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Taxi!?

By James

The great thing about having a blog is that when you're annoyed by something, you can rant about it in a semi-public forum.

So, that being said, I'm frustrated with taxis in Halifax. I want to start by saying for the most part I've been very impressed with the individual cab drivers in this city. They're friendly and courteous and generally pretty good drivers. The overall system on the otherhand is different.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most regular user of cabs, however, I have used cabs in numerous Canadian Cities and in my experiences, Halifax is by far the worst.

Last night we attended my law firm's Christmas party. It was a big event with almost 500 people attending. Overall it was a really fun night and the live band was great! The firm even supplied Taxi Chits so that people would be able to drink. Great!

It was a busy night in Halifax though. It took me a good 20 minutes of trying to get through with this particular company. The phone lines were simply busy. Luckily I eventually got through and the driver came and we made it to the party just on time.

We decided to leave a little early. The party went until just after one and we decided to head out a little before midnight. I called the company that we had the chits for, and again couldn't get through. I tried for a good 15 minutes and couldn't get through. I tried some other companies as well and eventually after another 10 minutes or so, got through and ordered a cab for James. It never came.

After waiting another half an hour I started calling the companies again but could not get through.

Annoyed, after waiting over an hour at the doors of the hall, I called and woke up a friend to see if he could give us a ride. The annoying thing was that at this point I was completely sober and could have driven home if I had a vehicle.

I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about the taxi licensing system. I also understand that you don't want to have too many licences such that drivers are not able to make a living. However, we were essentially stranded. There was no public transit anywhere near where we were. It was freezing and the gf was wearing a short dress.

I realise that during the busy office Christmas party season cabs will be busy, but in my opinion this was unacceptable.

To begin with, in the larger centers I've lived in, even if there will be an ultra long wait for cabs, you can at least get through on the phone and not get stuck with a constant busy signal.

Secondly, while I realise that cab drivers simply want to make money for the evening, if call for a cab and they ask for your name, you should assume that the driver will come pick up a person with that name. I'm ok with an 'everybody for themselves' system if that's how it's going to be, but in that case don't ask for names.

Finally, now is the time of year when drinking and driving is the biggest problem. Cabs companies and city officials promote taking a cab to and from a function. But if it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a cab or public transit to take you home, then that doesn't really work now does it?

I won't be drinking and driving, but next time I'm going to drive, have my max 2 drinks and not use a cab.

Finally, although I got a bit of an explanation last night, the fact that the cabs in Halifax don't turn off their light when they have a fare is ridiculous. You can never tell if they've got passengers or not so when you're trying to flag them down they tend to speed up to ignore you.

ah, ok, that feels much better.

Full post as published by A New Chapter on December 09, 2007 (boomark / email).