CABS! Transition the Burgh from an On-Call to a Hailing City (Pittsburgh: leases, taxis)

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by ex-burgher

Can someone tell me what is the best taxi company to use? Son called for one from train station at 11PM, after 20 minutes gave up and took the bus. I don't know which one he called.

The vast majority of the cabs in Pittsburgh are Yellow Cabs.

If you're going to call, the best chance for a pickup is to call Yellow at 412-321-8100.

[heartchya]

The cab situation does stink. I hope this works and we can get more. People have to use them for it to work though.

I will say on NYE though we took the T back to town to the Wood Station and were staying at the Wyndham. One of my friends really could not walk any longer in her shoes. We were lucky to hail a cab. He was on his way elsewhere but said he would drive us to the hotel for free. We were so very thankful and gave him $20 for a 4 minute drive. lol.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by heartchya

The cab situation does stink. I hope this works and we can get more. People have to use them for it to work though.

I believe people will use them if they become known for being reliable. People don't hail cabs because they won't stop. If they manage to catch a driver, he usually tells them no. The cab company needs to get the word out that these cabs can be hailed. That's the only way people will start using them. My neighbors are young adults. There have been times they have asked me to drive them into Southside and drop them off. It's really pathetic what Pittsburgh drinkers have to do to not drink and drive. It shouldn't be this difficult. If Pittsburgh has one of the highest usages of public transportation, I think Pittsburgh could have equal usage of taxis if they became reliable.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by newmansown

I wish that all cabs were being made hailable, not just these special 15. I see this failing because of that.

I agree. 15 is not enough. And they should go anywhere the person wants to go too.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by newmansown

I wish that all cabs were being made hailable, not just these special 15. I see this failing because of that.

All cabs are "hailable" now, some drivers currently will stop for folks hailing cabs.

But in Pittsburgh, drivers find they can't make much money that way, and prefer to wait in front of a hotel, or answer radio calls, build their own clientele who can call them directly or wait out at the airport.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

We'll see how well this works out, but the key is to get the patrons to actually start hailing cabs in sufficient numbers that these 15 new vehicles will be able to provide a living for their drivers.

Yes they will need to market to the Public that Pittsburgh is going "Hail" like the rest of the Big Cities....Gotta make sure the Public understands, probably will also need to train the public to what on and off Lamps mean....

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Would be nice if it works out. I always think Pittsburgh people are just too cheap for that and the ones that can afford a cab are driving a huge SUV for status or whatever that is, but you never know.

Originally Posted by Hopes

I've taken cabs many times. If I miss my bus, I'll walk over to a cab stand. Getting home is more important to me than expense.

It would be nice to hail a cab. We need more than a handful. If there were cabs everywhere, people would use them.

They haven't been reliable enough for people to depend upon them.

Exactly Hopes.....I'm a cab girl myself living in NYC, I like cabs for convenience above anything else..I would love for Pittsburgh to have a robust cabs scene more people would use cab if they're convenient....

No Calling and waiting hours, No "I only do airport runs" type Jerks, No needing to walk to Hotel Stands. Right now in the Burgh cabs are more of Hassle than a Convenience

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I agree. 15 is not enough. And they should go anywhere the person wants to go too.

With how spread out Pittsburgh's entertainment and activity scene is, if cabs were robust and plentiful and full fledge Hailing City, there a lot of $$$$$ that could be made driving a cab. Not everyone would be going XYZ to and from town....

People would be doing Shadyside to L'ville, East Liberty to Greenfield, Northside to Southside, Strip to Oakland...Those are good money trips.

[MathmanMathman]

I don't know if it would work here but when I was in Poland, when it still was Communist, they had Taxi waiting stops. You basically wait there and taxis would check for waiting passengers. Sometimes there would be short line. I don't know if they still do that today.

In Atlanta, there are a lot of taxis you can hail but naturally they bunch in certain areas, namely the hotel/entertainment areas. Taxis also park and wait at transit rail stops. Maybe like New York, Atlanta taxis are driven by foreigners.

[UKyank]

I've personally never had trouble hailing a cab - I've experienced the opposite problem - calling for a cab & having it not show up because it just picked up another passenger en route who hailed it.

I will recommend an app (for the iPhone, not sure what other platforms) called 'Taxi Magic'; I've had a 100% success rate of booking a cab & having it show up promptly with it & has some cool features like showing you on a map where the dispatched cab is going.