MRS. DC CAB RIDER

"Yes, I am still here. And still riding in cabs (far less often, and for far more money, more on that later). As of almost a year ago, you can now call me Mrs. DC Cab Rider, but for ease of use reasons, I will continue to use my maiden name. A new job, a wedding (note to prospective brides, courthouse weddings rule! You still get all the gifts and you don't spend your life savings on a silly party), and other life changes. But still in DC.

And that brings me to riding cabs. The cost when I started blogging for a cab from home to downtown was $12. Remember the Zone System? So then cabs got meters and a price raise. My cost went up to $17. To save that $5 I rode fewer cabs. And as a result drivers screamed poverty (really? a raise = poverty?) and got another raise. Now my cost is $25 on good days. I've broken the $30 barrier twice. Drivers are now bitching to me that they can't charge extra for more passengers. They don't bitch about it long because I hit them with the "are you NUTS?!! I'm screwed at these prices and you're bitching about this 2nd raise?"

Have you heard about Uber? I have. I like Uber. I use Uber. It's about the same cost, but without the feeling that I'm being played. More down the road when I'm not pissed off (yeah, had a $34 cab ride today - so venting)."

That was a post from the blogger "DC Cab Rider". I like this broad even though she exaggerates shit in a funny and sarcastic way in most of her writings. But her claim that her cab ride rose to $25 or more is more than exaggeration, in fact it's more like on the bull-shit side. I know that she lives in Cleveland Park and it used to be a 3 zones fare that used to cost $12 including the gas surcharge, but I don't how she claims to pay $25 to $34 for a 3 mile ride maybe 4miles to downtown? Unless she is tipping drivers 100%-200% !

There is a bartender with one arm that I give a ride to from Cleveland Park to Lincoln Park on the south east side, which is much further away from downtown and his tab is usually comes out to be $17 or less. For some reason people tend to exaggerate their bad experiences with cab drivers, maybe "DC Cab Rider" will explain to us why?

By the way congrats to the blogger, she got married recently!!! I wish her well and I hope she calms down and gets laid a lot and make a lot of cab riding babies.

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie

DC TAXI FARE CALCULATOR

For some of you retards who is on budget, I found this cab fare calculator application the most accurate for your cab ride. The site did not update our ex mayor Comrade Fenty's $19 maximum fare with in the District of Columbia bull-shit yet, but it does the calculation almost accurately.

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie.

TIM DAY FOR WARD FIVE COUNCIL SEAT

The editorial board of The Diary of Mad DC Cabbie is endorsing candidate Tim Day who is running for ward 5 special election to fill the seat of the disgraced and convicted ex councilman Harry Thomas Jr.

I have met Tim few times around the Washington volunteer circles, he is a good guy and he is the main reason why Harry Thomas Jr is prison bound now. He didn't let the theft story die by questioning and investigating the illegal activities of Harry Thomas Jr's non-profit organization. He deserves the chance to represent Ward 5, If I lived in that section of the city I would vote for him, even though I have never voted for a republican in my life.  We need more republicans like him who aren't right-wing whack jobs if we desire a functioning multiparty democracy in America.

If you are fan of this blog and live in ward 5, please support Tim Day. Check out his website to see for yourself on what he is up to and let me give a glimpse on what he stands for.

"....I’d argue that the residents of DC functions for the government. Our low test scores equates to more Federal grants for the DC government. Our City’s high unemployment rates, income gaps, and welfare mean more Federal dollars for the DC government. Keeping residents poor and uneducated is DC’s business model to raise revenue and it is a bad business model.

As an accountant who has help many businesses and non-profits for decades to grow to the point of employing many, you can trust that my business plan for DC and Ward 5 will grow the economy and increase employment, while supporting our most vulnerable residents and small businesses.

As a member of Council I would immediately designate a dedicated Ward 5 representative to the DCRA. This representative would act as a direct liaison between Ward 5 residents and the DCRA.  This individual would train and assist residents with starting their own business and walk them through all DCRA requirements.  Additionally, I would implement a small business training program for residents to create their business from concept to implementation.  While assisting business entrepreneurs with the current requirements, I would be working to streamline the current process by reducing requirements and fees for small business start-ups..."

How could you disagree with that?

Please don't forget the homeless, Tim Day didn't.

Mad Cabbie.

HARRY THE THIEF JR

Inmate No. 31866-016 Harry Thomas Jr  please stand up! Yes you, both hands up beeyach!!!

"Mad Cabbie, why beat up a nigger while he is down man? Listen Harry, don't worry about Mad cabbie, he is just a big loud mouth. I will be your BFF, I will have my hairy chest ready for you to cry on. I will hold you and squeeze your nice round buttocks with my big hands to make you feel comfortable and relaxed. Don't worry, no nigger is going to fuck with you, I got your back and a little below.

Your future cell-mate,

Leroy "The Big Shaft" Jackson.

Inmate No. 69696-969" 

This is getting out of hand folks, who let this convicted felon from jail write on my blog? I'm going to have to check with the blogspot people.

I know that councilman Harry Thomas Jr almost put independent DC cabdrivers like myself out of business by introducing a phony bill that favored big companies that would allow him to do back-door deals. But at the same time I feel bad for his family, unfortunately karma is a bitch Harry, you should have thought about the aftermath of your greedily theft of $300,000 from the kids you supposed to help.

".....and tell Harry to bring lots of K-Y Jelly, I heard they are on sale at......"

Let me end this post man, this guy is butting in and annoying me.

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie.

CAB PROBLEMS AT UNION STATION

Robert Samuels of the Washington Post wrote a great article on what some late night passengers at Union Station have to go through just to get a ride home. Mr. Samuels did his home work and wrote a well articulated piece about the problem, unlike his colleague Petula "all you can eat" Dvorak's poor yapping.

I drive at night and from time to time I work at Union Station when it is busy. What I witness at the station when ever there is a big line is really embarrassing, drivers speeding off when they learn the first person in line is a black guy, refusing to drive a passenger to a place they don't like, cherry picking their pickups and so on and so on. I have been a night driver for years and this problem is nothing new, but one should ask why do these problems happen mostly at night? Two things: 1- Half of the cab fleet during the night are illegal drivers, which means they are not licensed to drive a cab in the District of Columbia. They have nothing to protect if they get caught breaking the law, they get a $250 ticket and they wipe their asses with it and come back to hustle the next night. There should be a much stiffer punishment, like hard labor in Siberia or something! 2- The so called hack-inspectors are fighting the wrong war, instead of really investigating if the presented hack license is legitimate when a cab driver is pulled over, they check if a manifest is filled up, if our socks match, if we are wearing our seat belts and some other bull-shit laws that really don't help and protect the riding public.

The fix of this particular dilemma is simple, have couple of hack-inspectors at the taxi-line, problem solved! Don't tell me that the District of Columbia don't have a few thousand dollars to pay couple of guys to be on duty at the station when ever it is busy. But at the same time hack-inspectors need some more training to do, they need to understand that we the drivers are not the enemy but unfortunately that's how they look at us. Instead of being a team and work on addressing all the issues we encounter, we're playing the cat and mouse game.

For those ass-hole cherry-picking fellow cabbies who are throwing their passengers under the bus when they are in need, I got a message for you, fuck you all. Cab drivers, we are in the business of picking up strangers and drive them where ever shit hole they want to go. When you are in the business of picking strangers at night there is always that chance of dangerous encounter, we knew that when we decided to choose this pathetic career path. Get with program guys, like they say, if it is too hot, get the fuck out of the kitchen......

"Excuse me Mad, you're trying to be a hero you retard! Some thug is going to smoke your ass one of these days if you keep picking up every creep you see on the streets!"

Big deal, I have bunch of under-pants with skid marks that I kept as souvenirs each time I was robbed! Stop worrying man, just live every day as if it's your last day.

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie.      

DEAR PETULA DVORAK

 picture by the Washington Post

No this woman is not competing on the "Biggest Looser", she is columnist Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post. My friend Moi recommended that I read her article which was pretty much a personal attack on DC cab drivers.

"Mad Cabbie, why do you have to post her picture? I can't read this blog and throw up at the same time! I will never read this blog again, you jackass!!!"

You're not the only one bro, just calm down and let me finish writing this post and I have more throwing up to do myself, maybe I will do so in front of 1150 15th Street NW.

Few months ago some retarded old fart called Lynne "The Botox" Breaux, who is the president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington said, “DC is a world-class city with a third-class taxi system.”and Petula Dvorak added by saying:

"....That’s why it’s just kind of fun sometimes to take a cab, when I’m yearning for a trip to Cairo or wanting to relive the memories of a harrowing afternoon in rural China..........The rag-tag band of occasionally wretched cars that make up the taxi fleet in the nation’s capital hiked their rates again on Saturday......."

Listen, if you lived in this city long enough you know damn well that DC cabs in general came a long way and have improved a lot. With in the last ten years the fleets are becoming newer and newer, just go ask the folks at Bill Page Toyota! Hybrid Toyota cars are flying off the shelf, thanks to the Ethiopian cab drivers whom are the majority of cab drivers in this city. More cabs are accepting credit cards, majority of the drivers have driven in Washington for decades with full of experiences, all three major cab companies in DC are all GPS dispatched now and I can go on and on pointing out the improvements. All this said, I agree that there are some scumbag drivers out there who don't give a shit about their taxi operation. Ron Linton is trying to change the status-quo and it takes some time and he doesn't have a good qualified team at the Taxicab Commission to accomplish the tasks anytime soon. I don't necessary agree on all of what he is trying to do but he is doing something about it.

The fare increase is an important start, all the improvements that have been suggested would been impossible without the extra revenue. The fares were slashed by almost 30% in 2008 when they switched to meters and majority of drivers are struggling to survive with those cheap fare rates. Where were the cries for DC cabdrivers when the fares were slashed? And why would any passenger wants a driver who is overworked, underpaid and too tired to drive safely?  All the media coverage is bitching about the 44% increase on the mileage rate, but the math is not that simple folks. I don't have the time to break down the calculation for you but if you throw in the fare slash of 2008 and the extra charges that they have taken away now, the fare increase comes up to a whopping 0.80% per year since 2008! Comprende Petula Dvorak?

I have been to quite a few third world countries including Cairo and Little Rock Arkansas, there is no comparison between the third world and DC cab services like you and  Lynne Breaux claim it to be, it's not even remotely close. Petula, you are a typical ignorant douchebag, if you were trying to be a comedian please don't leave your day-job. Just try to invest five minutes to do a little research before you start typing! I just can't believe you're walking the same halls at the Washington Post with some of the greats like Micheal Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Eugene Robinson and Marc Fisher. Just keep on stealing the pay-checks for the garbage you put on the Post, in the mean while the days of cheap fares to haul your fat ass are OVER!!!

Lynne Breaux, how about addressing issues on some of the rat infested overpriced mediocre DC restaurants? Instead of sticking your wrinkled ass nose in our business, get some real work done.

Let me go throw up now,

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie.

ROMNEY LOOSING THE SUPPORT OF BABBIES

"This guy wants to be the president of the United States? Mom please get me out of here!"

Please don't forget the homeless,

Mad Cabbie.