My Radio Cab

When did you start and what are your shift hours?
I started driving in the end of 2001. I drove nights for many years but for the last few years I've been driving a 4am to 4pm shift.  As an owner, I pay one payment a week and am free to make my own schedule within that window. I can also take a day off and lease the cab to another driver, a distinct benefit to ownership.

Why become a cab driver?
At first it was simply job, a way to get money while going to school at Portland State, but after a few years it grew on me and I realized the importance of taxi service to the functioning of the city. Getting paid to perform important tasks is fulfilling, so I decided to buy half a cab and commit to at least a few more year.

Is there a rule of thumb on tipping?
It IS a service industry, and I don't think it is a secret that the drivers remember who tips and who doesn't. Tip depending on what you want to be remembered for ;) General rule of thumb: if a driver will get paid more (because of a generous tip) to drive someone else, they usually will opt for the better "paycheck."

How do you fight boredom?
Good question!! Much more downtime in the daytime than night time. One of the things I do to try to limit my downtime is to wait at a taxi stand downtown, so I have a better chance of someone walking up to my cab instead of relying on the computerized dispatch entirely. While hanging out, I spend lots of time on my Android phone, with email, facebook and other social networking. I read occasionally but novels or books that get me involved are not as much fun to read because I have to put them down in a moment’s notice and that can be kind of annoying. Easier to read a paper or something that can be put down and picked up easily. If I have an order, or a passenger, I'm not bored, I'm driving :)

What do cab riders need to stop doing immediately?
Assuming that they are doing me a favor if the meter isn't on. Some riders think that I have to give a certain portion of the meter rate to the company, as in other cities. They think it will "leave more for me." But the less money I bring in, the less money I bring in, simple as that. I have already paid for the privilege to work for the day, all I can get is what I can pull in from my customers, so it really doesn't help me to pay less than the meter rate.

Are Portland cabbies different than those in other cities?
Well, I don't drive anywhere else so I guess Portland has the coolest cabbies. Joking aside, Radio Cab has been good at attracting an interesting, young abd creative pool of lease drivers over the years.

What is the biggest misconception about your job?
That we don't get paid hourly, or salary, or any way besides what is on the meter, and in fact have to pay to work, so yes, we want your money and giving discounts is not as much fun as it  is when you get a paycheck anyway. Just like strippers and hair stylists.

What is your puke plan?
All-weather floor mats that can be easily removed and hosed down. Emergency room puke bags are the best defense, but only if the passenger knows they are going to puke. Best plan? Drive days.

Give us your number one cab story.
I've got to shorten it down for this but here is a re-telling:
My craziest cab story was in about 2005 and started with a super drunk guy, at closing time, at a bar parking lot in Beaverton. He wanted another drink, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He was sure that I knew of all the speakeasies and gambling joints. "You're a cab driver, fer Christ'ssake," he kept saying. "And I don't want to hear any of that casino, La Centre shit." Well, okay.
     
The car was still in park until I figured out where we were going. He wanted me to drive, but I didn't want to drive aimlessly, so he put a $100 bill on the back of the passenger seat and said "you know what this is? This will get you to drive me to a card game."

"Ok," I said and took the bill. "Let's go." We went left. My fare enjoyed the wind. I reminded him that I didn't know where to go. He put another hundred on the seat. I took it. I called a few taxi friends, trying to figure out where I could take this guy for a drink and cards at 3am on a Tuesday.  Nobody had any ideas. I told him so, he gave me another hundred, and kept talking about his glory days on the Avenue, playing dice in the back rooms of juke joints, getting in fights in alleys. So I took the freeway. Let's go to Williams. He hadn't been back to the neighborhood in 30 years, and was pretty shocked at the changes. "Where are all the people?" he kept saying. He was expecting a much different scene. Instead of lively lit-up venues with live jazz or jukeboxes blaring, pool halls and restaurants, we saw empty lots that belonged to the hospital, parking lots, a churcg abd a park. Everything was quiet, no activity, no pedestrians. It was almost 3:30 by then. We were $300 up and he was demanding a dice game. Yes, he admitted that he was lying about cards, "cards is a ladies game," he preferred a good game of dice. "You ever play 4-5-6?" "Nope."  "You'd like it, great game."

We kept driving, and he kept looking out at the dark windows and boarded up properties along Williams. "Maybe that person knows a dice game!" he shouted suddenly. "Let's ask them!" And so we started asking people on the street where we could play cards. If they didn't know, he'd say "well how about dice."
     
Eventually we found a couple guys on MLK near Shaver. They knew of a game going on and hopped right in. I was not okay with it, but my fare was having a great time with a couple possible crack dealers on either side of him in the back seat. They talked about the game, 4-5-6, he was delighted they knew how to play. Rocky, skinny with a goatee and a stocking cap, was telling me where to turn. Steve, muscular and silent behind me, didn't say much until my fare gave them each a twenty to gamble with once we got the dice game. We kept driving until our directions led us to a cul-de-sac, facing a darkened townhouse. "There it is" Rocky said, and got out of the car with Steve.
     
My fare said I didn't have to do it, didn't have to go in with him, but I said I would take care of him. I didn't feel compelled to wait outside, so I said I would go in with him. He knew the danger he was in, he told me that if anything happens, "they want him," so I should run. We went in to what ended up being an empty kitchen/dining room. I stayed at the door while Rocky tried to sell the empty kitchen as an underground gambling den that was waiting on the beer and gamblers but everything would be showing up soon. My fare was unconvinced but didn't say no when Rocky produced some dice and said "let's roll!" as he threw down the twenty my fare gave him.
     
Grumbling, my fare sat on the floor and put down another twenty. They started rolling. Rocky had a way of re-rolling low scoring rolls as if we wouldn't notice, but nobody said anything, and he quickly beat my fare out of the rest of the money in his wallet. Time to go! I was ready. Rocky even asked if he had enough to  pay cab fare, but we said I was covered, and for a moment I felt  threatened, but we left.  My fare laid down on the back seat for the ride home, quiet after thanking me for indulging his desire to "walk on the dark  side," like his Navy days in Tijuana.

I reminded him that he had paid me profusely, and that cab drivers understand the language of cash.

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The White House Blog

Startup Stories: Connecting Cabs and Customers

Posted by Tal Flanchraych on August 03, 2011 at 02:19 AM EDT

To celebrate the first six months of the White House-led Startup America initiative, this week we are highlighting the stories of real entrepreneurs who are creating jobs across the country.

The Startup America initiative aims to create the right policy environment for entrepreneurs to flourish.  For example, the President signed into law a 100% capital gains tax cut for investment in small businesses made throughout 2011. The President’s budget would make this tax incentive permanent.

Taxi drivers in America can spend as much as 57% of their day driving around an empty cab. In most cities and towns, there is almost always an available taxi within an acceptable distance to someone who needs a ride, but the cabs are “out of sight and out of mind,” and, rather than finding one that might be around the corner, people get in their cars and drive, adding to congestion, pollution and the number of intoxicated drivers on the road.  

It makes sense that if drivers were more visible, if potential passengers had the equivalent of x-ray vision to spot and hail cabs from blocks away, drivers would make more money and communities would benefit from improved transit efficiency.  My partners and I spotted an opportunity, and outlined a plan for a company we called Cabulous. Our goal? Putting an end to “invisible taxi drivers” -- and to wasteful inefficiency.

 

Tal Flanchraych and her partners have been able to grow their small company quickly, thanks to the capital gains exclusion in President Obama's 2011 budget.

The timing was fortunate: With emerging GPS and mobile technology it was cheap and easy to create interactive maps that would enable potential customers to view fleets of drivers moving in real time on websites and on smartphone apps. We built a prototype, engaged taxi fleets and constructed an initial business plan. 

Our team (myself and another recent University of Southern California graduate, plus a Geek Squad Customer Service Agent) had come together in the summer of 2008 through UpStart, a program sponsored by Best Buy that asks employees: “How would you change your world if we gave you a chance to run your own business?” Best Buy believes that entrepreneurs can appear anywhere, and the greatest sources of potential entrepreneurship in the world are people already employed by someone else. The question is how best to give them a path from employee to employer.

We joined three other teams for ten weeks of an intensive entrepreneurship program.  Each team of three is given 10 weeks, a very small budget, and accommodation in Los Angeles – which for some of us, was away from friends and family -- for the duration of the project.  We were mentored by some of the company’s top executives and had an incredible amount of access to key members of the management team. 

After 10 productive, educational, and inspiring weeks, we thought the Cabulous project was worthy of becoming an independent business – and so did John Wolpert, the leader of the UpStart Program who eventually became (and still is) Cabulous’ CEO. In 2009, he invested in the project and started the work to turn it into an independent corporation – UpStart Mobile Inc.  Best of all, Best Buy actually gave us all the intellectual property and equity in the company, making it much easier to raise capital. 

By 2010, our team of five launched the first Cabulous service in San Francisco, having raised about $500,000 dollars from a group of investors led by Silicon Valley’s Sand Hill Angels. Today the team has grown well beyond the original group.   

Within that first year, Cabulous had added a second city (San Diego), over 1,000 drivers, 40,000 passengers and served over 100,000 rides. But we needed to grow to meet demand.  The 100% capital gains exclusion was instrumental in convincing investors to increase their investment in the company quickly, enabling us to add customer service, sales, and additional development resources. One investor was quoted as saying, “The tax law is a win-win-win:  investors may receive tax free gains, Cabulous gets to expand quicker, and new jobs are created in the U.S. economy.” 

Today, UpStart Mobile is growing. We are more than doubling the number of employees – all U.S.-based – and now serve 15 fleets in 10 cities here and abroad.  We serve 40,000 rides a month, a number that keeps rising.  Best of all, our drivers report 7-10 additional paying fares a week, which is a significant pay raise in a profession where every fare really counts.

Tal Flanchraych is a co-founder of UpStart Mobile, the creator of Cabulous

See more about Startup America, Economy  

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The MINI Cooper is one of the best investments in the automotive world. After three years, the mighty MINI retains 67 percent of its value.

 

Next to purchasing a home, buying a car is one of the toughest financial decisions a person will ever have to make. And today's topsy-turvy economic climate, which has caused a double-digit dip in new car sales over the past year, makes that decision even more complicated. Regardless, people are still in the market for quality, well-built automobiles to get them to work, the grocery store and the kids' soccer practice. But their buying criteria have changed.

According to Automotive Lease Guide's most recent Automobile Consumer Attitudes Study (ACAS Fall/Winter 2008), 64 percent of respondents intend to buy a vehicle in the next three years. However, consumers want to spend less and test the pre-owned, or used, market more.

As a result, choosing a ride that will maintain a greater amount of its value over the average car ownership period (5 years) is more important than ever.

What Is Depreciation?
The biggest cost of car ownership isn't gas, repairs or that 20-speaker, 1,000-watt sound system installed by the dealer. No, it's depreciation — or a car's decrease in value over time. Depreciation should not only be a crucial factor in a purchase decision but also a determinant of whether you have made a good buying choice these days. It therefore helps to know which vehicles have the best (lowest) depreciation and which have the worst (highest).

Has your car retained its value?

With the help of the folks at ALG, experts in gauging depreciation for the automobile industry, we've compiled this list of vehicles with the best and worst resale values based on their original manufacturer's suggested retail price. The percentage shown represents how much of the original sticker price the vehicle has retained over the last three years.

Best 5 Models in Value Retention

Rank	Brand	Model	3-Year Retention
1.	MINI	Cooper	67%
2.	Toyota	Camry	62%
3.	Toyota	RAV4	62%
4.	Scion	xB	61%
5.	Honda	CR-V	60%

Worst 5 Models in Value Retention

Rank	Brand	Model	3-Year Retention
1.	Ford	Freestar	27%
2.	Ford	**Taurus	28%
3.	Chrysler	Sebring convertible	28%
4.	Chevrolet	Uplander	28%
5.	Pontiac	Montana	30%

_{^{**This does not include the new 2010 Ford Taurus}}

How Is a Car Valuated?
So what makes one car worth nearly 60 percent of its initial purchase price after three years, while another could have fallen to 20 percent of its original sticker price? "There are a number of tangible and some intangible factors that affect valuations," says Eric Ibara, director of market valuation for Kelley Blue Book. "The most obvious is supply versus demand."

If a car is in low supply and high demand, it will probably retain value, and vice versa. "For example, the high fleet penetration of the Ford Taurus has created a huge supply relative to its demand, driving its price down," says Fernando Ubeda, manager of custom modeling and analytics for ALG. Generally, cars that depreciate fastest are sold in large numbers at big discounts to rental-car or corporate fleets, like the aforementioned Taurus. Those flood the used-car market when the fleets replace their vehicles.

This post is part of a longer discussion about the economic utility of buying a used car in today's market. Read the rest by visiting Get Rich Slowly: "Ask the Readers: Is a Used Car Still a Good Deal?"

"Inspiring, entertaining & sometimes humorous tales of the pioneers of Oregon wine, as told by the 2nd generation now producing some of the finest wines in the world."

Jackson Cafazzo makes it look easy! If you'd like to ride with Jackson, call Radio Cab at (503) 227-1212 and ask for a reservation with cab #106. And as always, you can find him on Twitter @JaxiCab