A reporter from a local radio station called. His name was Adam. He was doing an expose on the Boston cab industry and wanted some background information. Would I care to help?"How come I can nev...
It was a lousy night. A Tuesday? A Monday? I dont remember. Just another in a long line of lousy nights. Long hours. Shit money. Maybe it was the holidays. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe Id been drivin...
Finally, proof that reliance on a GPS system really does rot your brain. Researchers at McGill University in Toronto recently reported the results of a test that suggests reliance on GPS navigation m...
I have been away for three weeks. When I arrive at the garage, theres a new addition to the usual potpourri of aromas that greets me. Standing out among the usual mix of grease, solvents, paint, rott...
A recent article in the New York Times ran a story about a 45-year-old Bavarian man who followed the directions of his GPS device onto the wrong end of a highway off-ramp near the town of Onsabruck a...
Its true. Theyre different than us. For example, I was in Augusta, Maine, last week. I picked up a friend at the airport. Tiny airport, especially for a state capital. Just four flights a day to Bost...
We were both parked outside the same apartment building, waiting for our fares. It was warm, with a pleasant breeze, so we both got out and started chatting. He was a little older than me, heavier se...
The century mark: 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The whole city seems to be moving in slow motion, as if it was under water, which is true in a sense. That is, if sweat can be considered water. Even the tra...
There are something like 250 colleges and universities in the Boston area, and in May and June they all let out. The streets are swarming with kids pulling suitcases. Its time to go home for the summ...
He’s an older guy. My age, I guess.“Brighton Center,” he says, slamming the door.It’s clear from the accent that he’s a native. Probably grew up in Brighton.I start the meter, and put the car in gear...
Think of the distance between Boston and Los Angeles (2,605 miles)--a hundred times over. Think of the distance around the Earth--(24,901 miles)--ten times over. Think of the distance to the moon (23...
Jimmy's hard to miss. A big, Boston-Irish guy, he stands more than six feet tall. His bald head is shaved so smooth that it shines like a peeled boiled egg. Usually he's wearing a big, mischievous gr...
I picked up a young man and his girlfriend at a popular restaurant. After getting their destination and punching the meter, I overheard the following:Girlfriend: Well that was interesting.Boyfriend: ...
While sitting on a stand the other night I saw one of the more amusing signs used by a bum:Raising Capital for My Hedge FundLooking for more shares of UBS and AIGRock it like a Morganthau! Maybe he r...
A typical shift is 12 hours, but it's not unusual to drive 14, 16, 18 hours or more, especially if you only do it a couple times a week. This may sound pretty rough, but there's practically no limit ...
Every shift begins with hopes. Hopes for a few airport runs, hopes for steady work, hopes for big tips. In my case, I also hope for a good story. Sometimes the story happens to me, but sometimes the ...
I was stopped at a light. It was late. The bars had all let out, and the only work left was catching the few stragglers and drunks left on the streets. I was debating with myself about whether to cal...
"Didja hear about Billy?," asked Rick."Billy?""You know... older guy, glasses, always wears a baseball cap."Rick could be describing about half the drivers here, including myself."Yeah, well, last we...
Ah Haaaaa Yeah!! It's a gusher.The Red Line has broken down. There's been a power outage, and the fire department is helping evacuate trains. Not only that, it's rush hour. The stations are jammed wi...
I was sitting on the stand, half asleep, when the rear door suddenly opened and someone threw themself onto the back seat. The noise made me nearly jump out of my skin."You're available, aren't you?"...
The true measure of a man's importance I discovered this past week is not what he leaves in life, but the traffic snarl-ups he causes in death. Senator Ted Kennedy and mobster Gennaro "Jerry" Anguilo...
After two months of monsoons and cool temperatures, summer finally arrived in Boston this August. June and July were so wet and awful I practically had mushrooms growing between my toes. I had a fare...
At taxi school, my instructor, a tall, heavy-set and impeccably dressed man named Al threw out a hypothetical situation to the class: Suppose you pick up someone at an apartment complex. It's an elde...
"Hey, chief."He wore a pork pie hat, a vest and a goatee. He was pulling a large suitcase, so I instantly sized him up as someone likely headed to the airport, a plum fare. But my sense of fairness a...
I arrive at the garage and the owner is outside. It's odd, because the owner is almost never outside, prefering to lord over his domain from behind his desk in the back of the office like the pope or...
"I have a question for you," the young woman in back asks me cheerily, seeking to resolve a minor dispute she's having with her boyfriend, who's sitting beside her."Who would you value more as a frie...
Two-thirty in the morning. That time during a shift when all there is for work is picking up the dregs of the night: the drunken stragglers, the hookers, the drug addicts or the lost souls looking fo...
"Hey, Cab Ten-Twenty-One, where are you?"I couldn't hear 1021's response. The radio system allows us to only hear the dispatcher's side of a conversation. Evidently, Cab 1021 has gone missing again. ...
You want to know what people say about you after you've separated for the night? Ask a cabbie.I pick up young a couple outside a popular Back Bay bistro. They hop into the car and direct me to the No...
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