If you have been aggravated about what you perceive as high taxi fares, especially in New York
or other major cities, and you think the drivers are making off like
bandits, think again. I have been interviewing cabbies in major cities
across the country about how they get paid and what they make, and the
dollars can be pretty dismal except in rare cases, or where the Taxi
Authority jacks up the rates for special events or major weather
problems like the hurricane in New York on August 27th that never came but the fares were doubled anyway.
I rode with Alvan Narine in Boston the other day. He is an immigrant from Trinidad and came to America thirty-five years ago, when he started driving cabs. Now he owns one at age 71 and drives three 12-hour shifts a week. The other days he rents his cab out to other drivers for $75 to $100 a day. He is responsible for all maintenance and insurance, while the drivers pay for gas.
I asked him what he can make if he has a really good day. His answer was maybe a hundred dollars.
He said a vast majority of drivers are immigrants and need the jobs, so they work like dogs for essentially minimum wage. They can get paid in two different ways: either by a percentage (usually about a third) of the gross fares, or by renting the cab by the day or week and paying all fuel costs.
If they rent, it is usually about $100 per day for their cabs plus fuel. So do the math. If they gross $200 in fares on a good day, they clear maybe $75 when you subtract gasoline costs. Would you like the hassle of driving through heavy traffic all day for eight or nine dollars an hour? Probably not.
The other problem with accepting credit cards, according to many drivers, is the delay in payment by the cab companies. They can take up to three weeks to remit the money back to the driver, according to a cabbie I spoke with in New York. So that means that when you pay by credit card, the driver is not getting the money at the end of the shift, has to pay a premium to get paid, and may have to wait until the cab company gets around to settling with him.
I have a suggestion for cab drivers: hire legal counsel and demand to know what the exact charges are for each kind of credit card that the taxi company must pay, and then tell the company owners that you expect to be paid for what you earned, less their actual costs. The cab companies should be in the business of supporting their employees, not extracting a penalty because their passengers elect to use a credit card rather than paying in cash. In my world, that is called fraud and if all cab drivers complain about it, maybe the companies will get the message.
I rode with Alvan Narine in Boston the other day. He is an immigrant from Trinidad and came to America thirty-five years ago, when he started driving cabs. Now he owns one at age 71 and drives three 12-hour shifts a week. The other days he rents his cab out to other drivers for $75 to $100 a day. He is responsible for all maintenance and insurance, while the drivers pay for gas.
I asked him what he can make if he has a really good day. His answer was maybe a hundred dollars.
He said a vast majority of drivers are immigrants and need the jobs, so they work like dogs for essentially minimum wage. They can get paid in two different ways: either by a percentage (usually about a third) of the gross fares, or by renting the cab by the day or week and paying all fuel costs.
If they rent, it is usually about $100 per day for their cabs plus fuel. So do the math. If they gross $200 in fares on a good day, they clear maybe $75 when you subtract gasoline costs. Would you like the hassle of driving through heavy traffic all day for eight or nine dollars an hour? Probably not.
The other problem with accepting credit cards, according to many drivers, is the delay in payment by the cab companies. They can take up to three weeks to remit the money back to the driver, according to a cabbie I spoke with in New York. So that means that when you pay by credit card, the driver is not getting the money at the end of the shift, has to pay a premium to get paid, and may have to wait until the cab company gets around to settling with him.
I have a suggestion for cab drivers: hire legal counsel and demand to know what the exact charges are for each kind of credit card that the taxi company must pay, and then tell the company owners that you expect to be paid for what you earned, less their actual costs. The cab companies should be in the business of supporting their employees, not extracting a penalty because their passengers elect to use a credit card rather than paying in cash. In my world, that is called fraud and if all cab drivers complain about it, maybe the companies will get the message.
