Tough Times for Taxis

Billy D. Harvey has been driving with the Cambridge Yellow Cab Company for more than six years. The independence of the business and the chance to meet people and be his own boss were what attracted him to the job, he says.

But Harvey says that in the course of the past couple of years he has seen business drop off "dramatically," and has had to deal with more and more non-paying or non-tipping customers.

"Every night I have this dream of going to a sporting goods store, buying a gun and shooting myself in the head," Harvey says. "Things just aren't getting any better. People just aren't utilizing taxis like they used to."

Harvey attributes the drop in demand, which he estimates at 30 to 35 percent, to tightening economic conditions which are putting the squeeze on every sector of the nation's work force. He says that although he consistently works 60-hour weeks, he's finding it hard to get by. "You're lucky to get the fare from people now," he says.

Feeling the Pinch

According to Frank Anastasio, chief acting inspector of the Cambridge License Commission, Harvey is just one of close to 700 licensed cabbies in Cambridge who are being forced to fight for fares because of the recession. "Ten years ago there was absolutely no problem," Anastasio says. "The money was out there to be made. We've really started feeling the pinch in the last three years."

Because of the booming national economy which the country enjoyed throughout the 1980s, drivers went from 1981 to March of 1988 without raising their fares, Anastasio says.

But now that a financial downturn has arrived, cabbies are feeling the backlash of that period of prosperity. "When the recession finally hit it really took a bite out of the industry," Anastasio says.

In order to keep their heads above water financially, some drivers lobbied City Hall over the past months for a 10 percent rate increase, which the council granted late last month. But the council's decision provoked controversy among cabbies, some of whom feared the price hike would drive away customers, who are already scarce.

Cambridge taxis presently charge $1 when a passenger enters the cab, $1 for the first one-eighth mile and 25 cents for each subsequent one-eighth mile, making their prices roughly competetive with those of taxis in neighboring cities.

According to Bill Cavellini, who has been cabbying here for 15 years, the dire financial straits drivers have found themselves in lately made a fare increase a necessity.

A typical weekday night last year would have seen a handful of taxis lined up at the Harvard Square taxi stand, Cavellini observes. But now, he says, that number is doubled. "The economic downturn is generally felt in the taxi industry and the restaurant industry first, and this was true in this case," he says.

Airport Connections

Norm Roy, general sales manager at the Checker Cab Company, says the recession is hitting drivers particularly hard in its corporate and tourist aspects: the sense of financial restraint infecting the nation has resulted in less air travel and hotel usage for work and for pleasure, lopping off a significant chunk of taxi business.

"Even if they themselves are not economically bothered, they wonder if they should pull their heads in," Roy says of the usual cab customers.

"It's busy at rush hour, but then it's always going to be busy," he adds. "I'm talking about business in general. When it's slow, it's really slow."

The winter months are traditionally the most profitable for cabbies on the East Coast, when inclement conditions keep walkers off the streets. "We do the opposite of what the squirrels do. We save in the winter to make it through the summer," Cavellini says.

But Roy says that recently, many of these winter-only users--the "fair weather walkers," as he calls them--have been abandoning taxi services altogether, dealing yet another blow to local cabbies.

And according to Ambassador Radio Service President Tom R. Cromwell, this blow is so severe that even the recent five to eight percent increase in the number of phone requests for cabs has not been enough to keep Cambridge drivers in the black.

According to six-year driver and former president of the Cambridge Taxi Association Neil A. Lahaie, a cabbie working 60-hour weeks can hope for a monthly salary of sometimes as much as $3000 when taxis are in demand. When business is as slow as it has been recently, however, a cabbie can't expect to pull in more than $1500--slightly more than a minimum wage earner would make for a similar time commitment, he adds.

"It's getting very, very tough to maintain an even keel here," says Lahaie. "[Drivers] just want to get the cabs out there as much as they can. There's no such thing as a 40-hour week."

It's a Living

The city's taxi industry is centered around four main cab dispatchers, which own or provide radio dispatch service to the 248 medallions that work the city. But according to Cavellini, the large fleets of company-owned taxis which still patrol the streets of metropolises like Boston and New York have become a part of Cambridge history in the past decade, as drivers work to reap more financial gains through individual ownership.

The Yellow and Ambassador services owned by the Brattle Cab company, and the primarily Haitian Union Taxi company, for example, simply hook up drivers with passengers via radio for a monthly fee. Only Cambridge's Checkered Cab Company has charge of its own taxis, and even of those, about half belong to their drivers.

Increased individual ownership has "changed the face of the industry," Cavellini says, by decreasing the number of student and part-time drivers in the field and thereby creating a more static cabbie pool.

"The common understanding in the public is that taxi driving is an entry-level profession, where recent entries to the country are found," Cavellini says, explaining the job's appeal to immigrants in particular.

Forty to 45 percent of Cambridge cabbies are minorities, according to Cavellini. Women drivers comprise a far smaller percentage--six work the night shift, and 30 or so go out during the day.

The entry-level perception is not unfounded, and many drivers use the job as a stepping stone, Cavellini explains, adding that in times of fiscal stability, driving a cab is much like other blue-collar occupations.

"You're never going to get rich on it. You're never going to send your kids to college on it," Cavellini says. "It's a living wage."

Freedom and Uncertainty

But unlike some other blue collar jobs, driving taxis has a special appeal. According to Cavellini, most cabbies have something of the gambler in them, and enjoy the freedom and uncertainty inherent in their jobs. "You're outside, you're moving around, you get to feel the pulse of the city," he says.

Lahaie explains that, like many cabbies, he started driving because the job's flexibility allowed him to use it as a part-time stepping stone to bigger and better employment and education opportunities. Lahaie is paying his way through Harvard Extension School.

"It's nice to be your own boss...but it's not something I'd want to do for life," he says.

A Costly Investment

But while many workers in search of a reasonable salary and a flexible schedule have chosen to cabby for a living, today that option is not as attractive as it once was. The cost-benefit scale has swung against drivers, as fixed expenses that once seemed reasonable when balanced against longterm pay-offs are becoming increasingly unwieldy.

For drivers to operate legally, they must first incur the large expense of buying a cab and its accompanying medallion, which generally goes for between $60,000 and $70,000. The medallion is the registration placard from the city which licenses the vehicle for operation as a taxi.

Cabs and medallions are usualy viewed by drivers and banks as a good investment, Lahaie says. Once an owner finishes payment on a cab he or she can operate at a significantly greater profit, Lahaie exlains.

But despite their potential down-the-road profit opportunities, these initial costs are high for a worker in today's fiscal climate, especially in light of the steep increase in the price of medallions from $10,000 a decade ago.

Indeed, Cromwell says medallions and taxis are no longer the hot property that they once were. This fall it's a buyer's market for taxi-cabs, he says, explaining that workers are searching for shortterm employment to last them until the economy bottoms out as opposed to the long-term commitment that buying a cab would necessitate.

"A taxi driver's costs are all fixed, so when he loses a little bit of revenue he loses a lot of profit," Cromwell explains.

Despite all drivers do to get out on the streets and make a living, Cavellini echoes, "they're not making enough to pay their expenses."

Physical Danger

In addition to putting workers in a precarious financial position, the cab industry can subject its drivers to physical danger as well, Cavellini says. Although he does not know of any actual murders of Cambridge drivers during his tenure, Cavellini says the spectre is always there, and armed robbery by passengers is relatively common.

"When you drive a cab you take a chance with your life more than in almost any other profession other than being in the military or police," Cavellini says. "It takes a certain kind of personality."

Roy says that during his five years in the business he has become very attuned to the possibility of physical confrontation. "If you drive a cab long enough you have almost a second nature...it's almost as if God whispers in your ear and tells you something's wrong," he says.

For example, Roy says, he once picked up a small group of people whom he felt were menacing him. When he dropped them off at the address they had given, to his relief the passengers ran off without paying instead of assaulting him. "There's something wrong with your value system if you're happy you're ripped off rather than lose your life," Roy says. "You're constantly on edge."

As the economy continues to deteriorate and some of their co-workers look to get out of the business altogether, most cabbies do not see their prospects in an optimistic light. Still, a small minority retain hope for the future, when, they say, renewed financial stability will put them and their taxis back in gear. Cromwell counts himself in this group.

"The average taxi driver's really hurting right now," Cromwell admits, but adds he is hopeful that "things will improve by next fall."