Philadelphia cabs are an unreliable service

I am constantly running late. Somehow, I always manage to underestimate the time it will take me to accomplish just about any menial task, putting me, on average, about five minutes behind schedule on a daily basis. Regrettably, this personality flaw often forces me into an expensive and very unreliable means of transportation -- a Philadelphia taxicab.

There are over sixty cab companies operating in Philadelphia, from Olde City to Yellow Cab Co. Yet, no uniform standards exist, and there are no union regulations. Basically, I could bring my '96 Neon from home and call myself a cab company in this city. Nobody would question it. This lack of regulation leads to what has to be the worst service industry in the entire Philadelphia area.

A few weeks ago I was rushing to get downtown. The universal available cab light adorning the tops of these vehicles means absolutely nothing. Three "available" cabs pass by before one swerves out of traffic, dodges an innocent bystander and abruptly pulls up on the sidewalk next to me.

We drive for a few blocks, and suddenly, the man turns around to face me, in what seems to be fairly heavy rush hour traffic. Eyes turned fully away from traffic, he asks me if I could wait in the cab while he runs into Kinkos for a few minutes.

"Its ok, you can just wait in the car," he mumbles in broken English, before returning his attention to the 18-wheeler we had just nearly met head on.

Was I hearing him correctly? He wanted to stop to make copies, on my dime, when I was already so late that I had to take a cab in the first place. I gathered my composure and politely told the man that I was in a bit of a hurry and could he possibly drop me at my destination before he went to the 24 hour copy stop. He became noticeably agitated and pulled over to the side of the road, muttered something that I am certain was not pleasant and told me to find myself another cab. And we are supposedly living in the City of Brotherly Love.

The problem is that this is not the first time this has happened to me. In numerous instances, I have had cab drivers ask if they could stop everywhere from Kinkos to McDonalds, especially if you expect them to travel past or on Broad Street. This city needs some regulation among its cab drivers, and it involves a lot more than giving the drivers an attitude adjustment. The only uniform fixture in all cabs is a small dog-eared piece of paper pasted to the glass partition stating the Passenger's Bill of Rights, a decree bearing no weight since its rules are rarely followed and are not upheld by any central authority.

The Bill clearly states that the passenger has the right to a fair and equitable fare to be agreed upon before embarking upon the journey to your set destination. There exist no fixed fares among cabs in Philly, unless you count the $20 fare to the airport, which a good number of drivers tend to ignore. Fixed fares across the different cab companies would give drivers less lenience in choosing "special fares" that are for the most part chosen when they realize we will be heading to University City. The trip from 30th Street Station to 40th and Spruce Street should never cost ten dollars, unless the driver decides to drive through Drexel's campus and do a lap or two around Franklin Field on his way -- a request that I have not yet received from a driver, but look forward to in the future.

The passenger has the right to a driver who will choose the fastest, most direct route to their destination. However, Chestnut Street is the Philly cab driver's favorite fare hiking ploy. It is two lanes --on the best of days -- and has a light every 25 feet or so. This is not a direct route for any destination, even ones with an actual Chestnut Street address.

The second half of the document is almost always torn away from the window, obviously making as good of a late night souvenir as exit signs and toilet seats. The gust is that the passenger can decree several things -- whether they want the air conditioner on or off (have you been in a cab with an air conditioner?), the radio playing or not, and the right to have a well-dressed courteous driver, who happens to speak English, and knows his way around the city.

There are rare occasions when any number of these conditions are met, but rare is the day when a cab driving in Philadelphia can live up to all of the ideals set forth in their Bill of Rights. Good cab service is not too much to ask for in a metropolitan city, where commuters frequent the city day in and day out. But most other cities handle the industry in one efficient way or another. So it really is time for Philadelphia to step up to the plate and make some changes in this disaster of a service industry.

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