Something I didn't appreciate until I started taxi driving was Arizona's Zero-tolerance DUI enforcement. A lot of people get screwed with Zero Tolerance (that i

Something I didn't appreciate until I started taxi driving was Arizona's Zero-tolerance DUI enforcement. A lot of people get screwed with Zero Tolerance (that is, they're not actually impaired but get cited for DUI anyways) but it does motivate people who go out drinking to not take a chance. (Edit: there are drunks who desperately need to be taken off the road, and there are people who don't have a drinking problem but get arrested anyways, such as ↓↓↓) One fellow who I think got screwed was the passenger I picked up at the police substation next to the casino near central Scottsdale. He said the cop was right behind him when he pulled into the convenience store on his way home from the bar. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" (asking for a confession). No. Headlights were off. It was twilight, my passenger said he protested that his car had automatic headlights. Cop didn't care. The passenger said he'd had 3 beers during happy hour, & blew a 0.04 (legal) but got arrested anyways. I picked him up at the substation at 1am or 2am iirc. He was looking at a huge bill that might've been avoided if his vehicle's computer was just a little more aggressive about turning the headlights on sooner: Legal fees, tow fees, etc. (A public defender later told me "never take a breathalizer, have them take you for a blood test.") The taxi company I used to drive for had a "free rides back" program. Customers would order their taxi from the bar and request a free ride back from the scheduler. The next day they'd call the company and get a ride from their home back to the bar. It was not frictionless, but it worked pretty well, and people did take advantage of it. Here's a newswire about the company's program (2011) https://www.newswire.com/this-labor-day-discount-cab-offers/127679 https://www.newswire.com/this-labor-day-discount-cab-offers/... Drivers would be paid the standard rate for contract fares: $1.50/mile, less $0.50 for the company's fee iirc (minimum $5.50). There may have been some kind of government grant/program that paid some the program's costs? "Also available to the Phoenix and Tucson areas is the Discount Cab Free Ride Back program. This program gives drivers a free ride back to their own vehicles." - https://arizonaduiservices.com/dui/alternative-driving-services/ https://arizonaduiservices.com/dui/alternative-driving-servi... In the post-Uber downsizing they sold the old taxi yard to Waste Management (for $4 million, iirc). Looking now, the company seems to have given up on "taxis" entirely, and now focuses on other types of transportation. I do see VIP taxi and some of the others are still going. I'm out of the transportation industry now. If you've read this far, I refer you to my recent comment about how taxi driving helped me learn about "talking to strangers": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27835024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27835024