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On February 5th, we posted an item about taxis in Los Angeles. The entry inspired a former cab driver to write in and share interesting insights into how the LA cab scene really works. We thought we'd share it with everyone.
As a young former cab driver, and for a year or so one of only a handful of native-English-speaking drivers to prowl the streets of LA, I feel uniquely qualified to comment on this.
Firstly, if a driver is acting dangerously, write down the four-digit number printed on both sides of his taxi. If you want to hurt him financially, call his cab company - they'll "deauthorize" him for a few hours as punishment, meaning he can't take any calls and he has to work late (which may mean he'll work too many hours and kill someone later in a sort of karmic boomerang.) Alternately, you can call the taxi commission in downtown and file a complaint, which will ruin his life, leading to alcoholism, wife-beating and allowing his children to wind up in an orphanage in Calcutta.
Understand that these people are immigrants working long hours for what amounts to about $350 a week. But then bearing that in mind, take this next bit of advice to heart:
When you step into an LA taxi, keep a keen eye on the meter, particularly if you have booze on your breath. Why? Because the cabs in this town are owned and controlled by the Russian mob. Frequently, your driver is a Russian who has been brought over by them in a sort of indentured servitude: They give him a few bucks for food and let him a corner of a room in one of their apartment blocks, and he drives for them 16 hours a day, every day, for 3 or 4 years until he's released and his family is brought over.
To increase the mob's take, they will lie, cheat and steal. The taxi meters in LA are checked every 6 months at special meter-shops regulated by the California Dept. of Agriculture. These meter-shops, however, are owned by the same mob that owns the cab companies (Checker, United and Yellow -- Bell is a feudal system controlled partly by Russians and partly by Mexicans, and is not as apt or able to cheat as they use older-style meters.) So for a $50 fee to the driver, the crooked meter-shop will "check" your meter, officially report that it's okay, and then re-rig it with a remote-controlled sensor. It sounds advanced, but the way it works is simple. The driver has a small remote -- like a garage-door opener -- in his left pocket. When he sees the customer is distracted, drunk, or simply looking out the window, he presses the button: The meter speeds up, running way ahead, returning to normal whenever the driver presses the button again.
This is what taxi drivers in LA refer to as, "the secrets." As in, "Oh, you didn't make any money today? Don't you know the secrets?"
So -- obviously I'm submitting this anonymously, out of fear of retribution (I left off driving cab after a boss threatened to cut my fingers off.)
Just understand that your average LA cab driver -- quite different from the NY cabbie -- lives a life of subhuman misery and poverty the likes of which you can barely imagine.
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very interesting article. I wonder if it applies to limos as well and what is being done to fix the situation?
Yes once a cab ride from hollywood to west hollywood cost 10 dollars. another time 30. WTF? no traffic each time. I also hate when you have to tell the cab driver HOW TO GET THERE. morons.
From the writer of the 2nd cab article:
West Hollywood has a more expensive rate than LA, half again as much. (Many drivers cheat by running West Hollywood rates in trips originating from LA, too. Some even run a "third rate," a meter setting that runs two or even three times faster than normal. Interestingly, anything faster than three times normal is considered too dangerous by most drivers. I had a two for the party girls on the strip, and a three for the frat boys at UCLA.)
I never drove a limo, so I can't say for sure, but I think they keep those guys on a tighter leash.
One last thought, though...LA is a huge city, and most drivers spend a majority of their time in their own small portion of it. There's no way you can memorize the name of every street, or remember all the addressing systems. I hated it when Beverly Hills-bound passengers stressed me for asking "is Bedford after Beverly?" It's not like I live in freakin' Beverly Hills, lady. When I was driving 80 hours a week, I was lucky if I could remember Genessee from Gower.
This article on cab drivers is not 100% true. I have been dribving a cab for 5 years and still am. My personal pqassgers always keep calling me back for LAX trips and vice versa. This guy who wrote this article is full of it. Maybe he was a CROOKED DRIVER, but there are still HONEST and DOWN to Earth ones. It is long hours and 7 days a week. The lease for a CAB is $500.00 a week plus your gas, meals, etc..I have keep my head above water since I have been driving a Cab and I wouldn't want a boss Now. So Don't believe this ex Driver writes, that is why he doesn't even give his name or email addres as he is full of "BS". This is also why he is not driving as he is an A'hole..
This driver's article is full of HOLES, driving for a year and quiting. There are drivers who have been driving for 20-25 years. If we are crooked with fast meters we wouoldn't be on the road, but in Jail. At lot of people look down on cab drivers, but we can go to the most expensive restaurants, hotels or take a vaction anywhere we want. WE have no BIG BOSS, we are our own BOSS. If we want to take a day or a week, no one can say anything. We just do it.This driver must be hurting for liquid cash as he no longer drives and always has cash in his pocket. He is a soar and born loser. He was not made to drive a cab. In the cab business, either you like it and make it or just quit, don't look for a excuses, there are none. There are honest drivers out there believe me. They are everywhere
From the writer of the 2nd article:
Now I'm not trying to defame all cab drivers. Certainly there are honest guys who don't crook their meters. Then again, there are a _lot of drivers_ in the major companies who do. It's true that getting caught cheating can lead to a pretty hefty fine. But the way the remote controls work, LAX inspections (in which the Airport Police or ATS check for a third rate or put the car on rollers to check the speed against the fare) just don't catch a lot of these guys. Sure, and even lots of crooked drivers run sidelines in regular customers who they don't cheat; many of my best fares were people who would call me. A crooked driver's best bet is still a regular paying fare.
But I'm only scratching the surface of the scams drivers pull, and I'd say most of the guys on the strip are in on one or another of them, whether it's greasing the doorman at a big West Hollywood hotel to lie to passengers about the cost of a trip to LAX (it's supposed to be a flat rate) or paying off the dispatchers to get the best calls.
The "big bosses" don't get involved in lease drivers' lives until something happens, an accident for example. In my case, it wasn't my fault, but the company claimed I owed them money anyhow, and used mafia tactics to try and extract it from me.
The guys who've responded here are most likely just pissed off that I'm exposing these scams. The truth is, the mass of crooked drivers *do* cast a shadow over the entire profession, and I'm not here to defend cab drivers, I'm writing to say Passenger Beware.