4 ms·

Since you asked, I find a few things implausible about your story. First, taxi drivers typically work with dispatchers. They aren't scheduling their own calls o

Since you asked, I find a few things implausible about your story. First, taxi drivers typically work with dispatchers. They aren't scheduling their own calls or schedules - because they are busy driving. Second, in the world of "decades ago" we are pre-smartphone. How, exactly, are you going to call up the taxi driver for a chat? And don't you think the taxi driver is going to notice that he has to take a call from the company after every person he drops off there? Taxi drivers drive dozens of people a day, he's supposed to remember or take notes on some random guy? It's also bizarre to me that the company would have a "trusted taxi driver". A trusted driver for executives or something might make sense, but a trusted driver who isn't employed by your organization that you specifically route candidates through? It just doesn't sound like the type of thing that happens much to me. Finally, on the subject of people being randomly rude to taxi drivers, never having been a taxi driver I don't have real first hand information. I did ride a public city bus multiple times a day for years though and the number of people who I witnessed being rude to the driver, who were not visibly drunk or homeless, is zero. It just doesn't fit with my experience of humanity to think that, in a typical daytime taxi ride you're going to get much absurdly inappropriate behavior - i.e behavior that would rise to the level of disqualifying the candidate. Maybe if the taxi driver were a woman I'd believe it, but I bet the vast majority of people would just say where they wanted to go and little else.

lupire 4y ago
Not everyone knows that a private "black car" "car service", which is often a single car and driver, is commonly not called a "taxi".
- Ekaros 4y ago
  I just group all delivery services under taxis. That is not those that are clearly regular bus services. Be it taxi, Uber, lyft, limousine or black car...
omegaham 4y ago
I can't speak for the rest of this story, but I will say that where I live, every taxi driver at the airport is also trying to set up their own "livery service" gig - that is, a group of regulars who frequently use them as their favorite taxi. So the part of "trusted driver" isn't dubious at all - it's totally plausible that a business would keep hiring the same driver on a predictable schedule to take candidates from the airport.
apocolyps6 4y ago
> In the world of "decades ago" we are pre-smartphone. How, exactly, are you going to call up the taxi driver for a chat? People... talked before phones were invented? Why is it so hard to imagine that the guy from the car service you always use might exchange some small talk when he drops someone off? Sometimes a friendly relationship develops between people who regularly interact
stephen_g 4y ago
Definitely was a normal thing in my country (Australia) for many drivers to have a card that you could call them directly. When my father used to commute to another city for a couple of years (mid 2000s), he had happened across a good taxi driver, got his card, and then called him up directly the day before to book the next morning's trip to the airport every week. He knew him by name, and they'd have a chat on the trip. He'd be driving, he'd just take the call on the hands-free. Even a couple of years ago on a business trip to Spain, the guys at the company there had a taxi driver they knew who they got to take me to their facility. Then I just organised with him to pick me up each day at a certain time when I paid. Beats me having to get the hotel or the company to keep having to call for cabs and beats him having to wait for fares. Finally, I'm very surprised that you can't imagine somebody being rude to a low-wage worker...
ungamedplayer 4y ago
Silver taxis in Australia definitely handle direct customer to driver interactions.
Stratoscope 4y ago
About the trusted taxi driver, you would be surprised. Many years ago, in the days before Uber and Lyft, I lived in an apartment complex in Campbell, CA. There was a nice Ethiopian family a couple of units over from me. I would often smell the delicious food they were cooking, and they probably smelled the coffee I would roast in my Gene Cafe. I mostly roasted dry process Ethiopian coffees (and still do). When I had a minor medical procedure scheduled that would require light sedation, I thought to myself, "I need a way to get there and back." I was going to call a regular taxi, and then I realized I'd been seeing this Green Cab parked in our lot a couple of spots over from mine. I had a feeling it might be one of my neighbors, because I'd often seen Ethiopians driving Green Cabs. So I left a note under the windshield wiper: "Hi neighbor! I see you drive a cab. Would you happen to be available on such-and-such a date and time to drive me over to San Jose and then back a couple of hours later? He called, we made arrangements, and we sure had a lot to talk about between Ethiopian coffee and food and life in general. You never know what kind of connection you may make with someone who is "just a taxi driver."
Ekaros 4y ago
Here we are not just talking about any taxi service. But someone who is known and paid to go to airport pick certain people up probably showing a sign or something to indicate to candidate that they are there for them. Includes things like being compensated for any wait time for delays likely. Drop them off at hotel. Go pick from hotel again and then likely deliver to right place in office and even give instructions where to go there. Perfectly sensible service to out-source and something that you want to work each time or have responsibility to arrange someone else to do same thing.
wink 4y ago
When I was living with my parents in the 90s my elderly neighbors had (the wife's sister I think?) come to visit once or twice a month and it was always the same taxi driver, so I don't see how this would have been a problem.
MaxPengwing 4y ago
I work at Salesforce in Dublin. There are a lot of taxi drivers that have personal relationships with people working there. Nothing to the point of having an official relationship, but sales people, TAM, and more that travel a lot but has the office as their "Hub" have one possibly two drivers that they favour. Heck, one of my neighbours is a taxi driver, and Im not in the office very often maybe 1 or 2 days a week, so for me having him drive me is cheaper, faster and less "Viral infectious" than paying for the commute on public transport. I've arranged for him to pick up and deliver everything from people, dry cleaning, and packages in a pinch. One thing about Dublin taxi drivers, they love to chat if given half a chance.
raverbashing 4y ago
It's very common to arrange rides with taxi drivers directly in some contexts: hotels, companies, people who need specific rides, etc (Also it might have been a "car service" and the term taxi was being used a bit liberally there)

lupire 4y ago

Not everyone knows that a private "black car" "car service", which is often a single car and driver, is commonly not called a "taxi".

Ekaros 4y ago
I just group all delivery services under taxis. That is not those that are clearly regular bus services. Be it taxi, Uber, lyft, limousine or black car...

omegaham 4y ago

I can't speak for the rest of this story, but I will say that where I live, every taxi driver at the airport is also trying to set up their own "livery service" gig - that is, a group of regulars who frequently use them as their favorite taxi. So the part of "trusted driver" isn't dubious at all - it's totally plausible that a business would keep hiring the same driver on a predictable schedule to take candidates from the airport.

apocolyps6 4y ago

> In the world of "decades ago" we are pre-smartphone. How, exactly, are you going to call up the taxi driver for a chat? People... talked before phones were invented? Why is it so hard to imagine that the guy from the car service you always use might exchange some small talk when he drops someone off? Sometimes a friendly relationship develops between people who regularly interact

stephen_g 4y ago

Definitely was a normal thing in my country (Australia) for many drivers to have a card that you could call them directly. When my father used to commute to another city for a couple of years (mid 2000s), he had happened across a good taxi driver, got his card, and then called him up directly the day before to book the next morning's trip to the airport every week. He knew him by name, and they'd have a chat on the trip. He'd be driving, he'd just take the call on the hands-free. Even a couple of years ago on a business trip to Spain, the guys at the company there had a taxi driver they knew who they got to take me to their facility. Then I just organised with him to pick me up each day at a certain time when I paid. Beats me having to get the hotel or the company to keep having to call for cabs and beats him having to wait for fares. Finally, I'm very surprised that you can't imagine somebody being rude to a low-wage worker...

ungamedplayer 4y ago

Silver taxis in Australia definitely handle direct customer to driver interactions.

Stratoscope 4y ago

About the trusted taxi driver, you would be surprised. Many years ago, in the days before Uber and Lyft, I lived in an apartment complex in Campbell, CA. There was a nice Ethiopian family a couple of units over from me. I would often smell the delicious food they were cooking, and they probably smelled the coffee I would roast in my Gene Cafe. I mostly roasted dry process Ethiopian coffees (and still do). When I had a minor medical procedure scheduled that would require light sedation, I thought to myself, "I need a way to get there and back." I was going to call a regular taxi, and then I realized I'd been seeing this Green Cab parked in our lot a couple of spots over from mine. I had a feeling it might be one of my neighbors, because I'd often seen Ethiopians driving Green Cabs. So I left a note under the windshield wiper: "Hi neighbor! I see you drive a cab. Would you happen to be available on such-and-such a date and time to drive me over to San Jose and then back a couple of hours later? He called, we made arrangements, and we sure had a lot to talk about between Ethiopian coffee and food and life in general. You never know what kind of connection you may make with someone who is "just a taxi driver."

Ekaros 4y ago

Here we are not just talking about any taxi service. But someone who is known and paid to go to airport pick certain people up probably showing a sign or something to indicate to candidate that they are there for them. Includes things like being compensated for any wait time for delays likely. Drop them off at hotel. Go pick from hotel again and then likely deliver to right place in office and even give instructions where to go there. Perfectly sensible service to out-source and something that you want to work each time or have responsibility to arrange someone else to do same thing.

wink 4y ago

When I was living with my parents in the 90s my elderly neighbors had (the wife's sister I think?) come to visit once or twice a month and it was always the same taxi driver, so I don't see how this would have been a problem.

MaxPengwing 4y ago

I work at Salesforce in Dublin. There are a lot of taxi drivers that have personal relationships with people working there. Nothing to the point of having an official relationship, but sales people, TAM, and more that travel a lot but has the office as their "Hub" have one possibly two drivers that they favour. Heck, one of my neighbours is a taxi driver, and Im not in the office very often maybe 1 or 2 days a week, so for me having him drive me is cheaper, faster and less "Viral infectious" than paying for the commute on public transport. I've arranged for him to pick up and deliver everything from people, dry cleaning, and packages in a pinch. One thing about Dublin taxi drivers, they love to chat if given half a chance.

raverbashing 4y ago

It's very common to arrange rides with taxi drivers directly in some contexts: hotels, companies, people who need specific rides, etc (Also it might have been a "car service" and the term taxi was being used a bit liberally there)