Is taxi service in Pittsburgh going downhill? (Washington, Huntingdon: lease, hotel)

[I_Like_Spam]

When I was hacking in the 1990's, it seems there were a lot more guys out on the road driving than nowadays.

The drivers for Yellow Cab are all lease drivers, they lease the vehicles from the company and pay a set amount regardless of how little or much they make. The company really has no control over where you drive the vehicle or which fares you accept.

My own technique was I liked to drive at night and take radio calls from people at private homes, offices and hospitals, a lot of folks coming home from work.

Two innovations really would hurt me if I was still driving.

Moving the garage from East Liberty over to the North Side eliminated a lot of cabs from driving through the east end where there is a lot more students and people without cars in need of service. Right now, the cabs are virtually downtown from the minute they drive out of the garage.

The replacement of voice dispatching to computerized dispatching also would hurt my strategy. With voice dispatching, the driver had a better idea whether the fare was a steady rider or a less gang infested area before committing himself to taking the call. The result is that drivers would rather be safe than sorry, and perhaps pass up a trip that the dispatcher would have previously sold them. In addition, with computerized dispatching, a driver can't take another trip until the folks he has in the cab are out.

Example given, I was driving someone from town out to Perry North. When I was well on my way, the dispatcher broadcasted a trip from Kangeroos on McKnight. I took the trip even before I dropped out the Perry trip. That couldn't happen now, and I probably wouldn't even know about the McKnight trip nowadays. (which BTW when out to North Huntingdon, which is a good place to drive at 2 a.m.)

[BettyTheHun]

Hey I Like Spam, that is very interesting. So with computer dispatching, a yellow cab driver is assigned to a patron, no matter where the origin or destination?

I was burned by yellow cab once when I lived in Friendship (and I'm not knocking you or yellow cab per se). I asked for a cab to pick me up at 7am and take me to the airport. It was 7:30 and know one had showed. I called back and the dispatcher said that they put the request over CB and it's up to individual drivers to take the fare or not. So in other words, nothing is gauranteed. I ended up taking the bus.

I've since discovered Classy Cab. I'm told they're more expensive, but they show up. I'd be open to trying yellow cab again if they now automatically assign drivers to patrons.

Oh, do you or other drivers ever pick up people that hail cabs? I tried this when I first moved here and quickly made a fool out of myself.

[ML North]

On thing I'll say is that cab service in downtown seems to be improving. I've had a lot of luck hailing cabs in the Cultural District at virtually any time of day. And with cab stands at the Fairmont and William Penn, it's pretty easy to snag one wherever you are Downtown.

That said, I've had a lot of cab drivers that don't have a clue how to get around (New drivers, I guess?). It's frustrating to have to give a cabby turn by turn directions, or to end up taking a terrible route because they're following a GPS.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by BettyTheHun

Hey I Like Spam, that is very interesting. So with computer dispatching, a yellow cab driver is assigned to a patron, no matter where the origin or destination?

Not quite.

Nowadays, a driver has to punch into the computer that he is willing to take a trip from a certain zone, say zone 507. Zone 507 might include South Squirrel Hill and Glen Hazel projects for example.

If he "signs on" to the zone, and he accepts the trip, he is given the trip if its at the Kane, on Beechwood Blvd or if its a trip originating right in the projects.

Under voice dispatching, the dispatcher would let everyone know that the trip was a Kane trip or a project or private residence trip before they obliged themselves to it.


I haven't driven since the 90's. But I'd pick people up if they hailed- older people, foreigners, people in business attire, but I'd pass up teenagers or individuals that looked like gangbangers without a qualm.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by ML North

On thing I'll say is that cab service in downtown seems to be improving. I've had a lot of luck hailing cabs in the Cultural District at virtually any time of day. And with cab stands at the Fairmont and William Penn, it's pretty easy to snag one wherever you are Downtown.

That said, I've had a lot of cab drivers that don't have a clue how to get around (New drivers, I guess?). It's frustrating to have to give a cabby turn by turn directions, or to end up taking a terrible route because they're following a GPS.

I tried mostly to stay in the east end and pick people up at their homes, but I know even then a lot of drivers liked to play downtown but I knew I could find people and make more money out of the east end hospitals and picking people up in Squirrel or Shadyside.

Maybe its the same now, drivers downtown are just looking for trips to the Promised Land (the airport) and some are directionally challenged otherwise. I knew one driver from west Africa that drove directly to the airport from the garage and took almost exclusively airport trips and figured the passenger would know how to get there if he was going home. He didn't know how to get anywhere. He was sort of out of his wits one night when they gave him a cat to drive to Squirrel Hill at the airport, he stopped in town to get directions from another driver.

[SolitaryThrush]

New cab service: New cab service coming to Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Starting [the 20th], distinctive black-and-white taxis from the Manchester-based company will serve Downtown, Mt. Washington, South Side, North Shore and Oakland, said Jerry Campolongo, director of the Yellow Cab Co., which is a part of Pittsburgh Transportation Group. The company offers taxi, limousine, airport shuttle and charter bus services.
"It's absolutely a good thing, especially for out-of-towners," said Michael Mitcham, manager of the Primanti Bros. restaurant in Market Square.
Mitcham said customers always are asking about cab rides, but it takes so long that restaurant employees typically direct people to taxi stands at either the Wyndham Grand hotel near Point State Park or the Renaissance Hotel on Sixth Street.

Only six now, so not much to write home about.

[Craziaskowboi]

Was taxi service in Pittsburgh ever on a hill to go down in the first place?

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Was taxi service in Pittsburgh ever on a hill to go down in the first place?

One thing is for sure, it can only go up from this point.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by BettyTheHun

I was burned by yellow cab once when I lived in Friendship (and I'm not knocking you or yellow cab per se). I asked for a cab to pick me up at 7am and take me to the airport. It was 7:30 and know one had showed. I called back and the dispatcher said that they put the request over CB and it's up to individual drivers to take the fare or not. So in other words, nothing is gauranteed. I ended up taking the bus.

Same thing happened to us when we lived on South Braddock. We were going to a Penguins game, and called at 1pm to reserve a ride to the game. They told us it was to early to call, and told me to call back an hour before we were ready to leave. We called back at 5:30 and they said within the hour. We ended up taking the bus too. Oh, the cab called and said they were out in front of our place, at 8pm.

I've since discovered Classy Cab. I'm told they're more expensive, but they show up. I'd be open to trying yellow cab again if they now automatically assign drivers to patrons.

They picked us up at CMU and took us to the Convention Center to pick up Mega Bus and were very pleased. They called (imagine that) and said they were on their way, and the driver was very fun to talk with on our way down. I highly recommend Classy Cab.