Cab company digs in over driver shields

Deank wrote: I would certainly hate for my doctor to order surgery to remove a growth on my intestines and wake up to see my testicles sitting in a jar on my bedstand.

What makes you think your eyeballs would still be in their sockets?

i have real bad eyes.. no one wants those.. not even to put on a shelf

So.

I came back into town on Saturday at 2:00AM after my flight was delayed for hours in Toronto. I didn't know about the cab situation. Apparently neither did anyone at YWG at 2AM. 25 of us stood around with our bags in the cold, waiting for a cab. About 10 people, over the course of an hour were picked up by rogue cabs willing to go to YWG. The rest of us stood around, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, around 4AM, I got a ride home from the Airport Cops, who played taxi for the suckers who weren't loved enough to be picked up at the airport at 2AM. I was LIVID.

no limos sitting there?

I wonder how often there are passenger jets landing that time of the morning in Winnipeg? I'm surprised actually. I understood due to the airport being in the middle of the city landings that time of day are strictly managed.

Perhaps all the cab drivers were home all tucked in...

actually its the opposite GOM. Since our airport is in the middle of the city we have these stupid laws that force homes in a certain area to be extra insulated and such so that they can take off and land pretty much wherever. For a while we were the only city that way which greatly increased our use as a cargo and passenger hub

There were no limos.
Cab companies were called.
It was technically Friday night so there were clearly cabs out there, since the drunks were getting around somewhere.
Security called for cabs repeatedly and nobody came. We were told that all of the cab companies were boycotting WAA.

Now, I don't recall exactly what my cousin said (a pilot for Air Canada), but I once asked what type of airplane it was flying over my house after midnight routinely that was horribly loud. His response was "those are class 2 aircraft, they don't conform to the same noise reductions as regular passenger aircraft". Basically, at night, the restrictions on these aircraft are LIFTED allowing them to operate.

Sourpuss wrote:Security called for cabs repeatedly and nobody came. We were told that all of the cab companies were boycotting WAA.

Cabs boycotting WAA? If ever there was a use for the Taxi Cab Commission, this would be it. What a horrible welcoming to Winnipeg/Manitoba/Canada if you cannot receive service at our airport!

what a good reason to add 200 new cab licenses to the pool.

heh.. still dont quite understand why we let it get to the point where cabbies are taking out $300,000 loans just to buy the license and then need a car on top of that. (never mind what lunatic bank gives them those loans)

Threaten them with a massive devalue in their license value and they will play whatever game of ball you want them to.

Sourpuss- no cabs at the airport? There is a story there dor The Free Press. Contact them!
Regarding the cabs plastic un-security thingy, I cannot see how that affords the driver much security?

Sourpuss wrote:We were told that all of the cab companies were boycotting WAA.

Very possible. As soon as the WAA heard that taxis were ignoring stop-drive orders the WAA banned those cars. I guess this was their way to retaliate.

As Deank says, add more taxi's to the pool. Add hotel-run vans as well.

Frick Unicity and Duffys. Put them out of business...

wpg_idiot wrote:Now, I don't recall exactly what my cousin said (a pilot for Air Canada), but I once asked what type of airplane it was flying over my house after midnight routinely that was horribly loud. His response was "those are class 2 aircraft, they don't conform to the same noise reductions as regular passenger aircraft". Basically, at night, the restrictions on these aircraft are LIFTED allowing them to operate.

http://www.waa.ca/noiseabatement

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/noise/winnipeg.html

FYI. Hope it clears up some misinformation.

I was in a Duffys cab last week, Friday night (around 1am going home from an evening out) he had the full shield, I asked the driver to trun the heat up a bit, was told that it gets too hot for him in the front.
He also used his hand held phone and ran every stop sign. I didnt feel too safe as his Prius was rattling over every bump and when he actually used the brakes, they seemed to not work too well.
What I cant stand is calling for a cab, either Duffys or Unicity, seems like the use the same dispatch as the recorded message is almost identical. You wait on hold for at least 5 minutes or longer and of course the usual 5-15 minutes standard response as to when they will arrive.
I use cabs a lot and would love to see more on the road, especially cabs that are of a decent size, a prius should not be allowed to have a cab licence.

and yet when Mr suzuki was here it was one of the first things he noticed about our city and was absolutely tickled pink by the fact we had Priuses as taxis

A cabbie is not allowed to be on his cell phone/bluetooth when he has a fare in the back seat. One of the things my son does if he happens to be in a cab and the driver is talking on his cell/bluetooth, he will take a picture/video of the driver talking and then send it in to report the driver. He sends it not only to the cab company but also to the Taxicab Board as well as the police with the cabbie's licence number (which also has to be clearly displayed). He always gets a response from the Taxicab Board and the police, thanking him for the report and the video. He also will not get into a cab if it looks unsafe or has obvious safety issues (lights out, broken fenders, accident damage).

Deank wrote:and yet when Mr suzuki was here it was one of the first things he noticed about our city and was absolutely tickled pink by the fact we had Priuses as taxis

What is he 5' 2"? 140 lbs, of course they would be fine for him, there is no leg room at all for me

heh, my problem is a family of 6 (or even when we were just 5) .. I would call a cab and say. I have 5 people to transport.. I need a van.. okay sir.. yessir.. rightaway... whatever...

And a freakin small car would show up. and the driver would say... oh.. I cant take 5... you need to hire 2 cabs.. to which I would respond.. frick you and I would call the cab company back again and ask them just what the frick their problem was. I requested a van send a fuckin van.

Happened a few times.

All of the above reasons got me to use Ambassador.

One time my flight was delayed twice for over an hour each time, and when I showed up, there was my guy with a big sign and a big smile.

Of cousre I tipped him well, but the point is, I very much doubt that a regular cab would have been as dilligent imo.

Ya, they cost a few bucks more, but it's well worth it.

rosencrentz wrote:Sourpuss- no cabs at the airport? There is a story there dor The Free Press. Contact them!
Regarding the cabs plastic un-security thingy, I cannot see how that affords the driver much security?

I have seriously contemplated it. I have, however, been too busy to action it.

GOM, that's pretty much what the cops and security told me - retalliating against WAA.