About 90% of taxi cabs in the Washington DC are real hackers hustling the streets with no radio dispatch and I was one of them. But with the gas price going to the roof I made a financial decision to be a radio cab, so I joined my old company DIAMOND CAB, I call it the old cab divers club. Most of the drivers I knew are still here, I drove cabs almost twenty years and some of the drivers still call me a rookie. DIAMOND CAB COMPANY is like the secret society of cab drivers, they have their own circles, they think they are better than the rest of city drivers, in fact they call other cab drivers "gypsy" or "scavengers".There are lot of American cab drivers and I think they are the only cab company with a good number of white drivers and management left in a bushiness dominated by foreigners, story is diamond was the last cab company in Washington DC to accept black drivers and they used to have the exclusive stand at Union station to pick up white passengers only back in the 30's and 40's.
These days the Washington elites call Diamond or Yellow cab, they are the only cab companies in the city where you can call a cab and that there is a real good chance that a cab will show up at your door, not only that, there is a very good chance that your driver speaks English and the driver holds the blue prints of the city road, they know their shit.
So today I am officially a Diamond driver cab # ***, my Chevy with the new company logo and paint. I don't know what to expect tonight, the good thing is I can take radio calls and still hack on the streets. It takes a while to adjust but in the meanwhile I will try to break the DIAMOND code.
10 comments:
I love your blog. When I started Tampa Taxi shots I did a google and could only find the chick from New York. She's a great writer who now has a book deal.
Now I am finding taxi blogs all over the net.
When people get in my cab they always want a "Taxi Cab Confession" story. That is why I started this blog.
I am doing a taxi link on my blog. Yours is on it.
Tony is very much loved here in Tampa. He still has a home here. It was a terrible event with the passing of his son. Everyone here pulls for the Colts.
All joe needs is another John Riggins and "Hail to the Redskins" all over agian.
Why is a radio cab better than not a radio cab during high gas price times?
DC CAB RIDER, you see Diamond and Yellow don't have to drive around all over the city to look for fares, they have radio cab stands all over the city and all we have to do is park the car shut off the engine and wait our turns to get a call from the dispatcher without burning gasoline. On top of that being a radio cab gives me a chance to read while waiting for a call and don't forget we charge extra $2 per fare when you call for a cab. Its a win win deal, the only thing is I can't stand my fellow vetran Diamond drivers :)
I am confused so like you own the actual car (cab) that you drive then right? Then they just painted it?
Or did you previously own your own cab and personal car?
You said you had a Chevrolet is it a Caprice 9c6 or 9c1? Or are those all retired?
I have to belive that crownvictorias are very popular in Washington D.C.
In my town we have a cab garage and they used to run Astrovans and Caprice Lt1's. Well they still rub Astrovans but they got rid of all the Caprices 2 or 3 years ago and replaced them with Crownvictorias.
By the way I like this blog.
Mj06, I drive the 1995 Lt1, in DC the majority of us own our cabs. I bought mine from auction and have it painted at the cab company I joined for free.
Like you said most cabs in DC are crown vics, I am a chevy fan, most cops tell me that the Lt1 is one of the best cruisers put together.
I love it because its heavy and stable, I have about 300,000+ miles on it still runs like a champ.
Thanks Mj.
Hey Thanks Alot man your like the only person who has ever answered my questions. So thats cool you have a Caprice which is good much better then the Impala production years 2000-present.
I like the Caprice and Crown Victoria the best. I hate to keep bombarding you but since you own your cab does that mean there is no cab garage for you or do you just park your cab where you live?
One question as well do you have one of those cool Taxi roof top lights that lights up? The cabs in Cleveland where I am from most companies have them but alot of time I swear they are just for decoration half the time they are always lit or never lit I know if some ones in the cab they are supposed to be unlit but around here they are always on even if the cabs occupied or off because some of the lights you just cant tell I was just wondering if you have one?
Hello Mj, to answer your question, yes I do take my cab home and park it in my driveway. In DC the insurance system is a little bit diffrent than most major U.S cities, its one driver to one cab, there is no shift driving, so everyone renters and owners take their cabs with them when they're done working.
I don't have one of those ad box on top, personaly I don't like them, I like my cab simple and clean. take care!
Thanks man I dont like the AD box either in Cleveland there is one company that has AD boxes and half the cabs in that fleet do not even have ad boxes on them the other half just have ad boxes that say advertise here well actually Medalion Media advertise here. The other companies just have the real basic Taxi light just a small roof top light that says taxi and thats it. The cab garage in my city whene they had Caprices they had Taxi lights real basic no ad box just a Small white light that said Taxi and Markings all over the cabs well I notices when they switched to Crown Victorias they got the Crown Victoria Taxi package but really toned it down no Lights on the roof at all no Markings on the door all they did was put a number behind the head light on the side and put there company name on the back fender and phone number and then a thing in the Window saying leased to driver and that was it for there markings. I gues though your cab has to be painted the Diamond fleet colors though. While I got you, you probably think Im a clown or something but does your cab have aluminum rims because I know those are a big pain in the ass especially for fleet and livery vehical opperators? I saw one cab in Cleveland with Aluminum rims on it, it was part of a fleet they all are it was a Ford Crown Victoria 2001-2004 honney comb grill which I think means its specaial order because the civilian crown vic has the 1998 style grill but this cab had the Ford Crown Victoria Aluminum rims on it now I did see that cab more then once to but I have not seen it again I know they all go with the police style rim with the silver center cap Its rear now to see a Cab or Police car with hubcaps which is kinda sad because I like the police rims I really do but once in a while its nice to see hubcaps to.
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