Taxi Driver Online

This was posted over on fastblacks, is it really that bad?

If you guys thought that one was bad then I advise you never to come to taxi in sunny St Andrews.

On Sunday night I was waiting at our local station (Leuchars) in pole, sitting in the car, and when the train came in only one job came off, and she got into the car sitting second, probably because the driver was standing beside his car gossiping to another driver. Not that unusual really here, but I'm on first name terms with the driver (or was!), and only a couple of minutes before he mugged me he had said hello to me.

I waited another 15 minutes or so for a £3 run (his was probably a £10er to St Andrews, as are most of the jobs from here), and I had to wait over an hour for my next run.

A similar thing happened on Friday, when I'd waited at the station from around 10pm until around midnight and was in pole when the train came in, and four blokes came along and jumped into a people carrier sitting third - don't know why, but it's presumably because they wanted more room - I have an 06 Passat, which is about as roomy as a saloon taxi gets and isn't exactly shabby.

I then waited another half an hour for a five pound run in the wrong direction, whereas if I'd gotten the four blokes I would have had over a tenner in the right direction (ie into St Andrews for the pubs chucking out), so the mugging probably cost me around forty minutes, nearly a tenner and six miles extra mileage.

A similar thing happened on Saturday night - I was sitting pole at around the back of ten when a party of five came off the train and got into a people carrier. I had to wait another hour and half for a job (nearly three hours in total). Of course, I can't blame the driver on that occasion, but it's soul destroying all the same. (Incidentally, when I used to speak to my 'buddy' who mugged me and we talked about these things that was the phrase he always used - 'soul destroying'.)

It's not always the driver's fault though - yesterday a driver told me he had waited for two or three hours at the station and when the GNER train came in he got a job, loaded it up but just then the bus arrived and his fare jumped out. By then all the other jobs had jumped into the cars behind him. When he got a job it was a three pounder. I was speaking to him at around 7.30 pm, and at that point he'd been out since around 1pm and all he'd done was the three pound job. I think he got a town job after that though, but twelve quid or so is little to show for six hours or so.

Of course it's not always that bad, or we simply wouldn't exist, but last night I came out at 7pm, was lucky to get a £20 Crail run at about 8.15pm, got a £5 run just before 10pm and another £5 run just before midnight. I usually go into St Andrews itself for the pubs chucking out, but since my last fare was towards my home rather than St As I couldn't be bothered, so that was about £30 for around 5 hours. Most nights I'd be lucky to do £50-£60 working till around 2am or so, but it does get a bit better when the students are here.

And the rank I've been taking about is the least worst for muggings - in St Andrews itself it's even worse, and has gotten worse over the years, due to chaotic ranks, fare discounting, the amount of larger vehicles etc.

I don't want to sound like a prophet of doom, but I suspect the 'wipes' in Edinburgh will get worse rather than better.

Aye it is, and I know firsthand, cos it was me who wrote that.

Went out at 8pm on Friday, at the back of midnight I'd only done a tenner

Did thirty in the last hour though, so I went home with £40

That's the worst Friday I've had since the foot and mouth carry on - one Friday I did 4pm to 2am for £30

Fae Fife wrote:




Na haven't you heard, they are all making a fortune in Edinburgh with plate "values" at an all time high (£50,000) business is booming and all that pish.

Just ask anyone on fasties, it's great.

So if you've got a spare £50,000 and want to sit the Edinburgh "knowledge" you too can become a made man with a licence to print money.

Oh don't worry about your investment Edinburgh will never de-restrict the Politicians are going to let plate "values" go through the roof.

Oh and don't worry about the Ph they are not expanding into the Hack market so no problem there either.

Oh and the night buses well they don’t really do taxi work so I wouldn’t concern you too much about that.

Oh and the pedibikes not a problem, well they are just bikes after all.

Oh and the tuk-tuks, I mean who would use a tuk, not anyone who wants a taxi that’s for sure.

I bet you just can’t wait to re-mortgage your house and buy into the Edinburgh taxi trade.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

You could of course skip the buying part and drive that way you would only have a £300 rental to pay and around 72 hours to work.


You don't want a life do you?

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"