Thursday, September 13, 2007

Muslims Stiffing the Blind in Milwaukee? Or Is It "Bad Walker"?

The Minneapolis Muslim-cabbie problem arrives in Milwaukee. But in this story, it's clear that there are a couple of agendas on the table.

Too bad the other agenda was dropped into the last 'graf, eh?

Heesen and Rattan [her guide dog] have used cabs to get to Heesen's job in West Allis. But sometimes they have waited more than an hour for a ride, or have had to call the cab company repeatedly after taxis arrived, then left when they saw Rattan, Heesen said.

...American United Taxi has a $1.25 million contract with Milwaukee County's Transit Plus program to provide about 500 rides each day for people with disabilities.

Christensen acknowledges that some of his drivers are afraid of dogs, or would rather not transport the animals because of cultural or religious reasons.

Christensen is blowing smoke with the "afraid of dogs" line. It's religious. Call it Mohammedanism.

The other agenda?

Walker Bad. Bad Scott. Bad, Bad, Bad:

...They also fear that catching a cab will be even harder if the County Board approves a transit system proposal to cut paratransit and bus service throughout the area.

Yah.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

TP fares are avoided like the plague.
1) The flag(initial charge) isn't high enough to make a lot of the TP trips worthwhile. $5 is okay taking someone across downtown who hailed you. Driving 5 minutes to someone's house, waiting 5 minutes for them to get into the cab, and then getting $3.25 and voucher for $1.75 that's discounted at 20% by American doesn't pay the bills.
2) I didn't have dogs often, maybe 2 or 3 times over a 6 month period. Often their owners have gone lax on the dogs, and they don't lay on the floor like they are supposed to. They can climb on the seats getting dog hair all over, not to mention wet paw prints depending on the time of year. It was rare enough that you just do it and don't complain. If I would have worked that zone consistently, I probably would have learned when he usually called and avoided the fare for this and the previous reason.
3) What is unmentioned is probably a jerk on top of it.
4) Red is absolutely right that it is a matter of supply and demand. There are several zones in the city that will routinely see half hour wait times after posting depending on the time of day. There are parts of the month where it isn't unusual to get wait times exceeding an hour. This particularly true of the TP crowd, because they get their money the same time each month.

Anonymous said...

If you want my short answer:
It's all about the money.