And here’s the key quote:
Competition for customers has gotten so fierce that fist-fights have broken out between drivers, he says. The small independents don’t have a central dispatcher, so must depend on capturing airport-bound fares immediately as customers leave their hotels. “They’re desperate for business,” he says of the drivers. “When a fare walks out, there have been fights. Fist-fights. That behavior is not good for Sacramento or for our hospitality industry.”
Independent drivers, Zaido explains, have resisted doing things the city wants them to do because of the costs involved: setting up a dispatch center for independent drivers would eat into their income, he says, which can be as little as $50 a day.
So this is a terrible system. cabbies earn miserable wages because there are so many of them — and yet the ability of the consumer to comparison-shop is limited. Yes, you can call a specific cab company to pick you up, but if you’re at the airport or in the city getting into the next available cab, your ability to choose an English-speaking, clean, and skilled driver is limited — as is the ability of any individual cabbie to distinguish themselves from the competition.
Or am I missing something due to living in the ‘burbs?
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