Taxi Driver Online

Plenty.

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IDFIMH

Yes every Thursday Friday 16 hours, 12 PM to 4 AM Saterday 16, 2 PM to 6 AM, done that for the last 30 years

"16 hours" that's got to be 224 jobs over 32 hours.

Well ignore the precise numbers Skull, but you must concede that there's much greater potential to do more jobs in a small town than in a big city?

Even ignoring the shorter runs, the lack of traffic, junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights in a smaller town, even in the big city there's potential to do more runs on Christmas day because of the freer flowing traffic.

And as I said there's less need to go near the city centre, plus if you have to go there it's a lot easier to get about.

As I said I recall doing Christmas Day in a city environment and it was a totally different kettle of fish to the usual. In the late evening for a few hours you could get hailed anywhere you dropped off, whereas normally you'd have to go back nearer the centre to trap a fare. Indeed at that time of night in a street car you normally wouldn't be doing much at all. (Indeed at that time of the night 24 hours previously on Christmas Eve I'd be tearing my hair out trying to get a fare).

And then later into the early hours it's back into the town for the more normal pub and club rabble, the only difference being that it's even busier than normal and goes on longer than normal.

Must have done the thick end of one hundred jobs that day

Pubs and clubs open on Christmas day night into the eary hours of boxing day?

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Grandad,

Dusty, I don't know how to break this to you, but you are talking, [edited by admin]. As I said before, I've worked both the City and Towns and there is no comparison, especially in places like Galashiels.

I've seen Edinburgh swell to over double its population with a scattering of people from one end of the City to the other looking for taxis, over a full 24hour period.

Towns like Galashiels, by comparison, don't even come close.



You've maybe done close on sixty jobs over a twelve-hour period, but that's about it. Oh and btw, I've worked the radio and the street and no matter how fast I drove, answered the radio or picked up off the street. It made little difference to my average job total over a 12-hour period.

Now Dusty, you can have your fantasy world along with Skippy, you might even believe it to be true, but I am afraid, it doesn't make it so.


Oh and Dusty, I've stood in garages and compared figures, job numbers and cash totals with other taxi driver's week in, and week out, over the best part of twenty years, and trust me when I say this, I am speaking from experience and not theory.

Yeah, I'd have to agree.....escpecially with phone work, them people keep a cab driver waiting extra minutes all the time.....messing around getting in, wanting to talk all night before they get out.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

So anyway Skippy. The thing is, I've got a black cat. I was wondering if you also have a black cat.

If you do, I'm guessing you'll claim that your cat is blacker than my cat.

On every rank, in every town, there are drivers who start a conversation with did you do any good yesterday?

My answer? None of your blinking business sunshine.

But others who tell them they did £XXX are ALWAYS beaten by the driver who asks who did £XXXXXXXXXXX.....

Was my Christmas better or worse than normal? It was terrific, thanks for asking.

Last week I bought five lottery tickets. Four of them paid out a Million pounds each.

And the fifth one? Nowt? wish I'd only bought the four now....

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Former taxi driver

Oh and let me add another little nugget to this debate. If there is one thing taxi drivers have a problem with more than any other profession, (if you can call it that) it's reality. Their whole world is propped up by comparing jobs, job totals, cash, vehicles, their position on the rank, in the street and parked in their drive. The majority, are all desperate to believe they have something more than the next guy, in order to feel good about themselves.

In short, it's a bullsh*t little world populated by rats, all scrambling over each other. Skippy and his 87 jobs, being a prime example of what I am talking about.


When you feel the need to come out with this sh*te, and need desperately to believe it, you've got a problem.

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Grandad,

Now.. That's reality !

Why am I getting this vibe that you don't agree with me?



But you ignore the various 'environmental' factors that I suggested earlier.

And I don't see how you can dismiss "places like Galashiels" so easily in this regard.

It could be a one-horse (or even one-kangaroo) town, but if there's sufficiently few taxis available in relation to the demand then the driver could be working non-stop even if it's just a glorified village.

I'm not claiming to substantiate what Skippy say, all I'm saying is that on Christmas Day in a small town there's the potential to do a lot more jobs than in a big city at normal times, even when there's a big event on.



But I didn't claim it was twelve hours. It was at least 14, perhaps 16 or even slightly more.

You concede that five jobs an hour is possible, thus over 15 hours that's 75 jobs.

You must have had those little spells when everything falls right and you can do three or four jobs in perhaps ten to fifteen minutes, so in that context maybe 25 jobs in a three hour period doesn't seem that improbable, does it?

And suppose the average was five jobs per hour over the other twelve hours, then that totals 85 jobs.

I suspect it wasn't as much as that in actual fact, but maybe between 70 and 80.

As I said for a spell I was picking up in places you just wouldn't normally consider - people were coming out of houses in the middle of estates to walk home in the late evening because the office phones were off the hook. They were flagging down a taxi if they saw one, and it was easy pickings for independents, whereas the office cars were probably getting a bit more bogged down waiting on people, finding addresses etc. And the people generally weren't going too far - that's why they were attempting to walk in the first place - so it was a quick streetside pick up, maybe a three/four minute drive on very quiet roads, a quick drop and on to the next pick up down the road a bit



I'm only claiming less than Skippy's job count in at least double the time, so not that fantastic, surely?



Nothing to do with theory, just real life experience

And indeed some drivers do spend too much time standing around in garages gossiping while others are at it hammer and tongs

Dusty, you are talking, tripe. Even on a busy day with few taxis on the circuit it can't be done, three to five jobs an hour, on average, is a maximum over a 12-hour period. There are simply too many variables to contend with. Even if it seems like you are driving from job to job with very little time between, and it makes no difference where you work. As I've said before, I've driven Ph, and Taxis in the City and in towns.

In the city, the potential for work in proximity is far greater, and for a longer period, this is where street cars come into their own because they don't have to drag for work.

The fact is Dusty, to do six jobs an hour only allows you ten minutes between jobs with little room for error or lag time. The reality is, even to do five jobs an hour on average over a 12-hour period, is a stretch.

I would go so far as to say, there is not a taxi driver anywhere in the country that's averaged six jobs an hour, over a 12-hour period, and that's only seventy-two jobs.

The figure of 87 jobs Skippy came away with is a pure fiction.


Oh and yes, if you doubled your time on the road, in theory you could double your figures but on average over the period, your job totals would reduce simply because the variables would increase. The simple fact that you were knackered would cause a change downward in your overall total.

I think you and Skippy, should get a room together.

I have been out for 2hrs me. 3 Jobs. £18

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He's the slave of all slaves who serves none but himself.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Mark Twain

Alba Gu Bràth

Well look at it this way, it's only going to get worse after the year.