Let me start by saying that I've lived in a very small town in Mass, Boston, and the one and only New York City. I've also traveled quite a bit within the states to places like Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Seattle, and so on... The point would be that I have a good basis for evaluating public transportation, specifically cabs.
Boston is by far the worst city (or town) in the US for cab service. This is coming from someone who thinks Boston is a great city. I love the RedSox, Celtics, Patriots, the heritage of the city, the nightlife, the cobblestone, the duck tours, the mix of young and old, etc... However, the cab situation is literally unbearable!
When I lived in NYC I could step out my front door, throw my hand up and there would be 8-10 cabs engaging in what looked to be a demolition derby to be the one to pull over and pick me up. In fact I think that is now the required training if you are interested in getting into Nascar! The sheer number of cabs compared to the population in NYC has to be 10-20 times greater than it is in Boston. One night I called for a cab and they told me it would be 15 minutes. Well, 45 minutes later I was still waiting. I called back and they said the delay was due to the fact that he only had 8 cabs active right now. Seriously! Eight drivers active! What kind of operation are they running here?? That would be like Macy's in Herald Square only having 5 people working in the entire store... or better yet it would be like showing up to the Super Bowl with a 4 man roster!! In NYC you can look down any street and I'd be shocked if you didn't see multiple cabs. In Boston, you can stand on the busiest road in the city for 15 minutes and you might not see any. And on a cold night in Boston, there is a better chance of seing Halley's comet or a giraffe playing a game of basketball with a polar bear than there is of hailing a cab.
Say you are one of the lucky few to call a cab company and actually have one arrive and pick you up... the service is literally ridiculous. If you aren't traveling far enough for their liking, the literally yell at you because the cab fare isn't going to be big enough. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that taking a cab was now a situation of negotiation. Even yesterday I had an incident with a cab driver. My destination was about 2.5 miles from my apartment. We were about 3/4 the way there and we passed a couple trying to hail a cab (good luck to them) and my cab driver pulls over and asks if I could get out here. I was baffled?!? Why does he want me to get out about 1/2 mile from friend Dan's place? He told me he wanted to pick up that couple for his next fare. I kindly said that he should start moving again, drop me off at my destination and then go back and get them. He said he wanted to go get them now and asked again if I was ok getting out here. Now I began to get irritated. I kindly asked him how we would feel if the next time he was out to eat at a restaurant if the waitor came out with his meal and told him the chef wanted to get started on the next order so he only half cooked his grilled salmon?? He was utterly confused... and I could see the gears in his head turning. There may have been a little smoke coming out his ears?? For fear that his head might explode like Smith from the Matrix trying to make sense of my analogy, I told him to forget about it, keep his mouth shut and drive to my destination. He finally did his job, drove that last half mile and pulled over for me. Sounds like a happy ending, right?? Not so fast! The fare came to $6.50 and I only had a pair of $20s on me. I would norally have given him $9.00, but due to his desire to ditch me in the snow a 1/2 mail from Dan's place I wanted to give him $8.00 and asked him to give me $12.00 back. Surprise, surprise, he doesn't have any one dollar bills!! He only has 5s and 10s. How can a cab driver not have any 1s? That is like a surgeon operating on a patient and then realizing he doesn't have any sutures or stitches to close them up! I didn't believe him for an instant. Normally I wouldn't care about the $2.00 and would have just asked for a $10.00 back, but this guy is the person who wanted to let me out 4 blocks before my destination. I thought about asking him to get out and empty his pockets to prove he didn't have any ones, but then I decided that based on his actions he probably has a tougher life than me and I dont need to embarass him further. I don't need those $2.00 as bad as he does either, so I didn't have him get out and I let him have the big tip despite his awful service... but I did repeat his driver ID number back to him as I exited the cab to get him thinking he was in hot water :) Hopefully, it worried him enough that he treated the rest of his customers that day properly! What's the point... its almost always better to be the bigger person... when in Boston really consider all of your travel options... and if you are an entepreneur, look into starting a cab company in Boston... we need a good one!!
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