Many people who are not crooks go
to work at certain Las Vegas cab companies, and then they have to
become thieves in order to drive a decent vehicle or work a decent
shift or not be restricted from picking up tourists on the Las
Vegas strip or McCarran Airport or Downtown Las Vegas, and that is
a problem for Las Vegas.
All of
the cab companies tell their cabbies to follow the laws and all
Las Vegas taxi companies punish drivers that get caught long
hauling or breaking any other laws, but if drivers of certain
companies know that they have to be high bookers in order to have
the opportunity to drive nice cars and not be restricted, and if
the amount of money they book on their meter is compared to
drivers who are long hauling and stealing rides from cabbies who
follow the rules and the laws, then drivers are actually
being coerced into being crooks. This is bad for Las Vegas.
Fortunately,
I do not work for a company that forces me to be a crook. There
are many decent and honest cabbies working for the company I am
employed for now, and they do not have to be crooks and thieves in
order to drive nice cabs and work good shifts and not be
restricted. I am not saying that all the drivers at my company are
honest and do not long haul, but they are not rewarded by the
company for being crooks, and they are not pressured to be
crooks.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
February 6, 2009
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| | | | | Las Vegas Taxicab Company Owners Get Hit Hard By Recession by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 2, 2009 January 2009 will be remembered by the owners of Las Vegas cab companies as a bleak month with dismal profits. The month of December for taxi business in Las Vegas was terrible, but December is always the worst month for business in Las Vegas anyway. January is supposed to be one of the best months for Las Vegas cab companies, but it wasn't. Business has not been what it used to be. The cabbies have been taking it on the chin, but so have the owners of the taxi companies in Las Vegas.
The expense of paying for employee benefits and business insurance and liability insurance does not go down just because business is down. The power company doesn't give the cab companies a break just because there is less taxi business and McCarran Airport is not bringing in as many passengers. The costs of administration and payroll and running a company that maintains hundreds of vehicles and employees keep on racking up.
In Las Vegas, all taxis are owned by a handful of companies and all the taxi drivers are employees. Taxi drivers in Las Vegas do not have to pay for maintenance of the vehicles they drive. Las Vegas taxi drivers do not have to pay for liability insurance and business insurance and medical insurance. Las Vegas cabbies do not have to buy new vehicles every few years. Taxi drivers in Las Vegas do not have to pay for towing. Twenty years ago I was an owner/operator driving taxi in a different city, and I learned that if you own your own taxi, the only time it will break down is at the beginning of a busy weekend, not only resulting in being out the money that you would have made, but having to pay for towing and repair.
Las Vegas cab companies have to pay for lawsuits and legal fees, and they are common targets for lawyers and swindlers. Las Vegas taxi companies have to withhold money for workmen's compensation, employment insurance, welfare, and social security taxes for every employee, and they have to match the amount of what is taken out of employee pay. The investments and portfolios of the owners of taxicab company owners have also taken a big hit because of the market and real estate values. The month of January started off with the CES show, the biggest convention of the year, started on Thursday instead of Monday, which means that there is less taxi business because having a big convention on weekdays is a boost for the taxi business. Las Vegas is already busy on weekends and covention goers usually are here for business and do not spend as much as regular weekend visitors. Since the Superbowl was on the first of February this year, the big days preceding it were the last two days of January, and people spend less money at the end of the month. I can look at all the ones and fives that I have in my cash at the end of my shift and I can tell it is the end of the month. (I learned that when I was managing restaurants 30 years ago.) In combing through online blogs and news articles, I have read many articles about the plight of cabbies in Las Vegas, and I have written a few articles myself. But I have never read an article in support of Las Vegas cab companies. I will admit I feel a little guilty that nobody is running a public relation campaign for the benefit of the cab companies, and that is why I felt compelled to take a moment to plead their case for the sake of fair argument. I tend to go overboard with my grievances and insults, so I decided to even the score a bit. Not all the owners of taxi companies are bad, and even the bad ones are not all that bad. I have worked for most of the cab companies in Las Vegas. The cab company I currently work for is owned and managed by people who are decent and fair and genuinely care about their employees, and they have treated me well. I have worked for dozens of various kinds of companies, and the people I work for right now are the best people I have worked for in my life. If all the taxi companies were as good and decent as the one that I work for, there would be a lot less problems in the taxi business in Las Vegas. I always hope that any company that I work for makes lots of money and their profits increase while I am working for them. When people get in my cab and ask about being a cabbie in Las Vegas, I do not complain about the policies of the Nevada Taxicab Authority or the crooked way that some cab company owners treat their drivers; people do not want to hear about that and that wouldn't be good for my tips. I reserve all of my sarcasms and criticism for my blog articles. What I do tell my passengers is that I am an employee and that I have medical benefits, and that I don't have to pay for the maintenance of the vehicle. I tell them that the money is not as good as it is in most places, but because cabbies in Las Vegas are employees, I can quit when I want, and then I can come back to work when I want. If I owned my own cab I would be tied down.
As long as I can make a reasonable amount of money without being a crook, and as long as there are not so many cabs out that it is impossible to find a taxi stand to get on, and as long as I don't have to spend my whole night getting chased away from cab stands because there are too many cabs in line, this is not a bad gig. I am glad that the Nevada Taxicab Authority Board decided to not put out extra medallions during conventions in February 2009 so I have a chance to make some money, but it is unfortunate that business is not good enough for extra medallions. I sincerely hope that business picks up soon and that cabbies can go back to griping about strip club kickbacks and hotel doorpersons and the price of gas and traffic instead of being angry about too many medallions, and that the owners of cab companies in Las Vegas can go back to counting big stacks of money. Maybe the politicians will give the Las Vegas taxicab companies 20 or 30 billion dollars as part of the economic recovery stimulus package.  by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 2, 2009 http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/30/taxi-board-adds-no-extra-cabs-magic/ By Richard N. Velotta Fri, Jan 30, 2009 "Taxi board adds no extra cabs for MAGIC"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28772664/ KVBC-TV updated 9:43 a.m. PT, Fri., Jan. 23, 2009 "Cab confession: More taxis have drivers seeing red" | | | | | | | | Make Money Online >>> click here | | | |
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| |  | | THE AUTHORITY ON NEVADA | | TAXI CAB DRIVERS IN LAS VEGAS | | | | | | 
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| The article that was here no longer exists | Please visit the home page of blog.vegastaxidriver.com Inside Scoop From A Former Las Vegas Cabbie
LAS VEGAS TAXI DRIVER BLOG ARTICLES:
NEW ASIAN FUSION RESTAURANT IN SOUTH LAS VEGAS March 29, 2010
LAS VEGAS CABBIE MAKES MONEY ONLINE February 16, 2010
SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS SUCK February 8, 2010
LAS VEGAS MARATHON VIDEO AND PICS December 7, 2009
WESTERN CAB WAS VERY GOOD TO ME November 19, 2009
MY FIRST LAS VEGAS EMPLOYER BOB STUPAK DIES AT 67 September 25, 2009
PARIS HILTON SAYS LAS VEGAS IS NOT AS CLASSY AS DUBAI June 19, 2009
SOME LAS VEGAS CAB COMPANIES PRESSURE CABBIES TO RIP OFF TOURISTS Feb 6, 2009
MAJOR LANE CLOSURES IN LAS VEGAS GOING FORWARD February 13, 2009
AVOID BEING LONG-HAULED BY A TAXI DRIVER July 15, 2007
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK LAS VEGAS CABBIES July 17, 2007
CHRIS MONEYMAKER CAN RIDE IN MY CAB ANY TIME July 12, 2007
I HATE CAB DRIVING October 2, 2006 | | | | 
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Las
Vegas Economy Hits Cabbies Hard
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 18, 2009
The most popular topic that riders want to know about is how the
Las Vegas economy is doing now. The tourists who have been coming
to Las Vegas over the past five years can see it right away. They
look at the traffic. They get good deals on their hotel rooms.
They don't need reservations to get into restaurants. Show tickets
are available for any show they want to see. When I drive them up
to the hotel entrance, they ask me why there is a huge long line
of empty cabs lined up from the front door to the street, and out
on the street. When I take them to the Airport, I point out that
the traffic jam going into McCarran Airport is caused by the long
line of empty cabs trying to get into the staging area for cabs,
and I show them the 200 cabs sitting there. When traffic into the
airport backs up far enough, the airport officials chase away
empty cabs trying to get in line, and make them leave the airport,
forcing them to drive around from hotel to hotel hoping to find a
place where there is room to get in line and wait and wait.
The
Las Vegas economy is hurting. Unemployment is higher than ever in
Nevada, if you consider that there are many undocumented workers
who moved to Las Vegas in the last decade when the Las Vegas
economy was thriving, and the undocumented workers are not
included in official employment statistics. Nevada has the highest
rate of home foreclosures in the nation. For the first time in 17
years the population of Las Vegas is declining. Multi-billion
dollar construction projects on the Las Vegas strip have stopped
construction and are sitting idle waiting for better days. Stores
do not have the traffic they are used to, and lots of small
businesses are closing.
The
locals are not taking as many cab rides to and from the airport.
When traffic was bad around the strip on Friday and Saturday
nights, I used to go to the outskirts of town, and there would
always be locals needing cabs at casinos. But the cab companies
are not getting as many radio calls, and there are not as many
locals going to casinos, so the restricted cabs have to sit in
line at the local casinos waiting for rides.
After
September 11, 2001, a lot of cab drivers quit and went to work
elsewhere because business was bad at that time, but now the Las
Vegas economy is worse than that. In 2001 and 2002, Las Vegas was
still the fastest growing city in America with the most new home
construction. Real estate was going up, and people had money, and
banks were loaning like crazy, and the 33 million people living in
California could afford to drive to Las Vegas to party. The
tourist business rebounded within six months and was followed by
five years of incredible growth, record tourists, record room
occupancy, record convention crowds, record taxi pick-ups at the
airport, and money was flowing into Las Vegas.
Last week my take home pay, including tips and my check, came out
to $365 for 55 hours of work. One of my pay checks in December was
under $400 for 96 hours. Of course, I could have made more money
by long-hauling customers, and my employer would have been happy
that I booked more (even though my company does not pressure me
like some other companies do), but I am not a crook. My employer
requires me to work 55 hours, even if there is no business.
Recently there are many times when I haven't been able to get more
than 10 rides in an 11-hour shift. I never thought in my life that
I would make this little money for 40 hours a week, much less for
55 hours a week, but I need to keep my job so I can keep my health
insurance. Two years ago this was a $60,000 a year job for hard
working drivers who worked 60 hours a week, even if they were
honest. Crooks were able to make much more than that.
Lately,
I have been using more gas and doing a lot of driving around
looking for places to get rides. Many times I cannot get in
line at the hotel after dropping people off at hotels because
there is no more room for cabs in the line, so I have to find
somewhere else to go. I used to go downtown or to the airport on
slow nights because there is a better chance to get a long ride.
But now it is usually impossible to get in line downtown without
sitting somewhere illegal to get on a legal cab stand, and I do
not make enough money to pay for tickets, because I do not
long-haul my customers through the "spaghetti bowl" from
downtown on the way to the strip, so my rides from downtown are
less than most cabbies. Many times the airport officials are
chasing away taxis because there is no more room for them there.
Even if I can get in line at the airport, it does not pay for me
to wait that long, because I am not going to take the tunnel to
long-haul customers, so my rides from the airport are cheaper than
most cabbies.
Over
90% of the time over the past six months I just take customers
right down the Las Vegas strip from one place to another instead
of using back roads or alleys. Most cabbies are still taking
customers on back roads or on the freeway in order to increase
their fares, and telling customers it is faster, even when there
is no traffic on the strip. The first time I moved to Las Vegas
was 17 years ago, and I have never seen Las Vegas Boulevard as
maneuverable as it has been in the past six months. I can remember
when there were no walkways going over Las Vegas Boulevard at the
Flamingo Road intersection, and it took forever to get through
that intersection from any direction because of the people
crossing the streets. There have not been pedestrians blocking
that intersection for over a decade, but the sheer volume of
traffic on the Las Vegas strip usually turns Las Vegas Boulevard
into a parking lot, especially on weekends; but not lately.
Knowing how to use the back roads and alleys has been the
trademark of a good Las Vegas cabbie in the past. I wonder if I
will remember where the back roads are when the economy improves?
Times are tough for crooks, too. These days the trademark of most
Las Vegas cabbies is knowing how to get on the freeway and take
tourists the long way. When business is slow and the crooks and
thieves are not busy long-hauling people from downtown and the
airport, they are busy stealing rides from cabbies who are on cab
stands the way they are supposed to be.
The
cab companies have been allowed to encourage and pressure Las
Vegas taxi drivers to be crooks and thieves. Some of the companies
are much worse than others in that regard. Most of the honest
decent cabbies in Las Vegas are gone because they got fired for
not booking enough or they couldn't afford to pay their bills. A
lot of drivers who used to be honest and decent have turned into
crooks in order to survive. I am lucky that I work at a company
that has let me work unrestricted without being a crook, and
without being harassed. I know they would like me to book more,
and I would like to make more money, but I am not going to be a
crook for them or anyone else, and they have not asked me to.
If the Nevada Taxicab Authority cracked down on long hauling,
which is very simple to do, it would be very bad for me, unless
the Nevada Taxicab Board also reduced the number of taxis. I
profit from the thieves and crooks driving cabs in Las Vegas.
Every time people get in my cab and I take them the short way,
they are frequently aware that I got them back to their
destination for way less, so most people are decent and tip me
more. If the Nevada Taxicab Authority put a stop to long-hauling
by drivers, it would mean that the owners of the cab companies
would have much less revenue, and the companies would have to
figure out ways to take it out of the drivers' pockets to make up
for their losses. What would be nice for me, was if the Nevada
Taxicab Board realized that temporary reductions in the number of
medallions is appropriate at this time, and that would make it
possible for the few honest decent drivers left to survive the
recession. The best thing for everyone would be for the economy to
magically improve.
The
cab companies need to put all the cabs on the street all the time,
and they need to make the drivers work their entire shifts even
when there is no business, because the cab companies have to pay
their bills with less revenue coming in, so they need to try to
get every ride possible. I do not blame the owners of the cab
companies for keeping up with their competitors. But having more
empty cabs sitting in lines doesn't increase the total revenue for
anyone, and that is why there needs to be regulation and
over-sight.
The
Nevada Taxicab Board should give Las Vegas cabbies a break by
temporarily reducing the number of medallions in service, which
would not hurt the total revenue for cab companies. The Nevada
Taxicab Authority and the Nevada Taxicab Board increased the
number of cabs when economic times were at their best, but it
seems as though they do not care about doing the right thing when
it comes to "regulating" and temporarily reducing
medallions, which is supposed to be their job.
Or,
maybe, all the drivers and cab company owners, and state
regulators and taxi enforcement, could all be honest and decent,
and just do the things that they should. But we know that won't
happen.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 18, 2009
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Personal
note from author of this blog:
I wrote the following two articles before
the Nevada Taxicab Board finally decided not to increase the amount
of medallions and not continue to dump extra medallions on Las Vegas streets for
awhile. (NEVADA
TAXICAB BOARD DOES ITS JOB)
In my
opinion, many blog articles such as this one by Las Vegas cabbies
and calls to politicians and the media was the reason that the
Nevada Taxicab Board finally got it. But for how long?
Nevada Taxicab Board and Regulators
of Las Vegas Taxis Are
Asleep
At The Wheel
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 15, 2009
People get in my cab at McCarran Airport and they say, "Wow, the economy in Las Vegas really is bad, isn't it? There is nobody in the airport and there was no line of people waiting for taxis." Everybody else in the world has heard the news about the Las Vegas economy, except for
the Nevada Taxicab Board.
Right now there are more taxi medallions in Las Vegas than there ever have been, as if business was just as good as it was at its peak. And the Nevada Taxicab Authority keeps adding the same amount of extra "special" medallions for every convention as if there are just as many tourists and conventioneers as in past years. Next week there will be over 100 extra taxis on the streets in Las Vegas with special medallions because of the Annual International Builders Show. Have you seen the news? Do you listen to the radio? Have you heard anything about the housing industry and construction lately? Extra cabs for the Builders Show??? Are you out of your mind?
I don't know if the people in charge of the Nevada taxi industry are stupid, apathetic, uninformed, self-serving, crooked, clueless, or maybe a combination of the above, but they are obviously horrible and asleep at the wheel. I have not met any of
them. They should be fired immediately and any money they have received in the past year should be returned with interest. Then they should be put in stockades for a day and every cabbie in Las Vegas should be allowed to throw rotten eggs and tomatoes at them. They are a disgrace. They are lower than low. Governor Gibbons has picked these dummies, so he is to blame. Who is the Administrator dujour at the Nevada Taxicab Authority right now anyway?
The taxi business in Las Vegas is regulated. What that is supposed to mean is that the people in charge of regulating the industry are supposed to know what is going on and react to it and take appropriate action. The Federal Reserve Board regulates interest rates and other things. That means that sometimes they raise rates, and sometimes they lower rates. That is what real regulators do. They are expected to be on top of the situation and make appropriate actions. The Nevada Taxicab Board and the Nevada Taxicab Authority
have gone above and beyond the call of duty in the past when it comes to increasing the number of taxicabs on the streets of Las Vegas during the best of times and during record increases in visitors, making sure that nobody driving a taxi in Las Vegas was able to make
too much. But now, even though every intelligent human being on the planet that has access to CNN or NPR or
Google, knows that the economy in Las Vegas absolutely sucks.
A city that depends on tourists and convention goers, and does not give a damn about the peon taxi drivers who are forced to work 60 hours a week for less than minimum wage, and does not care that cabbies are punished and fined and/or fired by their bosses if they
fail to be rotten crooks who long-haul and rob tourists all day long, is a tourism location that is going to end up having negative repercussions that will linger for a long time. If that city depends on tourism, and these taxi drivers are representatives and faces that serve the public transportation needs in this tourism town, and all the honest and decent workers are forced to quit or get fired or become dirty rotten crooks, then Las Vegas is going to be in sad shape in the future when it comes time to take care of conventioneers and tourists
when the economy improves. The people who should be concerned and responsible and on the ball, and
paid by taxpayers, are messing it all up.
Las Vegas used to be a place where cabbies who were willing to work long hours and put up with all kinds of people, and fight all kinds of traffic, could make enough to pay the bills and save up some money. But now Las Vegas taxi drivers have to be crooks or pimps or drug dealers in order to make more than $1200 a month working 60 hours a week, and Las Vegas taxi drivers have to be crooks and long-haulers and criminals in order to not be labeled by their employers as lazy employees or bad employees. The plight of cabbies in Las Vegas is not
just about the economy; It is not just a bad run of luck; It is a situation where the hard-working individuals driving taxicabs in Las Vegas are allowed to be exploited by some of the taxicab company owners and managers, who have their own government agency to keep anyone from competing with them, and at the same time the so-called "regulators" have their heads up their umbrellas and don't give a damn about Las Vegas or tourists or being decent human beings. This is not about "weathering the storm", it is about being bombed by the enemy and undermined by crooks and thieves. It is about the "professionals" who are appointed and hired to watch the store who are too busy trying to get appointed to a more powerful and prestigious post. Cabbies in Las Vegas are victims of bad politics and rotten politicians and useless bureaucrats. Las Vegas taxi drivers are victims of the system, and nobody cares if they make minimum wage or not, or whether or not drivers get fired or fined or punished for being honest and not being crooks.
Go to Las Vegas Boulevard at 10 pm tonight. There will be no traffic on the strip and you can roll a bowling ball from one end of the boulevard to the other and it won't hit anything. It is like a ghost town. In front of every hotel there is a line of empty cabs that goes as far as it can before spilling off of the hotel property, and then there are lines of empty cabs sitting in the street trying to get into lines at hotels, hoping that there are no Nevada Taxicab Authority Officers or Metro Police Officers near by trying to get their quotas by ticketing cabbies for parking illegally while trying to get into a cab line. Taxis will flock to McCarran Airport empty even
though the wait is 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours, only to be turned away by airport officials and then have to leave empty and find some place in Las Vegas to get in line because the "pit" at the airport is full of empty taxis and there is no room to get in line, even though the "pit" at McCarran was revamped a year ago to accommodate hundreds of additional cabs the last time that the Nevada Taxicab Board decided to flood the streets with more cabs.
Las Vegas cab companies have increased the amount of hours the cabbies have to work in order to try get one last $5 ride out of each driver before they go home worn out and broke and wish they still had their homes and wives and kids that they lost because of the unfair horrible rotten ridiculous policies of the Nevada Taxicab Board.
But the people who regulate taxis in Las Vegas only look at the dysfunctional
Las Vegas Convention Center, which is located in the wrong place and has inadequate access to roads and freeways, and they stand there during rush hour traffic and observe that not enough taxis are coming to pick people up at the Las Vegas Convention Center because all the taxis are stuck in traffic, just like everybody else. And then they decide that Las Vegas needs more taxis on the road, even though the problem is that the Las Vegas Convention Center is located in the wrong place and has poorly planned arterials and intersections surrounding it. It is like trying to put ten people with luggage into one of the Prius taxicabs. Having taxicabs at the Las Vegas Convention Center has nothing to do with the number of taxis in Las Vegas. You can't put a big square in a small hole, and the Las Vegas Convention Center cannot handle traffic for conventions of more than 75,000 people. Maybe they should hire some UNLV students who know math and statistics and capacity engineering.
All I have ever seen or heard that the Nevada Taxicab Board pays attention
to is trying to get taxicabs to the dysfunctional convention
center during rush-hour and to the airport that only has
the capacity to load 30 cabs at a time no matter how many people
are waiting for cabs or how many cabs are waiting to pick up. For that reason, I get to be broke and tired and unhealthy because of those incompetent screwballs.
The people in charge of regulating the taxi business in Las Vegas must not read the news, so I included a few articles for them to look at, if they know how to read. If they knew how to use this Internet thing, they could always do a search on google.com like I did for "Las Vegas Economy".
by
Vegas Taxi Driver
January 15, 2009
Las
Vegas Cabbies Attacked
By Nevada Taxicab Authority Board
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 21, 2009
I don't care
about the fact that nobody cares about me. That is one of the
characteristics of being a cabbie. If I cared about what people
thought about me or if I needed somebody to hold my hand and pat
me on the back, I would never be a cabbie. This is not a career
or a way to get rich or a way to impress people, and being a
cabbie is not for people who are concerned about public image or
esteem. It is just a job to make some money.
Right now I have
to decide whether to gamble on:
>>>hanging
in there for awhile longer and hope things improve and the world
economy gets better, or
>>>becoming
a crook like other Las Vegas cabbies and rob the customers in my
cab by long-hauling them (which I refuse to do), or
>>>quitting
my job and hope that my severe medical problems do not reoccur
while I don't have medical insurance.
It is ridiculous
to make less than $90 gross income including tips and commission
for 12 hours of work like last night. I never thought in my life
that I would be stuck doing something I hate to do, because
there is a world-wide depression going on and nobody has any
money to spend in Las Vegas, and there are no jobs available,
and Las Vegas taxi drivers are under siege by the nonsense at
the Nevada Taxicab Authority Board.
Two years ago I
used to be able to keep up with the average books of the crooks,
but I had to do about five more trips than the average to do
that, and I did that by knowing what times shows got out, and
what time smaller meetings and conventions got out that other
cabbies didn't know about. But for the past six months I am
lucky to book within 25% of what the crooks do, because there
are no rides to find, and I am just lucky to find a place where
I can get in line, and the crooks just work at the airport and
downtown so that they can jerk around unsuspecting tourists by
taking them on long loops before heading them in the direction
of their destination.
Two years ago, about the time Jim Gibbons became the Governor of Nevada, the Nevada Taxicab Authority and Nevada Taxicab Board started adding more and more cabs, because they figured that would get more taxis to facilitate the needs of the dysfunctional Las Vegas Convention Center, which has horrific traffic problems inside and out, and traffic turns to gridlock for miles around the Las Vegas Convention Center whenever a convention gets out. The truth is, if you put one million cabs on the streets in Las Vegas when there are 130,000 people getting out of the Las Vegas Convention Center during regular economic times with normal traffic, there would still be gridlock and the cabs would not be able to get to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
So, my income,
and the incomes of all Las Vegas cabbies, took a big hit. A lot
of good decent and honest cabbies got out because of the low
income, and they were replaced by crooks and thieves, because
they are the only ones who would take this job, because at that
time there were still many other good paying jobs available in
Las Vegas. I decided to stay where I was at, and I figured it
was not going to get better, but I thought it couldn't get
worse.
It did get worse;
much much worse. Now I spend my time all night driving up and
down the Las Vegas strip trying to find someplace I can get in
line without getting a ticket. Sometimes the line of taxis is so
long and takes so long that I forget which hotel I am in line
for. Cabbies have to drive all over Las Vegas trying to find a
place where they can squeeze into the back of a taxi line, and
in many places the only way to get into line where it is legal
to be is by waiting in line on the street or somewhere illegal
where the Nevada Taxicab Authority Officers or Metro Police come
by and ticket cabbies.
This is not just
about the bad economy or slow business, this is about being
exploited and made fools of by the mean and cruel and
irresponsible and disrespectful and inhumane Nevada Taxicab
Board. It would be nice if the taxicab regulators appointed by
Governor Jim Gibbons were decent people and did their job
properly, instead of flooding the streets with extra cabs as if
this was a boom time in Las Vegas.
I used to think
it was the fault of the owners of the Las Vegas cab companies,
but it is really the responsibility of the Nevada Taxicab
Board to have OVERSIGHT and REGULATE and make
sure that there are not so many taxis on the street that it is
impossible to legally get in line.
Last night was a
nightmare and a big waste of time, but I will do it again
tomorrow and until there is a way out of this mess. I remember
about 14 years ago one of the cabbies I worked with had a heart
attack and died in his cab while waiting in line to pick up a
fare. I told myself that I would never work long enough at cab
driving to have that happen to me. Now I wonder.
by Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 21, 2009
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/15/Economist: Las Vegas economy has further to fall...By Brian Wargo
Thu, Jan 15, 2009 (9 a.m.) It’s bad and getting worse. That’s the description of the Las Vegas economy from UNLV economist Keith
Schwer, the director of the Center for Business and Economy.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98240424
NPR December 14, 2008
by Ted Robbins
Listen Now [5 min 8 sec]
The lights are still on, and the slot machines are still clanging, but Las Vegas is taking a hit in this recession. A room that went for $180 a night in October is $99 now. And the hotels that used to go for $99? They, like most of the little guys, are really getting squeezed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98591957
NPR December 22, 2008
By Ted Robbins
Business / Now's The Time To Score In Vegas...The bad economy may have hit Las Vegas hard, but if you have the money, now's the time to visit. Hotel prices are low and shows are offering discounts. We explore strategies for saving big bucks and forgetting one's troubles.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-builders1409jan14
Builders show no jackpot for Las Vegas...Sara K. Clarke - Sentinel Staff Writer
January 14, 2009 Everyone hopes for a little good luck when they go to Las Vegas, but that's apparently not in the cards for this year's mega gathering of the National Association of Home Builders...The trade group's annual International Builders Show, which is setting up shop in Las Vegas next week after four straight years in Orlando, is likely to attract a much smaller crowd than usual...Preliminary figures indicate attendance could be down this year by at least 25 percent from 2008, said Mark
Pursell, senior staff vice president with the NAHB, which organizes the giant trade show and convention.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/nov/07/
economist-las-vegas-economy-stagnant-2010/
Economist: Las Vegas economy stagnant into 2010...Survey shows local business leaders concerned about housing market...Las Vegas Sun
By Brian Wargo
Fri, Nov 7, 2008 (11:51 a.m.) "The Las Vegas economy, which has been in recession since the end of 2007...the weakness should continue into 2010, according to a UNLV economist...majority of local business leaders are pessimistic about any quick recovery of the economy......The Southern Nevada business community is pessimistic about the economy recovering anytime soon, according to the UNLV survey....It revealed that nearly 58 percent of business leaders surveyed said the local economy will be worse in the fourth quarter."
http://newsweek.com/id/135638
Down on Its Luck...Las Vegas used to be a recession-proof oasis. Not anymore.
Economy: Recession Hits Las Vegas, Newsweek Business, Newsweek.com
By Steve Friess, Newsweek Web Exclusive May 5, 2008 | Updated: 1:27 a.m. ET May 7, 2008
"...Las Vegas, the economy of which was once thought to be impervious to the economic swings suffered by the rest of the country. Not anymore. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
(LVCVA), Las Vegas has seen gambling revenues fall only once since 1970: in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks they dropped 1 percent in 2002 from 2001. So far this year they've fallen 4 percent, the number of conventions held has dropped 10.4 percent, and average daily room rates were off 3.8 percent in the first two months of 2008..."
http://usatoday.com/money/markets/2008-05-06-vegas-stocks_N.htm
Weak economy trumps casino stocks - USATODAY.com
Last year, for instance, while the rest of the economy was starting to crack, shares of the largest Las Vegas casino operator, MGM Mirage (MGM), gained 47%, ...
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?s=8772733
Poor Economy Delays Las Vegas Echelon Project...The slumping economy has taken a toll on a massive construction project that was supposed to help boost the Las Vegas economy. Work on the Echelon Hotel- Casino stopped Friday and won't start back up for at least a year...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28469946/
Slump means identity crisis for Las Vegas...Long the embodiment of American confidence, Sin City is now in limbo...The slumping U.S. economy is hitting Las Vegas hard. Many once considered the gambling mecca to be a recession-proof oasis.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Story?id=6209484&page=1
Sands Storm: Las Vegas Giant in Trouble...Las Vegas Sands Corp. Must Raise More Cash to Keep Doing Business; CEO Adelson Has Already Lost Billions...The latest sign that Las Vegas bets are buckling under the tough economy? One of the strip's marquee casino operators is on the ropes...
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2008/nov/13/
our-economy-point-where-its-worth-considering-unco/
Is our economy at the point where it’s worth considering the
UNCONSIDERABLE? If you’ve seen the headlines, you know the story: Nevada, and Las Vegas specifically, is in a dire economic condition. From a nation-leading foreclosure rate to a tourism industry reeling from declining
visitorship; from layoffs on the Strip to a billion-dollar state revenue shortfall that raises the prospect of devastating across-the-board cuts, it’s becoming clear...
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/business/06vegas.html?fta=y
Economic Troubles Affect the Vegas Strip...Gambling revenue and hotel occupancy are down. Resorts are slashing room rates and offering coupons or free nights. Casino operators are firing hundreds of workers, and their stock prices have plummeted since October. Credit is drying up for hotel and condominium projects planned before the slowdown arrived...Even the people still coming to Las Vegas are spending less...
http://www.kxnt.com/pages/3320210.php?
Economy Affecting Las Vegas...The struggling economy is hitting Las Vegas in its main industry — tourism. The number of visitors coming to Vegas has fallen 10% compared to a year ago. It's the largest decline since the weeks immediately after the September 11 attacks...Economists say the downturn this time around is different and will run much deeper. Casino revenues have been down all year as well, with nine straight months of declines...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26422015
Las Vegas Shaken By Economic 'Earthquake'...Thunder rolled across Las Vegas in a sudden downpour Monday, a literal representation of the perfect storm that has rocked Sin City...It turns out Las Vegas isn’t recession proof...
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QUESTIONS
PEOPLE ASK
LAS VEGAS CABBIES
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 17, 2007
There
was a series on HBO called "Taxicab
Confessions" supposedly about what it
is like to be a Las Vegas cabbie. In my
opinion, most of the filming was staged and
bogus. People think that being a Las Vegas
taxi driver is exciting or something, but
for the most part it is routine, structured,
and almost sterile. Some of the other jobs I
have had were much more exciting. For the
most part, being a Las Vegas cabbie is like
operating the train at Disneyland.
Here
are some commonly asked questions:
DO
YOU LIVE IN LAS VEGAS?
No.
But I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express
last night. Of course I live in Las Vegas!
WHERE
DO PEOPLE WHO WORK IN LAS VEGAS LIVE?
Well,
there is a bunker underneath Caesars Palace
where we all sleep. They wake us up and feed
us breakfast and send us to work. Where do
people live in your town?
DO
YOU GAMBLE?
No
I do not. I have moved back and forth
between here and my hometown several times,
and when I was not living here I would visit
Las Vegas with friends and gamble and drink
and take taxis like any other tourist. I
have no interest in casinos while living
here and working as a cabbie. The Strip is
the Disneyland of Las Vegas, and a small
part of Las Vegas. If you drove the train at
Disneyland you would not spend your days off
at Disneyland.
DO
YOU OWN YOUR OWN CAB?
No.
All taxi drivers in Las Vegas are employees.
There are nine taxi companies in Las Vegas
that own all the taxis. All the drivers are
employees of one of those companies. The
rates and rules for taxicabs are regulated
by the Nevada Taxicab Authority which is a
Nevada State law enforcement agency. The
Nevada Taxicab Authority has marked and
unmarked squad cars that are constantly
monitoring taxis to make certain they are
not breaking the rules.
WHERE
DO YOU PICK UP?
Most
taxis in Las Vegas can pick up anywhere. The
name of the game is to get a ride as soon as
possible after dropping off passengers. That
may be the hotel next door or the airport or
downtown. Cabbies have to try and guess
which place is the best place to go to get a
ride quickly. Las Vegas taxi drivers keep
track of what conventions are in town, and
what concerts or boxing matches are
scheduled, and what times shows get over at
various hotels.
Taxis
are unable to get to the Las Vegas
Convention Center when big conventions are
getting out during rush hour traffic, so
most cabbies will not try to get to the Las
Vegas Convention Center even though there
are hundreds of people waiting in line for
taxis. Las Vegas cabbies are straight
commission employees and nobody pays them to
sit empty for half an hour trying to get to
the Las Vegas Convention Center. In fact,
many cabbies in Las Vegas have to pay for
gas, and sitting empty in a traffic jam
costs them money.
Some
of the hotels, such as Venetian and Hard
Rock, are not worth driving to empty to get
a ride, even if they have huge crowds of
people waiting to get a cab. Those places
are dysfunctional when it comes to loading
cabs, and it is better for cabbies to go
elsewhere.
After
midnight there are no cabs dropping off at
McCarran Airport, so the only way to get
cabs at the airport after midnight is for
them to drive there empty. But if the strip
is busy, the cabs are getting reloaded each
time they drop off. Many of the cabbies that
drive empty to pick up at the airport do so
with the hopes of being able to long-haul
customers. I like picking up at the airport
late at night in order to avoid extremely
drunk customers.
Being
a Las Vegas cabbie is mild and relatively
non-eventful. In other American cities
cabbies have to know how to find addresses
spread over hundreds of square miles. They
deal with all kinds of locals and grocery
runs and hospitals and people getting to
work. There are 2 million people living in
the Las Vegas area. About 10% of the taxis
are restricted from picking up on the Strip
or the airport for the sake of locals. For
the rest of the taxis, about 97% of the
business is on the Las Vegas Strip, Downtown
Las Vegas, and McCarran International
Airport. All a Las Vegas cabbie has to know
how to get to the Mirage and the airport.
Once you learn those you can find the rest
of the places easily because they are so
big. In order to become a financial
successful Las Vegas cabbie one needs to
learn how to take people the long way, steal
rides from other cabbies, and turn down
rides that are too short or not profitable.
That is why I am not a financially
successful cabbie. I just do what I am
supposed to and take people the short way.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 17, 2007
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Avoid
Being Long-Hauled By
A
Las Vegas Cabbie
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 15, 2007
I have read numerous articles online about how bad the cabbies are
in Las Vegas. Most of them are written by promoters of limo
companies who recommend you pay three times as much to take a
limousine or town car, or rental car companies.
Don't
allow yourself to be taken in circles and jerked around. Always
ask the driver for an approximate price of how much it will cost
to get to your destination. This rule is true in Las Vegas, and
anywhere in the world you take a taxi; Ask "approximately how
much will it cost?" before you get into the taxi. Cab drivers
who are crooks hate this. If the cabbie won't give you a
satisfactory answer, don't get in the cab and demand another taxi.
If you tell the driver to go any way they want, and do not check
how much it will cost, you just gave the cabbie permission to
long-haul you, and you may end up paying $20 more than if you ask
the driver in advance. If you want the cheapest way, do not say,
"just go the fastest way." To most drivers that means
"Take the freeway, even if it costs $10 more." If you
want a cheap fare, then you say, "please take me the cheapest
way."
Nevada
State Law mandates that taxi drivers take you the most direct way
unless you agree to another way. Given the fact that 90% of taxi
rides in Las Vegas are in the middle of the worst traffic in Las
Vegas, it is often best to take a route that is not the most
direct route, and may cost $2 to $3 more than the most direct
route. However, some drivers will try to get $5 to $10 more out of
each ride. Once again, just get an approximate amount before the
ride begins, and realize that it might be a little more if there
is an accident or something that bottlenecks the best way to go.
The
cost of taking a taxi from one place to another in Las Vegas can
vary by as much as $10.00, depending on traffic. Just because a
road is clear and good one hour, does not mean it is the next
hour. Rush hour, accidents, construction, thousands of employees
getting off work at the same time, and other variables, can turn a
good way to go most of the time, into a nightmare. Just because a
cabbie takes you one way and it is good, does not mean that is
still good two hours later or tomorrow. If five or ten bucks one
way or another matters to you, then Don't take a taxi! Take a city
bus or a shuttle or walk.
Always
let the driver know that you are writing down the number of the
taxi you are riding in. This is something you should always do in
any town. This helps keep the driver honest. Good drivers that do
what they are supposed to the way they are supposed to will not
mind you keeping track of their taxi number. Who knows, you might
even send a letter of commendation to the taxi company. Many cell
phones and wallets get lost in cabs, and people have to find the
taxi company that has their item. Writing down the number of the
taxi makes the search much easier.
Legally,
a Las Vegas taxi cab driver is supposed to take you the most
direct way, unless asked to do otherwise. However, some times the
most direct way can actually cost more, if traffic is heavy, or
there is an accident, or the street is narrowed to one lane
because of the mass amounts of construction. If you have a way you
think is the best, ask the driver if he is going to take you that
way. If not, ask why. If there is a ten-car pile-up on the
freeway, or the rodeo just got over, or there are 150,000 people
at the Las Vegas Convention Center, or it is rush hour, or the
road is down to one lane for construction, those facts might be
important in determining if you get to your destination in 30
minutes or 10 minutes.
Unlike
Chicago or Los Angeles or New York, the freeway is not always the
best way. Sometimes, the roads that go directly behind the casinos
are the best way to go. Sometimes, going down the strip is the
best. At other times, those ways are awful. Getting to a freeway
can cost as much as just getting to your destination. Many times I
have been accused of trying to rack up a high fare by not taking
the freeway, and then the customers were amazed that I got them
back to their hotel just as fast for $10 less than what they paid
going on the freeway.
Some
of the cab companies in Las Vegas put a lot of pressure on their
drivers to long-haul customers and steal rides from other cabbies
and drive fast. Of course, every cab company will say that their
drivers are instructed to follow the law at all times, but some of
them punish drivers for not booking as much as other drivers, even
though they know good and well the other drivers are booking more
by long-hauling customers and stealing rides from other cabbies
and driving fast. Understand that when a Las Vegas cabbie gets mad
about not being able to long-haul a customer, they are probably
worried that they are not booking as much as their co-workers, and
the company they are employed by will not let them drive a good
cab tomorrow, or they might not be allowed to work when business
is good.
Getting
long-hauled by a taxi driver in Las Vegas usually means you end up
paying less than $10 more than the best possible fare under the
best circumstances, and you get to your destination safely either
faster or as fast as going a shorter way. To keep that in
perspective, lets compare how bad that is compared to other ways
you might get ripped off while visiting Las Vegas. Getting
long-hauled by a cabbie in Las Vegas is not as bad as:
- getting ripped
off by an Internet booking website that charges you $50 more for a
hotel room than if you would have called the hotel direct.
- getting ripped
off by a server in a restaurant that adds five more cocktails to
your bill than your party actually received.
- getting ripped
off by an airline that bumps your reservation because they
over-booked the flight, or leaves you sitting in the plane on the
tarmac for hours.
- getting ripped
off by standing in line for the monorail at the Las Vegas
Convention Center only to find out that each time it pulls up it
is already full of people who walked to the Hilton or the Sahara
to board.
- getting ripped
off at a hotel such as the Venetian or the Hard Rock by standing
in an outrageously long taxi line at the same time that the hotel
employees are forcing taxis to leave empty and are loading taxis
as slow as possible in order to try and get you to take a limo so
they can get kick-backs from the limo drivers who over charge you.
- getting ripped
off by a doorperson at a small hotel who tells you they called for
a taxi, but instead they called one of their limo buddies who just
happens to show up and talks you into paying three times as much
as a taxi and gives a kickback to the doorperson who lied to you.
- getting ripped
off by shows that tell you to pick up your tickets two hours
before the show or they will sell your seats and still charge you.
- getting ripped
off by nightclub doorpersons who won't let you get into the
nightclub unless you tip them $100 or are a hot-looking female
wearing next to nothing.
- getting ripped
off by an airline that leaves you waiting for an hour for your
luggage, or loses your luggage.
- getting ripped
off by the city bus that packs people in like sardines and then
makes you stand between sweaty stinky people while the bus is
stuck in gridlock traffic forever.
- getting ripped
off by hotels that put you in a room with no air conditioning or
plumbing that doesn't work or noisy neighbors.
- getting ripped
off by a slot machine that loves to take money from you and
doesn't pay squat.
Certainly
I could come up with a hundred more ways that you could get ripped
off that are worse than getting long-hauled by a taxi driver in
Las Vegas.
One
way to avoid getting ripped off by a cab driver in Las Vegas is to
pay three times as much to take a limo or town-car. Another way to
avoid getting ripped off by a cab driver in Las Vegas is to take a
city bus out of the airport for $1.75 without a transfer. Another
way to avoid getting ripped off by a cab driver in Las Vegas is to
walk.
Funny
how newspaper articles and online blogs don't warn you to not get
ripped off by limo drivers. Unlike cabbies, they are not regulated
and can charge as much as they like. Getting long-hauled by a taxi
driver in Las Vegas usually means you end up paying less than $10
more than the best possible fare under the best circumstances, and
you get to your destination safely either faster or as fast as
going a shorter way. If that is the worst thing that happens to
you on your trip to Las Vegas, thank your lucky stars.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 15, 2007
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Chris
Moneymaker Can Ride
In My Taxi Anytime
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 12, 2007
One of the most common questions I am asked by passengers in my cab is, "Have you ever had anyone famous in your cab?" My answer is always that truly famous people have limousines lined up and go in and out of security entrances.
So last night, which was a miserably slow night for taxicabs in Las Vegas, I took a guy from the airport to the Rio around midnight. I thought that was a good thing because the World Series of Poker is at the Rio and there would be lots of people coming out. I got in line behind some cabs at the back door of the Rio where the WSOP is going on and proceeded to sit there and wait and wait and wait. About 40 minutes later I finally got a ride.
This guy was trying to get in my cab while I was pulling up to where the line is supposed to be. I pulled up to where it was safe for him to get in before letting him in. I apologized to him and explained to him that I needed to pull up before I could let him in. He said he understood and told me he just wanted to "get out of here". I laughed and started driving him to Treasure Island. I asked him how the tournament was going, and he said he got knocked out of the main event. As I do with all my rides, I asked him about how many tournaments he plays a year. He told me about 15 or so. I said that he must be pretty good to play that much. He said it was all he did. I asked him what was the biggest tournament he had ever won, and he said he won the main event of the WSOP in 2003. At that point I didn't know what to ask this guy, so I said, "What's your name?" He answered, "Chris Moneymaker." I was still in the parking lot of the Rio, so I slowed down and turned around to look at him, and there was Chris Moneymaker sitting in the back seat of my cab.
Most of the time I couldn't tell you what the people look like in my cab. I would never be a good expert witness or detective when it comes to identifying or describing people. I can work with somebody for a year and not remember what color their eyes are. If I didn't asked him about his poker career I probably would not have known that Chris Moneymaker was in my cab until he paid me.
I really wanted to know what happened in his recent participation in the CNBC Trading With The Stars contest. He was one of the top contenders until near the end of the contest, and then he finished last. I watch CNBC every day and I was pulling for him. He explained to me that he went fishing for a few days and his trades unraveled. He still raised $5000 for his favorite charity.
Wounded
Warriors.
Now I have had some
wanna-be poker players in my cab that I have seen on TV and on the Internet, but they have all been jerks, and they weren't Chris Moneymaker. I was impressed with the fact that he has good manners (even toward a lowly cabbie who doesn't know who he is) and wasn't tweaked out or pretentious. At the end of the ride I told him I was big fan and told him I would rather have his autograph than the fare. I got his autograph and he handed me the fare which he already had in his hand. That autograph will be worth a lot more after he wins several more big ones, which I know he will.
Thanks Chris. You made my night.
I read online today that Chris Moneymaker had an amazing day of play throughout most of yesterday, but like he told me, the cards just didn't go his way, and he ended up getting knocked out.
Chris Ferguson and Gus Hansen are still in it. Maybe one of them will get in my cab tonight.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
July 12, 2007
For
more info about Chris Moneymaker, go to ChrisMoneymaker.com.
DAY
2B REFINES MAIN EVENT LIST FURTHER-
459 survivors from a starter field of
1303 7/12/07
http://www.online-casinos.com/news/news4954.asp
2007
World Series: ESPN Feature Table with Chris Moneymaker 7/12/07
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/blogs/article/1543
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$890
Million Waste
at
Las Vegas Convention Center
Planned
by Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
May 14, 2007
On May 17th the public will supposedly be heard by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board regarding the proposed $890 million to be spent refurbishing and remodeling the old dysfunctional Las Vegas Convention Center which is located in a bad place for traffic and access. That is a lot of money! Why not build a new convention center in a good place with freeway access and airport access, or let the resorts that raise the money host conventions while the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority uses the money to advertise and get more gamblers and tourists and small business meetings and average sized conventions.
The proposed expenditure to renovate the Las Vegas Convention Center is a ridiculous waste of the money that was raised by Las Vegas resorts. This will be another expensive fiasco and big time loser like the monorail and the Freemont Experience. The Las Vegas City Council has already okayed another $500 million to extend the monorail to the airport, which will not work either. I suspect that the people who are going to profit from the money being spent are probably friends of politicians, which would be okay if the money wasn't being tossed down the drain.
There are some businesses in Las Vegas owned by people who are morally opposed to casinos and gambling, and they want to make as much money as they can by extracting money raised by the resorts with casinos in order to fund their projects. There are also lots of hotels surrounding the Las Vegas Convention Center that do not have casinos, and much of their business is dependent on the Las Vegas Convention Center. My guess is that these non-gaming businesses, along with resorts closest to the Las Vegas Convention Center are more concerned about their own well-being than what is good for Las Vegas.
The "What stays..." slogan and ad campaign was one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. Why isn't the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spending the proposed $890 million on something like that?
According to figures being used to promote this boondoggle, if Las Vegas lost a few of the biggest conventions in the world then the hotel rooms would be empty and the casinos would be bare during the days that those conventions are elsewhere. Figures don't lie, but liars can figure.
Would Las Vegas lose all that much convention business just because the Las Vegas Convention Center lost out on some really big conventions? How many days out of the year does Las Vegas host shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center that have 100,000 or more people? Spending $890 million dollars just to facilitate 40 or 50 days a year when the biggest of the big conventions are in town doesn't even make sense.
There are thousands of conventions per year in Las Vegas. The super big conventions take place during prime convention season, and there are thousands of smaller conventions that need to have their conventions during the same time as the super big conventions. Smaller conventions would certainly replace any big convention that was lost by not having a huge convention facility. There is plenty of convention space at resort properties around Las Vegas, but smaller conventions do not want to have their conventions in Las Vegas at the same time as a super big convention because super big conventions (80,000+) cause traffic and transportation problems, high room rates, and difficulty getting into restaurants and shows.
The analysts and experts say this money has to be spent on the Las Vegas Convention Center or the sky will fall and Las Vegas will become a ghost town. The wonderful thing about the biggest hotels in the world, which just happen to be in Las Vegas, and just happen to have casinos, is they don't have to make $1 off of their rooms and restaurants in order to make a fortune. So, if the average convention visitor spends $1600 on non-gaming, and Joe and Jane Tourist who come here to gamble and have fun only spend $750, who's to say the casinos don't come out ahead with the gamblers instead of business people who are too busy working to play in the casino? Wouldn't it be terrible if hotels had to lower their rates to fill up there rooms so they could make their fortunes off of casinos like they used to in the good old days. (Remember back when Las Vegas was still the number one gambling place in the world?)
The gaming business is the still the most profitable business in Nevada. Let the resorts with casinos take care of getting their own convention business and filling up their rooms, instead of adding to the existing non-functional facility that is poorly located on a lot that has no decent access to freeways.
It is a nightmare to get to the Las Vegas Convention Center to pick up passengers. Taxis and limos who want to pick up at the Las Vegas Convention Center can't even get close to it during rush hour, which just happens to be when the conventions want to end their day. The large casino resorts, however, have taxis and limos bringing in passengers all the time, and that means the people waiting in their cab line have a better chance of getting a cab or limo. But no loaded taxis or limos are going to the Las Vegas Convention Center when a convention is over. Trying to drive to the airport from the Las Vegas Convention Center at the end of a big convention is ridiculous. All the construction workers and service employees and people working in the Hughes Business Center are heading south on Paradise to get to Interstate 215 at the same time conventioneers need to get to the airport. Part of the project includes "78% more taxi space". I assume that means more area for people to stand in line waiting for rush hour traffic to subside so a taxi or two can make it to the Las Vegas Convention Center, as traffic will be way worse than it is now by the time this project is finished.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority should spend the money on something that makes both sense and dollars.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
May 14, 2007
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Blacks Get
A Bad Rap
In
Las Vegas On NBA All-Star Week
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
March 1, 2007
In my opinion, there was a lot of negative publicity about activities in Las Vegas during NBA All-Star week because the 2000 media people had to come up with stories, and because Las Vegas is still a cow-town that doesn't want to see a lot of black people here. Las Vegas needs to grow up and respect all races and cultures that visit and spend money.
Here is what I wrote a few days ago:
The black customers in my cab during NBA All-Star weekend were nice, friendly, fun, and, best of all, good tippers. I am white and over 40 years old. Almost all of my customers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during All-Star weekend were African-American. My tip percentage on those days was way above what I normally get. Maybe that is because I was nice and respectful and did not try to rip them off. My customers told me horror stories about the other cab drivers they had. Many of them asked me for my cell number to call me to come back and get them next time they needed a cab.
I hate working on any 3-day weekend because of bad traffic. Every 3-day weekend is an opportunity for everyone who lives in Los Angeles and southern California to drive their car to Las Vegas. The traffic turns into gridlock until they jam the freeway on Monday heading home. I don't blame them for coming to Las Vegas. If I lived in California I would leave every chance I got, too. However, I was glad that Presidents' Day weekend was also NBA All-Star, because that meant that the hotel rates would be through the roof. That keeps all the cheap families with kids that don't spend money from coming to Las Vegas. I knew that anyone flying in for the weekend and staying on the strip had to have money. I don't care about the color of my customers' skin; I do care about how much money they have and whether or not they are spenders and tippers.
It is unfortunate that the visitors who flew into Vegas for NBA All-Star had to put up with horrible traffic conditions. Those traffic conditions had nothing to do with NBA All-Star. The traffic was just as bad during the All-Star game as it was during the rest of the weekend, which proves that the bad traffic was not caused by the game. The traffic is awful anytime Californians have enough time to drive here. Most of the 2 million residents living in the Las Vegas area are from California, and their friends all come to visit them, and where do you think they drive their cars when the sun goes down?
On Thursday, Feb 15th, I went online and found as much info as I could about the various Hip Hop and Rap parties going on at the different clubs in town. I printed them up and gave copies of it to my black customers coming into McCarran Airport for the weekend. I was amazed on Thursday and Friday that the taxi line at the airport was more than half African-Americans. Unlike other drivers who don't like black customers, I was glad to see diversity in Las Vegas, and knew these people had spent a lot of money to come here. I joked with them and treated them like VIPs in my cab. I got $10 and $20 tips all night long.
It would be interesting to see the revenues that were taken in by hotels and nightclubs and limo companies this year compared to Presidents' Day weekend last year.
I am not naive. I knew that with so many celebrities and all-night parties that there were going to be fights and problems and probably shootings; not because of all the black people, but because that is what happens when you get large crowds of people together drinking all night long. What do you think Las Vegas is? Did you watch the movie "Casino"? According to the Las Vegas Review Journal there were 117 gang-related shootings during the first five months of last year.
There were three shootings during NBA All-Star weekend. The shooting at Minxx Gentlemen's Club was tragic, but it could hardly be blamed on NBA All-Star. The club did not have a lot of promotion for their party, and did not have police protection lined up like other events. The other two shootings could have occurred on any given weekend in Las Vegas. One of those shootings was in an old strip mall across the street from the closed and boarded-up Stardust - hardly where most Las Vegas visitors want to hang out on Friday night. With a town full of NBA stars, NFL stars, movie stars, music stars, and 2000 people from the media, I would say it was a better than expected weekend.
Then there were the 362 arrests. How many arrests do you think there usually are? I have heard there are 200 arrests on a normal weekend in Las Vegas. Do you think that people who usually are in Las Vegas go to bed at 10pm and don't drink? In the last 10 years all the big casinos in Las Vegas have put in expensive nightclubs for people to stay up drinking and partying all night long. All of these nightclubs were fighting to line up the biggest names and best music venues for NBA All-Star weekend, because they knew they were going to make big money off of this crowd. Do you blame the crowd or the clubs? The people partying inside Wynn and Palms and Mirage and Aladdin and MGM were there because the clubs wanted them to be there.
A while back I heard a radio interview of a former Sheriff in Las Vegas about mob beatings and violent robberies and shootings in Las Vegas, and he said that these people are obviously "not listening to country music". The first bar I was in where I saw security guards wearing head-sets and walkie-talkies to let each other know where the fights were breaking out, was a big country bar in Kansas City. You could stand at the back of the bar and watch two or three brawls going on at once. There were no black customers there and nobody had heard of hip hop.
The weekend after NBA All-Star weekend I only had one ride with black passengers. It was a black couple that was very nice and tipped me well. Most of my customers were snobbish stuck-up lousy tippers. I wished the NBA All-Star crowd was here.
Before the NBA All-Star weekend began, I heard cab drivers talking to each other about how bad it was going to be because of the African-Americans coming to town. I am sure that many restaurant managers and casino workers and newscasters thought the same thing. It is a shame that in 2007 in Las Vegas people are still prejudged by the color of their skin.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
March 1, 2007
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Buffets
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Las
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Las
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LAS
VEGAS TAXI DRIVER BLOG ARTICLES:
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
LAS
VEGAS TRIPS FOR BAILED OUT CORPORATIONS FEBRUARY
13, 2009
MAJOR
LANE CLOSURES IN LAS VEGAS GOING FORWARD
FEBRUARY 13, 2009
SOME
LAS VEGAS TAXICAB COMPANIES PRESSURE CABBIES TO RIP OFF TOURISTS
FEBRUARY 6, 2009
LAS
VEGAS TAXICAB OWNERS GET HIT HARD BY RECESSION
FEBRUARY 2, 2009
NEVADA
TAXICAB BOARD DOES ITS JOB FEBRUARY
2, 2009
AVOID
BEING LONG-HAULED BY A TAXI DRIVER JULY
15, 2007
Las
vegas airport tunnel Taxi Rides - Which route to take? JANUARY
19, 2009
Las
vegas economy hits cabbies hard JANUARY
18, 2009
QUESTIONS
PEOPLE ASK LAS VEGAS CABBIES JULY
17, 2007
Chris
Moneymaker Can Ride In My Taxi Anytime JULY
12, 2007
i
hate cab driving october 2,
2006
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
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Las Vegas Monorail to Airport
Big Waste, Won't Work
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
February 26, 2007
Of course, that is what a cab driver would say! Well, I guarantee you I will not be driving a cab by the time the monorail extends to McCarran. No matter how stupid it is and no matter how much of a failure it turns out to be, I am sure it will transpire because of politics in Las Vegas. This is the monorail that is currently losing over $10 million annually now, after costing $650 million to build. The enthusiastic articles about how wonderful this proposal are void of real facts.
The current monorail has not delivered as promised, and now they want to extend it in the wrong direction...
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MOMMAS DON'T LET YOUR BABIES
GROW UP TO BE CABBIES
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 27, 2007
Why should a Las Vegas cabbie be able to make a decent living, or an honest day's pay for an honest day's work? Because the lives of tourists are at stake, and because driving a taxi is a very dangerous and risky job.
The Nevada Taxicab Authority and the Las Convention Visitors Authority should care about the income and well being of honest decent cab drivers, and should see the importance of good honest decent drivers in Las Vegas being able to make a decent living. But their recent policies have indicated that they
don't really care about Las Vegas and what is good for Las Vegas. Most cab drivers who go to work for a cab company in Las Vegas are forced to work 60 hours a week or more, even if they have years of experience working as a cab driver in Las Vegas. Any cab company they go to work for is going to require them to work at least five shifts at
11 to 12 hours a shift. And new drivers are only allowed to have days off that are the best business days. So, if a driver wants to work the best shifts for making money, they must work on their days off. If an employee goes to work at a regular job at $10.00 and hour, and works 60 hours in a week, they get a gross pay of $700. If a cab driver goes to work for one of the cab companies, and honestly does not long-haul or rip off customers, they
may not make that much. Ten years ago, a new cab driver who was honest and did not long-haul customers, could easily make more than that. Las Vegas cabbies should make at least the equivalent of an employee working for $10.00 per hour.
Ten years ago Las Vegas cabbies made more money per hour worked then they do now. Ten years ago it cost a lot less to live in Las Vegas. Ten years ago tips were a lot better than they are now, because most of the tourists who visited Las Vegas came here to gamble and have fun and lived in The United States and understood what a tip is, and appreciated good service and a friendly proficient cab driver. Many of the foreigners who visit Las Vegas today live in countries where tipping is unheard of and even considered an insult. Many of the conventioneers who visit Las Vegas do not want to be here, but their company forced them to attend a Las Vegas convention, and they are not in a tipping mood (and probably never tip anybody anyway). Many employees who travel and get reimbursed for expenses do not tip, and yet they report to their company that they did tip, so they can come out ahead when being reimbursed. These people do not tip food servers or door-persons or valet or drivers. The IRS robs all the service employees in Las Vegas by making them pay taxes on tips they do not make.
Las Vegas cab drivers are straight commission employees with none of the benefits associated with straight commission jobs and all of the bad associated with employment. The administrators and employees of the Nevada Taxicab Authority have safe jobs with guaranteed pay and benefits. The message that they do not care about the incomes of Las Vegas cabbies has been heard. The Nevada Taxicab Authority has made it clear that they do not care whether or not Las Vegas cab drivers get paid for what they do. Cab drivers are making a lot less money this year than they did last year, thanks to the
Nevada Taxicab Authority.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
January 27, 2007
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LAS
VEGAS TAXI DRIVER BLOG ARTICLES:
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
LAS
VEGAS TRIPS FOR BAILED OUT CORPORATIONS FEBRUARY
13, 2009
MAJOR
LANE CLOSURES IN LAS VEGAS GOING FORWARD
FEBRUARY 13, 2009
SOME
LAS VEGAS TAXICAB COMPANIES PRESSURE CABBIES TO RIP OFF TOURISTS
FEBRUARY 6, 2009
LAS
VEGAS TAXICAB OWNERS GET HIT HARD BY RECESSION
FEBRUARY 2, 2009
NEVADA
TAXICAB BOARD DOES ITS JOB FEBRUARY
2, 2009
AVOID
BEING LONG-HAULED BY A TAXI DRIVER JULY
15, 2007
Las
vegas airport tunnel Taxi Rides - Which route to take? JANUARY
19, 2009
Las
vegas economy hits cabbies hard JANUARY
18, 2009
QUESTIONS
PEOPLE ASK LAS VEGAS CABBIES JULY
17, 2007
Chris
Moneymaker Can Ride In My Taxi Anytime JULY
12, 2007
i
hate cab driving october 2,
2006
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
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I
HATE CAB DRIVING
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
October 2, 2006
The
truth is, I despise the job. However, it works for me at this
point and time. I am not critical of those who enjoy the cab
driving, and I have utmost respect for the drivers who have been
driving taxis in Las Vegas for 20 years and more. It is just not
my preference. My goal is to continue learning as much as I can
about web design and e-commerce and digital photography, so that I
can earn enough doing things I enjoy, and not have to drive a cab
any more.
Most people who take taxis in Las Vegas are curious about what it
would be like to be a Las Vegas cab driver. They often have their
own ideas about it being an exciting and dangerous job, based on
what they have seen on television. In honesty, cab drivers in most
other cities have a lot more excitement and danger than Las Vegas
cab drivers, with the exception of bad traffic. Taxi drivers in
Las Vegas spend most of their time hauling tourists and
conventioneers from one major resort to another, or to and from
the airport. Those places have lots of security, and people who
can afford to fly and stay in nice resorts are not usually not
that dangerous and exciting.
I hate the beginning of each one of my shifts, and I am always
glad when it is over. I try to be cordial to my customers. People
who get in my cab assume that I must enjoy it, or I wouldn't be
doing it. The truth is, I hate being employed. This is the closest
thing to being independent and employed that is available to me at
this time. So, no matter how much I hate it, at least I do not
have someone looking over my shoulder every minute of my working
hours.
by
Vegas
Taxi Driver
October 2, 2006
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